Surprise baby arrives for mum
Tamarangi born to Karla — who didn’t know she was pregnant
Karla Akuhata had barely slept a wink. Plagued by agonising cramps, the 41-year-old had been trying to breathe deeply. It had been ages since her last period. Now it was back with a vengeance, she thought.
Taking a shower in her mum’s Whakata¯ne home early last Tuesday, she hoped to try and relax and then maybe get a little more sleep afterwards.
But as she wrapped the towel about herself and headed back to the bedroom, the pain only intensified. Something wasn’t right. Reaching down she felt a head. She was having a baby.
“Oh my God,” she thought, her mind racing.
About 15 minutes later, Akuhata gave birth to son Tamarangi, on the bedroom floor.
He was a “total surprise“, a “miracle baby“. She knows many will find it hard to believe her. How could she not have known she was pregnant? Looking back, there were some signs, Akuhata said.
She had been down on energy and suffering from bloating. Yet she put that down to work stresses and a medical condition.
She had also added a few kilos recently — perhaps five — and her pants tightened in the week or two leading up to the birth, but she didn’t have a “pregnant belly“. No one around her — including family and close friends — had said they thought she was pregnant, Akuhata said.
And while so called cryptic or stealth pregnancies like hers are rare, they are more common than many think. British woman Klara Dollan’s story is among those — making headlines two years ago in the UK.
Despite being in pain, the then 22-year-old took the bus and train to work — unaware she was pregnant — before returning home and giving birth. Back in New Zealand, Akuhata had thought it wasn’t possible — or at least highly unlikely — for her to get pregnant again, and so hadn’t considered it.
Not only was she 41, but she had always had trouble conceiving, she said. She gave birth to her other son 15 years ago, but it had been difficult to get pregnant. During a later longterm relationship she tried to have another child — this time without luck. She also regularly went long stretches without her period, she said. That led her to be diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that can make it hard to get pregnant, she said. Trouble having children also ran in her family.
Infertility seemed to be a problem in the wider Whakata¯ne community also, Akuhata said. Her father had been a sawmill worker. She fears chemicals previously used in the sawmill had caused infertility in local families.
Ironically, in the days before her surprise birth, Akuhata had — through her links with the Sawmill Workers Against Poison group — made a submission to an inquiry seeking to investigate the matter.
It was not until last weekend that she was knocked off her feet. Normally living in Rotorua, she had decided to take her son to spend lockdown at her mum and dad’s Whakata¯ne home. It was there she spent time in bed complaining of bloating. She drank peppermint tea, hoping to feel better so she could finish a work project for her communications consultancy Tu Mai Te Toki Content Management. That healthy appetite confused her mum. “She was saying to me, ‘You are saying you’re bloated and have tummy issues, but you are still eating’,” Akuhata said. That was when the first pregnancy joke was made. But Akuhata didn’t take it seriously. Not until at 5.30am on Tuesday, that is.
Her 15-year-old son, dad and a 94-year-old man were in the house, but she didn’t call for help. She didn’t want to disturb the old koro, who uses a wheelchair.
When Tamarangi was born about 5.50am, Akuhata called her mum, who was due to finish a shift at Whakata¯ne Hospital. “Mum, you know how you were kidding that I might be pregnant, well I’ve just had a baby,” Akuhata said.
Her stunned mother then phoned an ambulance and rushed home.
By 2pm, Akuhata and baby Tamarangi had been discharged from hospital. Akuhata told the baby’s father and later posted a message to her private Facebook page. She’s been overwhelmed with love. “In this time of Covid and lockdowns and suspicion and fear, it is really lovely to remember there are so many people out there that give their love so easily.”