Rachel O’Donnell was 19 years old when she was told by doctors that due to a more serious case of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), she would never be able to have children. Twenty-four years later, she was given a shocking miracle when she learned that not only was she pregnant, but the abdominal pains she was experiencing were actually labor pains.
“I was told I would never be able to fall pregnant,” O’Donnell told 7NEWS. “It was never even contemplated that I could possibly be pregnant.”
But at 43 years old, O’Donnell found herself in the hospital — with what she thought was a gallbladder issue or a burst ovarian cyst — next to a nurse holding a positive pregnancy test.
The nurse in the emergency room tried to assure her she was having a baby, to which O’Donnell replied, “That’s wrong.”
She told Courier Mail, “I went through a few tests at the ED [emergency department] and when the nurse at the RBWH showed me a pregnancy stick with two stripes on it, I insisted it was a mistake. I said I can’t have babies.”
But the nurse “pushed the [pregnancy test] stick closer and said, ‘No, you’re pregnant. We need to get you down and check how the baby is doing.'”
When the hospital checked on baby Xavier, that’s when O’Donnell could finally accept that she was indeed a mother.
“It was only when I was wired up to a monitor and head a little heartbeat did I realise that I was growing a little human inside me for months and had no idea,” she said. “I was gobsmacked but after the shock of it all I realise it was a miracle.”
However, the staff saw that Xavier’s heart rate dropped to nearly zero when his mother had a contraction and the situation was serious. Baby Xavier had to be delivered immediately — and 10 weeks early.
“They said, ‘We need to get him out now,'” she explained. Baby Xavier was born via emergency C-section weighing just under four and a half pounds. He had to be resuscitated for 15 minutes after his birth. Doctors say he had been in the breech position and had been in his mother’s womb for 60 hours with the gestational sac no longer intact, causing him and O’Donnell to suffer an infection.
“It is like Xavier was meant to be here. He fought through so much. He was born with Down syndrome but when he was tested he didn’t show any of the health issues usually associated with the syndrome. He is putting on weight and thriving,” said O’Donnell.
A new program, NeoHOME, launched by Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital allowed Xavier to be cared for at home rather than in the neonatal unit.
“The day I was told Xavier could be cared for at home I had been crying as I didn’t want to leave him in the neonatal unit,” said O’Donnell. “I was a little afraid as it all happened so quick and I was suddenly looking after a fragile premature baby. But nurses check up on us regularly and check his feeding and make sure he is thriving. It is amazing.”
It’s been one month since his unexpected arrival, and O’Donnell said it has been “crazy” and “fun.”
She maintains that she had no idea that she was pregnant, contributing her weight gain to her lifestyle choices and saying she never felt Xavier kick. In hindsight, however, she told Today Extra, that her dog may have realized.
“He was very protective of my stomach area, my partner wasn’t allowed to put his hand around my waist and the dog would lie on my stomach and my belly all the time,” she said. “I just thought he was being an annoying puppy, but now I think maybe he was telling us something else.”
