Skyla Pardy holds her daughter, Autumn, who arrived as a welcome surprise on Feb. 15 after Pardy did not realize she was pregnant.--Submitted image
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No one was more surprised than Skyla Pardy when nurses at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital told her she was about to give birth.
But, her “miracle baby” arrived 10 hours after the 22-year-old woman went to the emergency room on Valentine’s Day with what she thought was bad cramps.
She had actually been in labour for two days, and unbeknownst to her, pregnant since last spring.
“It’s crazy in itself,” said Pardy, who along with partner, Quinton Wisnowski, are now proud first-time parents to a healthy baby daughter, Autumn.
“At first thought, I’m freaking out, ‘How am I gonna do this?’ Quinton is in pure disbelief – white-faced shock – but it went perfectly.”
Such an unexpected arrival is unusual, but not completely uncommon, according to some medical research.
The U.S- based National Institute of Health suggests that “cryptic pregnancies” – where the mother is completely unaware of her condition – can occur in 1-in-475 pregnancies up to the 20-week midpoint, and in 1-in-2,500 to the point of delivery.
Pardy says she has a condition that makes her menstrual cycle extremely unpredictable and was “living life as normal, with no pregnancy signs” until two days before delivery.
“I had some pain, but I didn’t think anything of it, but by Feb. 14 it was unbearable,” recalled Pardy of her trip to the emergency room. “The nurses asked if there was any chance I was pregnant, and well, ‘Possibly, but I don’t think so.'”
“The next thing you know they pull out an ultrasound machine and tell you you’re going up to labour and delivery.”
In a rush of emotions, Pardy said her immediate concern was for the health of the baby, but after a normal delivery, Autumn arrived weighing eight-pounds, two-ounces, early the next morning.
After several days of observation, the couple and new baby were scheduled to be released home on Thursday.
And far from premature, doctors believe Autumn was probably about 10 days overdue. Full labour arrived on Feb. 14, which is also the mother Skyla’s birthday.
“I was living life as normal, no pregnancy signs,” said Pardy, who works as an industrial insulator along with Wisnowski in the Fort McMurray area. Pardy moved to Medicine Hat last November so the couple could live together.
The pair had been laid off since early December – Pardy was scheduled to return to work this week, which is now paused.
They had actually begun discussing over the holidays when they would like to begin a family.
Pardy believes that could have been a subliminal inkling, her body telling her brain something. As well, since last spring she’s had no desire to drink alcohol.
“There might have been something happening,” she said.
Pardy’s father, Dave Pardy, got the call from the hospital and immediately “flipped a U-Turn” on the highway near his home in Edmonton and headed for the Hat.
Knowing the couple had none of the typical time to prepare for welcoming a new born home, he hit the stores and fashioned a nursery at the couple’s townhome.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Dave Pardy told the News this week of his fourth grandchild. “I’m calling her my miracle baby.”
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