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Original poster

Baby born in Camp Bastion!

187 replies

FairPhyllis · 20/09/2012 01:45

A soldier has given birth in Camp Bastion, after not realizing she was pregnant. The baby was five weeks prem. Link.

I hope the surprise has helped morale at the camp. But what I would like to know (because I am endlessly fascinated by stories of births in weird places), is what citizenship does the baby get? Will it have Afghan citizenship? Can it get British citizenship from being born in a British base? (The mother is Fijian)

OP posts:
suburbophobe · 20/09/2012 17:25

Why on earth would you go to all that bother? Supporting your OP under another name? Hmm

Anyway, it CAN happen that you suddenly give birth without realising you were pregnant.
I witnessed it when about an hour after the birth of DS they brought in a girl (21, student) who'd just given birth on the bathroom floor. I got talking to her later and she told me she had even been to her GP a couple of weeks before with swollen ankles who'd said it was water retention due to the hot weather Shock
She also said she'd been out dancing the night before (!) and had to go home cos she got stomach cramps...

Congratulations to the mum!

VivaLeBeaver · 20/09/2012 17:32

Sock puppet img can be detected by ip address.

suburbophobe · 20/09/2012 17:35

Viviennemary, I'm with you on that. Either that or they are way out of touch with their bodies...

LtEveDallas · 20/09/2012 18:00

Basket Lt Eve - why were they fighting over you - cos you wiz a woman? I don't believe the British army is a sexist organisation

God no, because I'm good at my job. CO wanted me at his location to do a certain job, 2IC wanted me at his location to do a different job. My sex had nothing to do with it!

madwomanintheattic · 20/09/2012 18:02

Presumably they were fighting over her because she could be relied upon to do her job. Feck all to do with brightening the place up a bit and wanting totty on your side...

Eve - my boss didn't know where to put himself. He hummed and hawed and then remembered to congratulate me, and blushed, and puffed, and then apologized for being so flustered. Despite his senior years, it was apparently the first time any female servicewoman had approached him and announced she was pg before... Grin

Eve, are you in uk at the mo? I might pm you...

madwomanintheattic · 20/09/2012 18:02

Ha, x post.

Not that I'm denying sexism in the military exists, obv.

Original poster
FairPhyllis · 20/09/2012 18:11

I've seen pics of my DM while she was pg with me and you wouldn't have known she was from looking at her right until the very end. And the baby was prem, so it would have missed the last few weeks where they put on weight rapidly. If it had gone closer to term the mother might well have realised before going into labour.

Congratulations to her - I think it's sad that some people might bash servicewomen because of this.

OP posts:
JockSprockPooPongMcPlop · 20/09/2012 19:58

I would imagine that if you're serving on the front line you wouldn't want to have. Period so I'd expect a lot of women out there are on the pill continuously, so wouldn't be bleeding at all. If you're not expecting a period, there aren't any to miss.

Mibby · 20/09/2012 20:02

Not aware of any 'problems' with stranded bears credibility Hmm but her story is true

bossboggle · 20/09/2012 20:04

Trust me it can happen - a lady in our village found out the hard way!! She was an older lady who thought she was going through the menopause - some menopause and she went to the doctors FOUR TIMES - they put it down to the menopause - she was 42 when she gave birth and she nor any of her family had a clue!! I saw her carrying bags of heavy shopping on the Friday and the news was out that she had a baby girl on the Monday!! Her husband was at work when she gave birth and they had to go and get him out of work - they eventually used the police - who convinced him that it was not a joke and he had to go to the hospital. They kept the lady in hospital for about ten days so that she could get over the shock and also to give the family and their friends time to buy things for the baby - the entire village chipped in and they ended up with everything they needed in record time too!!

LtEveDallas · 20/09/2012 20:10

Madwoman, thanks, great x post there! Yep am in UK till I finish now. PM away!

