Why wasn't she sent home long before the baby was due? That's just crazy.

Janine, sounds to me like she "didn't know" she was pregnant: "The woman only discovered she was pregnant and about to give birth when she complained of stomach pain."

"i shall call him conan"

that kid's going to have some pretty cool history...

They should name the child "James Tiberius."

As in James Tiberius Kirk.

@Janine-1645002

She didn't know she was preggo. And yes that is possible to do. My sister-in-law didn't know she was preggo until 5 months (she had fertility issues and didn't get her cycle like she was supposed to). She actually thought she might have a tumor since her belly was growing while she was losing weight.

I also knew a girl in high school that had a baby when they visited Washington D.C. on a field trip. She also didn't have a regular cycle and actually had a picture of herself in a bikini the day before the birth. I think Jay Leno mentioned it in his monologue. You wouldn't have guessed she was preggo at all and the baby was 8 lbs too.

Prince Harry got naked and got him some booty...........

"The woman only discovered she was pregnant and about to give birth when she complained of stomach pain."... she must be the dumbest woman in the British Army or in severe denial, either way I'm calling bullsh|t... "she didn't know..."! Ok, lets give her that excuse in March when she arrived, but then came April, May, June, July and August... with NO PERIOD... I'm sure that she had to gain some weight.

Well, at least the baby is OK... since he was (technically) born in battle now she has to give him a really cool name... "John Connor"... his nickname can be "Gunny".

82, you are mistaken. I was super skinny, had three periods a year (maybe). I didn't know I was pregnant for my first kid until I was 16 weeks along. I had no morning sickness, it was only when I started getting a pot belly that wouldn't go away that I even suspected I was pregnant. My first two kids were 5 lbs and 4 lbs at birth (full term), and I gained very little weight. I suspect this British soldier was either super thin or on the chunky side, and was used to going months between periods. I also think she's a heck of a tough lady, and I'd rather read about her story than see photos of some celeb's baby bump.

"British soldier in Afghanistan gives birth at base attacked by Taliban"

British soldier, Lance Corporal George "Wanker" McWilliams, said, "Whooda thunk? I thought I had shat me pants again."

@82AllAmericans Um my sister in law has fertility issues and wasn't ovulating and therefore no periods. I myself also have a condition where I can go as much as a year without one. So You really do not know what you are talking about. Also, I knew a girl in high school that didn't look a bit over weight up to and including wearing a bikini and looking really good and then gave birth to an 8lb full term baby. She also had irregular cycle and it was not uncommon for her to go that long without a period.

annsrum, I do not ovulate but I get my period every 28 or 30 days each month. I am infertile due to Cystic Fibrosis and the severity of it. (Now that does not mean women with CF cannot have children. Some do ovulate while others need fertility various fertility treatments. In my case I need an egg donor.) Most women do not ovulate every month.

Did anyone on this thread ever pay attention in their biology classes? How about anatomy and physiology classes? It really amazes me how much stupidity comes out of people's mouths. Ignorance is running amuk on this thread from top to bottom!!! Most of the people on this thread need to go back to school. Might I suggest starting with kindergarten since manners seem to be lacking.

essie222... thus proving my point... you DID notice that something was different, this woman was in labor when she found out ... @Julie I agree and I will lump myself into that assessment, but even though it happens, I just find it hard to believe it's true.

Juliew

Your condition aside, addressing ignorance by calling the posters names does not "teach" anyone very well. There is a way to accomplish this so your message is taken as CONstructive criticism, not DEstructive. That way people may be more open and receptive to learning. Try it and see how it works for you.

she had fertility issues and didn't get her cycle like she was supposed to

My wife had her cycle even when she was pregnant. Her last deployment she found out that she was pregnant two months after she left (a testament that birth control does not always work).

If someone else had pulled out, she'd not have had a baby in combat!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Haha Mike, that was nice. Way to make me chuckle!

We need to turn Afghanistan over to China since they still have the ability to deal with insurgencies....

just like we used to be able to deal with Native Americans.

All I could think was best wishes for the mom and new baby and now we are in more trouble. How dare an infidel be born in Afghanistan. No telling what kind of retaliation there will be.

lol

Ralph1994- it happens a lot more than you think. Women can still continue to bleed monthly, thereby thinking they are having a regular period. It is also common for them to lose weight because baby is taking so much from them but they don't feel hungry. The babies are also typically not very active because they haven't had proper nutrition and care. I work in healthcare and I have had a couple women come in who were trying to get pregnant and couldn't figure out why it wasn't happening. Come to find out they were and just didn't know it unitl labor time!

Happens all the time.

No, it doesn't "happen all the time." It's rare and when it does happen it often involves a severely under-developed or dead fetus.

What are your sources to prove that statement patter123?

It's rare, but not at all unheard of, especially if the mother has some extra weight. If this woman was deployed it's entirely possible she was carrying some extra weight when she left, but the activity of being deployed kept her from gaining more and exhibiting a normal pregnancy. If she had irregular periods she might not know what was going on or if she developed them, could easily have chalked it up to the phsyical/mental stress of deployment.

It happens all the time. There is a stupid reality show about it on TLC or Discovery or something. It's called, "I didn't know I was pregnant."

I have seen 200 lbs guys come back from over there weight 160lbs. Serving over there is like being on Survivor. You loose any extra weight you might have. I suspect it is common for women serving over there to be irregular and maybe nothing at all for months. My only concern is that this mean she received no pre-natal vitamins or supplements. Hopefully they give her and "Gunner Jr." plenty of tests to make sure both are doing perfectly. Congrats Mom.

