Melbourne student finds out she is 38 weeks pregnant on trip of a lifetime
A Melbourne woman has given birth to her first child - a healthy baby boy - just days after discovering she was pregnant.
Kate Hudson, 22, was enjoying a dream trip around Europe when she got the shock of her life...she was pregnant and about to give birth.
She'd had a pregnancy many mothers be envious of - no bump, no bloating, and no morning sickness to alert her.
A size six, Kate had even put a slight waistline bulge down to overeating, what she described as a growing 'food baby'.
"I had absolutely no real clear symptoms," Kate told The Young Mummy .
"I was still getting regular periods, I wasn't nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain, so it seemed silly to think I was pregnant. All I had leading up to it was a little constipation and I went from a C-Cup to a D-Cup."
Seven weeks into her trip, Kate started to feel out of sorts. She took a pregnancy test, and was shocked to discover it was positive.
She immediately called her boyfriend, Aaron, who was back in Melbourne, to pass on the startling news.
"Although he was shocked, he was supportive and said we could work around it, and if not, we'd have months to prepare for having a baby," she said.
Kate continued her grand adventure, believing she was in the initial stages of pregnancy, but then another surprise.
An obstetrician in Prague delivered the news - not only was Kate pregnant, she was 33 weeks along.
"I thought she said 13 - not 33! No way was I ready to have a baby. I'm only 22. No job, no money and no time to prepare," she said.
Oblivious to the little miracle on board, Kate had taken part in extreme sports, had drank alcohol and had eaten 'anything and everything'.
Her attention immediately turned to the baby's health.
"I was exercising heaps, jumping off cliffs, riding bikes, drinking alcohol. The baby's health was both mine and Aaron's concern," she said.
The next day, Kate boarded a flight for Melbourne and says she 'cried for 22 hours' as she tried to comprehend such a sudden and life-changing occurrence.
Then another shock.
Upon arriving home, doctors at the Royal Women's Hospital informed Kate she was in fact 38 weeks along.
Reality set in - she had just ten days to prepare for motherhood.
Jobless and penniless, fear set in.
"I was scared about the future," she said. "Being a mum is daunting. I had no money since I had just come back from overseas. Where will we live? How will we pay for stuff? I didn't know all too much about babies."
Little Mason arrived just a few days later after a relatively smooth birth, weighing 6.5 pounds.
"People just couldn't believe it," she said. I would tell them the story and then they would understand, but still it's a pretty unbelievable story given my size."
Doctors told Kate she had a tilted back uterus and that the baby was sitting up high in her diaphragm, which explained why she had not developed a baby bump.
Now eight weeks old, Mason is doing well as Kate continues to get her head around her overwhelming surprise.
"I wake up in the morning and sometimes I forget I have a baby," she said. "It's a huge change and very overwhelming. I didn't have the eight or so months to prepare so everything is just test and go."
Morning news break - October 21
