Gout?!

There's a fun little story in the UK newspaper The Sun right now. I swear I found the link on Twitter, but when I went back to find it I couldn't. Regardless, the story is... well. It's special. It's about a woman in Britain who didn't know she was pregnant until three hours before she gave birth.

Now, I don't watch that show I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, so maybe that's why I find this so shocking. But it's not so much HER that I'm shocked about. I mean, I think it's pretty clear that she's not a Mensa candidate, and if I missed my period for nine months in a row I'm guessing it would occur to me to take a pregnancy test.

But, she's overweight. Her period may never have been regular. And there's no requirement that ordinary people be smart.

But there IS a requirement that doctors be smart, or at least REASONABLE. And this woman WENT TO THE DOCTOR when she got pregnant. She has been there REGULARLY over the past nine months with stomach ailments that were diagnosed as IBS and gout. GOUT. And it never once occurred to any of her doctors to see if she were pregnant.

But the worst part? When they DID figure out that she was pregnant, they told her she was THREE MONTHS ALONG and sent her home. Three hours before the baby was born! And it wasn't a preemie... it weighed almost nine pounds. Nine pounds! Did it not occur to them to do an ultrasound when they realized she was pregnant? Because it's my understanding that ultrasounds can tell you how much a baby weighs and when they're due. They might not be right to the ounce and to the day, but I'm pretty sure that if you do an ultrasound of a nine-months-pregnant woman with a nine-pound baby in her uterus, you're not going to think that she's only three months along.

I mean, what did they do? Glance at her stomach and say, "Eh, looks like you're about three months along. Run along home now and we'll see you in another six months"?

Seriously, this story is UNBELIEVABLE. I cannot get over it. What a crappy standard of care!

But I do have to say I think this quote from the mother is hilarious: "We hardly had time to think about it; no one believed us when we told them we suddenly had a child."

I mean, imagine giving birth one day, just like that! And calling up your parents and telling them they've suddenly become grandparents. And having to call up work and say oh by the way I'll need to go on maternity leave... starting now. And the father has to run out while you stay in the hospital with the baby to buy a car seat so that you can bring the baby home from the hospital. And once you get home from the hospital if you want to put the baby down you are pretty much stuck with the old dresser drawer trick.

Am I the only one whose mind is BLOWN by this? Or are you guys shocked too?