MrsSnaplegs · 20/09/2012 20:19

One of my colleagues a few years back didn't know until she was 20+ something weeks
Very fit army nurse - washboard stomach muscles etc about to deploy - felt a bit rough went to sickbay - they said PG test and she said no cant be pg - tested pos sent for US scan and told um yes very PG
Don't think matron was too happy at having to replace her on deploymentWink
Another young girl I helped deliver her 2nd when I was a student - first baby at 16 didn't know she was pg until she delivered - 2nd at 18 and she was still in size 10 jeans - she ran up stairs to delivery suite, popped baby out and was home next morning in same size 10 jeans Grin

MrsSnaplegs · 20/09/2012 20:20

I also have a few friends at bastion hospital at the moment Grin waiting for latest update from one of them Grin

maxmillie · 20/09/2012 20:30

I have to take issue with the oft-touted idea on MN that MNHQ can definitively tell if someone is sock-pupetting aka pretending to be 2 separate posters to support the OP because they post from the same IP address because:

  1. many people will be coming in from PCs on DHCP (where the IP address regularly changes) or behind firewalls / proxy servers etc so the IP address will change / not be a reliable way to determine who a poster is so you could sock puppet from different IP addresses, easily, if you really wanted to

and

  1. what about one or more separate posters living in a shared house using the same computer (or same broadband router dynamically issuing IP addresses on the same network)?. They could be two genuinely different posters, entitled to their individual opinions, seemingly using the same IP address

I can understand why boards are happy to allow this at-best unreliable idea that they can distinguish unique posters, illusion of more control, but if anyone accused me of sock puppetting I'd be taking serious issue (and possibly legal advice) around plausible deniability.

Anyway, congrats to the soldier!

LtEveDallas · 20/09/2012 20:42

Seriously? You'd take legal advice over being banned from mumsnet? Dear God, what planet are you on?

AnyoneforTurps · 20/09/2012 20:47

I've always been a bit Hmm about these "I didn't I was pregnant stories". Then, a couple of months ago, I saw a patient with abdominal pain (I'm a GP). She was a slim girl in her late teens but, even lying on the couch with her abdomen exposed, she didn't look in the least pregnant. I was therefore somewhat surprised to put my hand on her tum and feel a full-term baby.

Her sister was with her. The first words out of her mouth when I explained the abdominal pain was in fact labour were "Bloody hell, that's so unfair. I had morning sickness for 9 months and she didn't even KNOW!" Smile

Tuttutitlookslikerain · 20/09/2012 20:58

I am in awe of the Soldier managing to carry on doing her job, especially in the heat of an Afghan summer. I could barely manage a British one!

I put on hardly any weight when I was pregnant, and with DS1 especially, I didn't show until I was about 7 months!

I can imagine if DH was out there now, he would be volunteering himself for baby cuddling duties and offering my knitting services!

lovechoc · 20/09/2012 21:31

If you're having unprotected sex I suppose there's always that small chance you could be pregnant though, so if she'd been having unprotected sex surely it must have played on her mind that she may at some point fall pregnant? Or is that just a wild thought??

madwomanintheattic · 20/09/2012 21:36

might not have been unprotected, lovechoc. i'm pretty sure that's been covered, as has the absence of periods. partic if you've been on the pill without a break because you're on op tour - a very common decision by women who really can't be doing with the whole sanpro issue on the front line.

MarysBeard · 20/09/2012 21:56

I knew I was pregnant shortly after conception both times. Though I knew I was pregnant -bearing in mind in my first pregnancy I put 4 stone on and went on mat leave at 36 weeks - a couple of colleagues said they didn't notice/know I was pregnant when I told them I was about to go on leave Hmm

toddlerama · 20/09/2012 22:16

I'm more shocked at the headline "...army girl..." Surely they mean servicewoman???

5madthings · 20/09/2012 22:30

I was Hmm at the army girl as well toddlerama

meditrina · 20/09/2012 22:37

"offering my knitting services"

I wonder what the baby is dressed in? oK, the boring answer will be stuff from the local market. But I can just picture a nice camouflage swaddling cloth...

devonshiredumpling · 20/09/2012 23:39

The one thing I am thinking about is that the army medics must have been uplifted bringing new life into the world rather than having to declare another death . Sometthing to lighteen the load a little .

AnxiousElephant · 21/09/2012 00:08

I presume it wouldn't have been too difficult to get a midwife from TPMH for postnatal care? Have they still got a ward? or have they pulled out/ Limassol?
They used to send a neonatal team from southampton with aeromed? Is that still the case?

I can well believe she didn't know as I've just seen a mum who delivered at 38 weeks and didn't know .......thought she had put weight on, no periods usually, on a diet that didn't seem to be working! Hey presto, we have a baby Grin