Lifestyle

Mom Who Didn't Know She Was Pregnant Gives Birth In A Grocery Store Bathroom

by Meredith Bland
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Image via Branches Photography

She had another baby only 10 months before

Most of us have heard of the show, “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant” and thought, Now, how the hell….? But what if the answer to that question was, “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant Because I Just Gave Birth To My First Baby 10 Months Ago”?

Well, that’s the storyline that played out for one Canadian mom back in April. Oh, and she also delivered the second baby in a grocery store. Because when life wants to surprise you, it has a nasty habit of doing so in public bathrooms.

Ashleigh Miller-Cross of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was at the grocery store on April 28th when she started having intense pain. She went to the bathroom and quickly realized the cause of the pain: she was in labor. The store manager, Malcolm Comeau, heard her screaming and went into the restroom to see what was happening. “I walked inside, knocked on the door, and Ashleigh was sitting there on the edge of the toilet holding onto half of the baby,” he said in an interview with Inside Edition.

Comeau called an ambulance and ran to a medical clinic which who-knows-why-but-good-grief-how-lucky-for-them is housed inside the Bayers Lake Atlantic Superstore. After alerting the staff there, he went back to the restroom where he and one of the store’s cashiers helped Ashleigh finish delivering her baby, a perfect little boy who she named Ezra.

Image via Branches Photography

Now, here’s the kicker: the reason Ashleigh didn’t know she was pregnant was that she had just given birth to her first baby 10 months earlier.

Can you even? The answer is no. No, you cannot even.

Image via Branches Photography

“I presumed I hadn’t lost any weight because I only had Mia 10 months ago, so I mean I didn’t grow any extra so it’s just the same size. I didn’t have any cravings,” she said. She and her husband, Kyle, also learned that the placenta developed in front of the baby (known as an anterior placenta) which helped explain why she didn’t feel any kicks or movement. “I was pretty shocked because I didn’t know that could happen,” Kyle told the CBC. “I thought it was just on reality TV, but apparently it’s a thing.”

Image via Branches Photography

Photographer Jen Matchett of Branches Photography memorialized Ezra’s unusual delivery with a photo shoot featuring him in an Atlantic Superstore grocery basket with a list next to him that reads, “Milk, Eggs, Bread, Carrots, Bananas, Baby.” There’s also a photo of Ezra with his big sister Mia, which makes us worry for Ashleigh and Kyle because it can’t be easy dealing with this much cute. I mean, they already had a ridiculous amount of cute, and now they’ve doubled it with a whole ‘nother load of cute? Doesn’t seem right. #Prayers

Image via Branches Photography

The family’s doing well, and Ashleigh offered thanks to everyone who helped via the Love What Matters Facebook page: “I want to thank everybody who has offered support, everyone who was giving us things. I especially want to thank Malcolm Comeau and the lady who helped me in the bathroom straight away. She was right there with me. Just everyone. The staff at the IWK and also the paramedics who came and helped me.” Comeau’s store (a.k.a Ezra’s birthplace) is also providing the family with a year of free diapers. We at Scary Mommy wish them continued health and good fortune.

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