UK woman reveals stomach pain was actually labour, giving birth to twins

A UK woman woke up with crippling stomach pain and she thought she had a stomach bug. But, when the agony worsened, she called her mum and found out the true reason.

Jacob and Jaxon were born on July 5. Picture: University Hospitals of North Midlands

A UK woman has revealed how she thought she had a stomach bug but revealed she was actually giving birth to twins.

Lucy Shaw, 34, woke up in the early hours of the morning feeling unwell and initially dismissed it as a tummy bug.

But, as the pain got worse, she called her mum.

“When she arrived she took one look at me and called for an ambulance, it was definitely not a tummy bug,” Lucy said in a statement.

“While mum was on the phone to the operator, they asked if she could see anything and it then dawned on me to check and I could feel a head!”

A woman thought she had a stomach bug, but she was giving birth. Picture: University Hospitals of North Midlands

She said she kept trying not to push, saying it was too soon for her boys to be born but the operator told her she absolutely had to if she felt she needed to.

Minutes later her son Jacob was born after being delivered by Lucy’s mum, with the paramedics taking over to bring Jaxon into the world at 6.15am.

The babies were born at just 30 weeks old with both weighing less than two kilograms each.

Paramedics took the children to Royal Stoke University Hospital, where they were admitted to the neonatal unit and put on ventilators.

Lee Abbott, clinical lead of neonatology at University Hospitals of North Midlands, called the two boys “miracle babies”.

“On arrival they were so cold that they had unrecordable body temperatures, they both had blood acid levels that were not consistent with survival and they also had low blood pressures,” Dr Abbott said.

“They have both pulled through are doing incredibly well and are expected to be able to go home with minimal special care.

Jacob and Jaxon were born on July 5. Picture: University Hospitals of North Midlands

“I would also like to recognise the excellent efforts of the paramedic team at WMAS for their high standard care, without whom this amazing outcome would not have been possible.”

Lucy echoed Dr Abbott’s comments, saying the care her family received was “amazing”.

“I didn’t know what to expect and found the whole situation very overwhelming but everyone was so supportive and reassuring. I knew Jacob and Jaxon were under the best care. Within a week they were both breathing on their own,” she said.

“The nurses and assistants have helped and encouraged us every step of the way to ensure we still felt like the boy’s parents. At first, even just changing a nappy on such a tiny baby was quite scary but with the nurse’s support, we soon got the hang of it as well as learning to feed them via an NG tube. I really can’t thank the team enough for taking care of our boys.”

It’s been a month since the boys were born and they are expected to go home in the next few weeks.

Lucy said she couldn’t wait to getting her children home.