Charlotte gave birth just 17 hours after finding out she was pregnant… a rare condition meant she had no idea she had been carrying a baby for nine months

A woman has revealed how she went into labour just 17 hours after she found out she was pregnant, after experiencing a rare phenomenon known as ‘cryptic pregnancy’. 

Charlotte Summers, 20, said the uncommon condition means a person does not realise they are expecting until the later stages of pregnancy.

Before delivering her healthy son in June, Ms Summers said she noticed she had gained weight and gone up two sizes in jeans, but she believed it was due to stress.

‘I was still buying size eight clothes,’ she said in a TikTok video.

‘Obviously, I gained a bit of a pudge, I guess. But I am in a two-and-a-half year relationship, I just kind of assumed it was a bit of happy relationship weight. 

‘I was also going through a lot of stressful things in my life at the time.’

But when she visited a GP on June 6 with concerns about gluten sensitivity, she was asked to do a pregnancy test.

The GP confirmed she was pregnant just minutes later but reassured her it felt ‘very early along’.

Charlotte Summers, 20, (above) said she discovered she was 38 weeks pregnant after going to the doctor for a suspected gluten intolerance

She believed the pregnancy went unnoticed because the placenta rested at the front of her womb. 

Ms Summers had also continued her regular use of birth control and continued to menstruate throughout the pregnancy. 

She revealed she was sent for an ultrasound and told to come back later to discuss her options.

Her partner’s family helped arrange a same-day ultrasound at their local hospital, where medical staff discovered the baby was due sooner than anyone had thought.

‘They were like, “So you’re measuring 38 weeks and four days”,’ Ms Summers said.

‘At that point, you can pretty much understand, I kind of blacked out. I just grabbed my stuff, rang my partner and I was like, “Hey, we gotta go”.’

Doctors then told the couple there was no fluid around the baby, and they may have to induce labour. But Ms Summers had already left the hospital.

‘They tried to reach me but they didn’t have my phone number… they ended up ringing my partner’s cousin,’ she said.

Women experiencing cryptic pregnancies feel very few or none of the symptoms commonly related with pregnancy until the later stages (stock image)

That night, Ms Summers and her partner returned to hospital.

‘I was on my hands and knees throwing up because I was like, “There’s no way this is happening right now”,’ she said.

Shortly after, her water broke and she entered labour for two hours.

‘I pushed for seven minutes and then my son was here. Again, I blacked out. I didn’t really comprehend what was going on,’ Ms Summers said.

Ms Summers said she had just 17 hours and 21 minutes’ notice between discovering she was pregnant and welcoming her healthy son.

‘The body is crazy,’ she said.

Cryptic pregnancy is a rare condition, and the affected person may continue to experience what appears to be regular menstruation, show little or no visible weight gain, and feel no noticeable fetal movement.

A 12-month population study in Berlin found one in every 475 pregnancies involved cryptic pregnancy to 20 weeks, and one in every 2,500 to full term.

Ms Summers said some had doubted her story in the past and accused her of lying.

She showed hospital documents from Queensland Health diagnosing a ‘concealed pregnancy’, and records confirming her ultrasound and delivery.

‘Long story short, I’m happy, healthy, me and my partner love being parents and yeah,’ Ms Summers said.