Welsh teaching assistant Charlotte Bryant, 20, visited three doctors complaining of back ache before her son Joshua’s surprise birth.
But left each time with painkillers and laxatives, and none the wiser about the real cause of her discomfort.
“I really had no idea I was expecting – I’d put on a few pounds but I thought I’d been eating too much cake,” says Charlottte, who never missed a period and had no movement in her tummy.
“I’d had really bad backache and I’d gone to the doctors. I’d been diagnosed with inflamed muscles and given painkillers and Diazepman.
“Then another doctor at my surgery examined my tummy and told me I had constipation. She didn’t have any idea that I was nine months pregnant.
“I was prescribed with a big box of powder laxatives. I went home and took one and then a short time later I felt an urge to go to the toilet.”
As she sat on the toilet Charlotte says she felt something odd between her legs.
“I felt the urge to push and then as I looked down and I saw a face looking at me. It was absolutely surreal.”
Little Joshua swooshed out in seconds but luckily Charlotte’s brother Adam, 26, was also at their home in Cardiff.
“I screamed for my brother and told him I’d had a baby. He told me to stop being stupid until he came downstairs and saw a baby in my arms.”
Joshua weighed a healthy 3.3kg but was rushed to Intensive Care because he was found to be suffering from a chest infection.
Charlotte then texted a picture of Joshua to her boyfriend of two years, Daniel Hughes, 25.
“He was in complete shock as I was. At first he thought I was playing a joke on him and told me I was fibbing.”
She says becoming an instant mum is a huge shock, but Joshua is adored by his family.
“He is the most beautiful baby and Daniel and I love him so much even though he was a complete surprise,” says Charlotte.
“People have been so kind and brought lots of lovely things for him. He doesn’t want for anything. We all call him a little miracle – and he really is too.”
