A teen found out she was pregnant when she was five centimetres dilated and in labour. Bri Blanton, 18, was rushed to hospital by her mum, Jennifer Blackwell, 36, when she woke up doubled over in pain.
The teen - who thought she had wet herself - was told her waters had broken and she was pregnant and in labour. Bri had to quickly adjust to the idea of becoming a mum before giving birth to her little girl, Oakleigh, just two hours later. Despite having no baby bump or pregnancy symptoms, Bri now loves being a mum to Oakleigh, four months.
Bri, a nanny, said: “I woke up early and thought I had wet myself. I was doubled over in pain.
"When they told me I was pregnant and giving birth I was in complete shock. I kept saying to my mum: 'This isn’t possible.'
“They put her on me after she was born and my mum said I looked like a deer in the headlights looking at her. It took me a good four hours after she was born to calm down.
“I told my friends I’d had a baby and they were like ‘but you weren’t pregnant last week’. They couldn’t believe it.”
Mum Jennifer, a branch manager for a care home agency, said: “To us it was like she went to bed and woke up pregnant. She’d been in a bikini at eight months pregnant with no bump and even did a negative pregnancy test.
“We had no idea. But Oakleigh is a blessing. Watching Bri be a mum is really beautiful."
Bri had no pregnancy symptoms and had carried on her active lifestyle - riding, fishing and hunting - unaware she was expecting.
“We bought her prom dress four months before and it fit like a glove,” Jennifer said. “It still fit perfectly on the day of her prom, but she would have been five months pregnant.”
Jennifer’s instinct kicked in when Bri vomited after a heavy meal, and she got her daughter to do a pregnancy test, in summer 2022.
“She took the test in front of me,” Jennifer said. “It said negative, so I was like ‘phew’. We didn’t think about it again.”
When Bri woke up at 4.30am on September 8, 2022, with water all over she thought she had wet the bed. She suddenly doubled over in pain and rushed to get her mum’s help.
“I was freaking out,” Jennifer said. “I had no idea what was wrong with my kid.”
Jennifer took Bri to a medical centre and her daughter explained her symptoms to a nurse.
“The nurse asked if she could check Bri’s cervix,” Jennifer said. “Then the nurse looked at me really eyes wide and said: 'She’s dilated and in labour'. I was worried for her because she was about to have a baby that she wasn’t prepared for. We didn’t have anything at home for a baby.”
Bri was taken to the delivery suite and was in labour for two hours before giving birth to 7lbs 4oz Oakleigh at 7.36am, on September 8. It took a few hours for Bri to get over her initial shock, but once she did Jennifer said her maternal instincts kicked in. Bri and Oakleigh stayed in hospital for 48 hours to make sure they were both OK before they were able to come home to meet Bri's siblings - Mckenzie, 19, and Colton, eight.
“For me it was a full-circle moment, as I had Bri when I was 17,” Jennifer said. “It was lovely to see how people showed up for Bri and didn’t shun her. I had felt judged.”
Now Oakleigh is four months old and Jennifer is proud of the mum Bri, from the upstate of South Carolina, US, has become.
“She’s hands down the best mum,” she said. “Oakleigh has got us all wrapped around her little finger. Her facial expressions are everything. She smiles and laughs all the time. She’s a very happy girl.”
