A pet shop worker who thought her bad back was caused by lifting heavy deliveries discovered the excruciating pain was actually caused by going into labour.
Ceira Sutherland, from Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, had no idea she was pregnant before she dramatically gave birth to her daughter last November.
The 24-year-old rushed to A&E with crippling stomach and rib pains and then gave birth to the 10lb baby.
She was oblivion of her pregnancy, so she was her usual self
Ceira says she had a period six weeks before giving birth, had no baby bump, suffered no morning sickness and used condoms every time she had sex with her partner.
Oblivious to being pregnant, the mum continued to party and drink and enjoyed a boozy night out with shots and spirits just weeks before giving birth to Amelia Aitken.
They were shock in silence
It was even more of a surprise for Ceira and her partner, Andrew Aitken, 27, as she had been told that conceiving would be difficult due to her polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
She describes how butcher Andrew was so stunned he stood ‘silently in shock’ for a while.
Ceira said: ‘We hadn’t even thought about having children yet.
She was even told she might not give birth
‘I have PCOS so I was told quite young that I might not even be able to have children so this was a complete surprise.
Condom couldn’t stop it
‘We were using condoms every time so it was an even bigger surprise.
‘Kids were something we both wanted but not for a while.’
Two days before Amelia’s arrival, Ceira did an 11-hour shift at work when she began experiencing excruciating back pain.
Unsuspecting Ceira went home to her partner’s house when her symptoms worsened and she decided to head to A&E.
Ceira said: ‘At work, I have to pull in big deliveries and it never bothered me before but my back felt so sore that I had to go sit down and put a hot pack on it.’
