A college student didn’t know she was pregnant until the week before she gave birth to her son.
Teagan Brill was a senior in college in February 2021 when she gave birth to her son, Owen. In a series of TikTok videos that have recently gone viral, Brill explained that she was experiencing intense stomach pain and couldn’t stand when she went to the bathroom and called 911. Little did she know that she was actually having contractions.
“One Monday night in February, I did not feel good and something was off,” Brill said in a TikTok video. “I was just like, ‘Wow, I do not feel good, guys.’”
Brill didn’t experience any symptoms or signs of pregnancy during those nine months. She explained in the video that she witnessed no changes to her menstrual cycle, although she later learned from her doctor that this was not her period. She didn’t show in her stomach at all, and continued to drink alcohol during this time.
After viewers expressed much concern for her baby’s health, Brill revealed that her son is perfectly fine and did not show signs of foetal alcohol syndrome. “He is okay,” she said in another video. “I turned 21 when I was six-and-a-half months pregnant not knowing… I drank, I did anything a normal 21, senior year in college would do. I lived my life, obviously.”
Brill explained that when the EMTs arrived at her house after she gave birth, they drove baby Owen to the hospital. “They gave him all these tests… and he was totally fine,” she said.
Brill’s surprise delivery was the result of a cryptic pregnancy, a pregnancy in which a person is unaware that they are expecting a baby until a few weeks before labour or even birth. Research shows that as many as one in 475 pregnancies go undetected until around 20 weeks, and about one in 2,500 pregnancies aren’t recognised until labour.
Speaking to The Independent, Brill always joked that her story was so crazy, it could go viral. She never thought one day it actually would. “It’s been fun to share my story a year later and has been a fun way to relive it with my friends and family!” she told us.
A week before giving birth, Brill took a pregnancy test after noticing changes in her weight. The result was positive, but she determined that she could only be either one month along or three, since she and her boyfriend were in a long-distance relationship. Upon hearing the news, Mitchell — who is now her husband — was shocked to learn Brill had given birth to their baby, but two days later he packed his things and moved to Michigan to be with his new family. That summer, the couple were married.
“Yes, we are together,” Brill said. “Now we live happily with Owen.”
It’s safe to say social media was immediately confused by this college student’s cryptic pregnancy, and spared no questions in the comment section.
“Did you name him Owen because when you found out you were pregnant you were like, ‘Oh? When?’...Anyway,” one TikToker asked.
“Everyone else convinced they could be pregnant right now because of this,” a user said.
“Girl you saved SO much money,” said one person.
“Please tell me you just listed ‘toilet’ as his place of birth on his birth certificate,” someone joked.
“If this happened to me I would simply put him back in,” a TikTok user commented.
For Brill, the best part about sharing her story was learning that she wasn’t alone, and other women had similar pregnancy experiences. “When I had Owen, people reached out to me saying they know people it happened to, but now I’m getting messages from people and it is fun to connect with others that have a very similar story!” she told us.
“It is also crazy how fast videos can get around,” she added. “So many people I know have seen my videos or people recognize places within my videos and that’s fun to see!”
