Carmen Romero is believed to have experienced a cryptic pregnancy when she gave birth suddenly to her daughter shortly after she was admitted to a hospital in Spain16:11, 20 Jul 2026Updated 17:02, 20 Jul 2026A woman was rushed to hospital and was shocked to discover she wasn't just suffering from stomach cramps.‌Carmen Romero, now 31, from the Canary Island of Tenerife, reportedly went to A&E when she was 24 complaining of stomach cramps, but was later told she was about to give birth.‌Speaking on the television programme Y ahor Sonsoles to presenter Sonsoles Onega, Carmen explained that she originally went to the hospital “with cramps” and ended up giving birth to what would be her second daughter. At the time her first daughter was just one-and-a-half years old.‌She explained: “I went to the emergency room because my father insisted. I just had cramps, like the urge to use the bathroom….I gained 45 kilos during my first pregnancy and developed a hiatal hernia.”Carmen added that when she went to the hospital she discovered she wasn’t just slightly pregnant, that she was in fact in labour and about to deliver the child.She explained that she hadn’t felt a single kick from the child before the labour began: “I didn’t feel a thing, not a kick, nothing.”‌It was later reported by 20 Minutos that Carmen said: “They did an ultrasound and told me, 'You’re pregnant.' And I said, 'Excuse me? How far along?' And the doctor replied, 'I’d swear you’re actually giving birth right now,’"I flatly refused to go into the delivery room; I couldn't believe I was pregnant. But once they calmed me down and I spoke to my mother on the phone, I told them to at least give me an epidural. But the woman said, 'The baby's head is already out.' I was in the delivery room for ten minutes."‌Carmen added that she had not suspected anything unusual, partly because she had a condition that caused abdominal bloating. She also said that she explained that her periods were irregular.Irregular periods in this case meant she might go months without having one and then skip them entirely. She added that after the birth she had a “horrifying” experience when they gave her the child.She said: “I was alone, they put the baby on top of me and told me: 'It's a girl, she's okay'. I looked at the baby, hallucinating. I felt like they had given me a baby that wasn't mine.‌“You have a daughter whom you aren't even able to love at that moment, because you are in such shock that you can't picture yourself as a mother.”Carmen later admitted that she told the child that she wanted to put the baby up for adoption, before she later decided to change her mind on the matter.‌In a subsequent interview, Carmen said that she had a moment when she began to develop a connection with a child that was now hers.She said: “But twenty days after my daughter was born, she suffered a sleep apnea episode; she turned purple and stopped breathing. That was the moment I said, 'Shit, I love her. I need someone to save my child.'”It is now believed that Carmen, now 31, experienced what is known as a cryptic pregnancy, when the pregnant individual does not know they are pregnant until the very latter stages of a pregnancy.Article continues belowThe BBC reported in 2024 that, when it comes to the UK at least, that around one in every 2,500 births is cryptic, equating to around 300 births each year. In Spain there are reportedly few figures about cryptic pregnancies.