Kate Hudson was like any other 22-year-old backpacking around Europe.
The Melbourne journalism student was hopping between countries, living it up with limited funds and even fewer cares.
That is, until she found out she was pregnant — and just weeks away from her due date.
As blogger Sophie Shaw — who went to university with Kate and runs Young Mummy — reports, Kate had been on the pill until she began her trip June this year, but took a pregnancy test after she skipped a period overseas.
“I was in Barcelona on my own and that’s when I started to get a little scared, since I hadn’t seen my boyfriend… in seven weeks, I thought I could be more than seven weeks pregnant,” she said. “I bought a pregnancy test and took it in San Sebastián. Positive.”
She says she immediately rang her carpenter boyfriend of 18 months, Aaron, to break the surprising news.
“(A)lthough he was shocked, he was supportive thinking we’d still have options. I wasn’t showing at all and had no symptoms, so we assumed it would be early days.”
But early days it was not: when Kate consulted an obstetrician, she learned she was just weeks away from her due date and “totally freaked out”.
“I thought she said 13 weeks – not 33!,” she told Young Mummy.
Although she and Aaron had discussed the possibility of having kids three to five years down the track, Kate’s initial reaction to the news was: “No way was I ready to have a baby. I’m only 22. No job, and no money. And no time to prepare,” she said.
“The baby was coming and coming fast, so I just had to prepare and get back home. I didn’t have time to process it until the flight home, where I basically cried for the 22 hours.”
It was on the flight that she first felt her baby kick — and that’s when the reality of her pregnancy really hit home.
As if Kate hadn’t been dealt enough surprises, back home in Melbourne, scans revealed she was actually 38 weeks along.
“I was scared because I didn’t know if the baby was healthy. Obviously having not known for so long, I was exercising heaps, jumping off cliffs, riding bikes, drinking alcohol and eating anything an everything,” she said.
“I was also scared about the future. Being a mum is daunting. I had no money since I had just came back from overseas. Where will we live, how will we pay for stuff? I didn’t know all too much about babies.”
beDoctors told Kate she had a tilted-back uterus and that the baby was sitting high up in her diaphragm — which explained her relative lack of baby bump.
In fact, she had “absolutely no clear symptoms”, she said.
“Any belly I had I thought was just a food baby from all the eating I’d done in Europe over two months,” she said.
“I wasn’t nauseous, no morning sickness, little weight gain… All I had leading up to it was constipation, and I went from a C-cup to a D-cup.”
Kate was induced at the Royal Women’s Hospital– and Mason arrived on 21 August after what Kate describes as a “much easier labour than expected.”
Now, she’s understandably focused on adjusting to her new role as mum.
“It’s hard to get my head around it, even now he’s eight weeks old. I wake up in the morning and sometimes forget that I have a baby. It’s a huge change and very overwhelming. I didn’t have the eight or so months to prepare, so everything has been test and go,” she told Shaw at Yummy Mummy.
“I honestly don’t know if I’m doing it right or wrong. But he’s a happy baby and gaining weight, so I must be doing something right.”
Kate says that while she does worry about the future, she’s been blessed with a healthy child — and she and Aaron are going strong.
“I have a beautiful healthy baby boy, my relationship with Aaron is stronger than ever — although it’s more work than it’s ever been, trying to find ‘us time’ –so I can’t complain too much.” she said.
“I’ve just gotta’ roll with it and make the most of it. Mason’s here and I’m going to try to be the best parent I can be for him. Am I scared for the future? Yes.”
You can read the original report on Young Mummy here.
Top Comments
My precious first born arrived when I was 22, unplanned, didn't know I wax pregnant until almost the end of my first trimester - o totally understand how this happens.
I am confused as I have heard so many stories of women who don't know they are pregnant, drinking alcohol, eating raw fish and soft cheese? My mother only gave up alcohol when she was pregnant with me and I have no allergies or anything. Does it seem common only because you hear more about these women who don't change habits and still have healthy babies than women who miscarry or have babies with problems because they do all those things you aren't meant to do.
The risks are what I'd call 'low probability, high consequence risks' ie most people who eat these foods won't contract the dangerous infections such as salmonella or listeriosis so therefore mum and bub are both absolutely fine. However, the risk to the baby if mum does contract the infections is serious.