It DOES happen. Happened to my sister-in-law. She'd had a tubal ligation and 'couldn't' get pregnant so pregnancy was never on her radar.

If I tell them they will send me home. I don't want to go home.

Great Marine!

She knew she was close to Medical help and was not putting the new child in any danger. I suspect she is on a plane to Germany/England with the Baby. She will be a welcome addition to any Military Hospital.

to lose weight because baby is taking so much from them but they don't feel hungry.

She could also have been gaining because they don't have a scheduled PT many don't work out enough when they are in the FOB the food is very rich in calories also If you look at them coming off the plane you will find more than a few will have to be on a diet and have PT twice a day.

Nobody cares anymore Mark. Most likely she concealed this pregnancy for the sake of career advancement. The fact that she knowingly endangered the baby by doing this will be glossed over.

Personally, Id have her brought up on charges and let a jury figure it out. She better thank God she is in the British Army and not subject to UCMJ.

Despite the possibility that an innocent child's life was recklessly endangered, I would guess that there will not be so much as an investigation.

but another reason why women should not be in or near combat

Yeah! Just in case there's another million to one occurrence that a woman is pregnant and doesn't know it. Better keep all those fragile 'lil gals away from combat because one woman made the history books and didn't know she was pregnant until she delivered. I once read that a man had his appendix burst on a military base. Better keep all men away from combat, too, in case that happens again!

GI Joe - I seriously doubt that she simply did not care about her pregnancy. This happens more than you think, when women seriously do not know they are pregnant...and they don't have to be overweight not to notice. Why don't you google unknown pregnancies or similar? Educate yourself.

It's a psychologically traumatic experience for a woman not to know that she's pregnant, much less figuring that out as she's giving birth on an army base in the middle of hostile territory. Put yourself in her shoes. And what career advancement could she have been hiding her pregnancy for? The career of possibly getting killed? Court marshalled for actually concealing her pregnancy but doing nothing about it until the very day she had to give birth? C'mon...where's the common sense?

Sorry ladies. Let me apologize for GI JOE. He obviously can't read. I had a sister deliver her baby on a crowded bus because she didn't know she was pregnant and had no clue she should have been heading to the hospital instead of work. YES, guys (and a few of you unbelieving gals), it happens more than you think. And if you don't think so, the ladies on here are right when they say us guys don't know squat about a woman's body!

Obviously, the woman does not know about her body, either. Sorry, ladies. But, most females put on an amount of weight while pregnant. Most women get larger in the front. It is rare that either or both do not happen. If she is that much overweight that she cannot see the weight gain, then she is not in shape to be in the armed forces. I stand by what I say. Women do not have the same requirements as men for military service, just like in most cities for police and firefighters. I have no problem with females being in these areas, but should have to meet the exact same requrements as men. Also, requirements should not be lowered, just so women can make pass the requirements.

@ Mark

Yes MOST women do gain weight when they get pregnant, but some don't. a baby weighs at the most 10lb at birth. 10lb is nothing and depending on the size of the woman and how she distributes her weight, it could be hardly noticeable. Women really dont have to gain that much weight when they are pregnant, it all has to do with hormones. Also a woman can have her period all through pregnancy so that fact alone would probably lead MOST women (who didn't already know they were pregnant) to not suspect anything. Women who arent in combat also stop having their period for simple reasons like stress at work so I'm pretty sure that being at war may be a valid reason as well. No two pregnancies are alike so when you have one in an extreme situation it definitely does not manifest itself the same way it does for Becky down the street who sits around all day saying that shes "eating for 2" and thats why she gained 80 lbs for a 7 lb baby.

How about you leave the speculation as to what a woman's body should or shouldn't be doing to the experts...women.

Mark384387.... Sorry, calling bull@!$%#! I was an aircraft firefighter in the Marine Corps. (MOS 7051) My qualifications were the same as all the men I served with. Probably even more so, because I had to work harder than and be better than them, to get any amount of respect for doing the same job as they. Think of it like this, this soldier was in combat her entire pregnancy. Whether she knew it or not, she was still in COMBAT while pregnant and did her job just fine. This should make it perfectly clear that women in combat can do just as well as men, some with even bigger obstacles. Ya know, your statement is so ignorant! I was "handline man" in a 1000 gallon fuel fire (training) while 2 months pregnant. Fighting this blaze with a 300 psi handline, and when it got too "hot" for the other MALE handline man and rescue man, they turned tail and got the hell outta dodge! While me and my rescue man stayed in there and "saved" the pilot. Maybe you're not good enough for some of these jobs? So save your insecurities of having a pregnant female in combat and think before you say something about us fragile female types.

It does indeed happen more than you know. With my first child I never had morning sickness, never did get a pregnancy test to show positive even immediately prior to delivery, and didn't show until I was well over 7 months. As it turns out, I was extremely skinny in those days and did eventually show, but I could see how a woman of stocky build might not ever show. I don't know how I knew I was pregnant, I just did. But without a positive test, I couldn't get the Army to agree with me. I pulled regular duty including physical training until I was well over 6 months along before I could convince the Army I needed restrictive duty.

See what I mean Mark? They'll accept the 10,000,000 to 1 odds that she was unknowingly pregnant long before they'll accept much better odds that she was deliberately concealing a pregnancy, probably with hopes of secretly delivering and disposing of the baby.

I'll accept that some women do indeed become pregnant without knowing it. After talking to 3 MD's this morning,(here at work), they say this is highly improbable on a physically fit woman. Seeings how she was in the Army, I doubt she suffered from obesity.

Why are some people so stuck on this "equal rights" nonsense, that they can't even conceptualize that a criminal act may have occurred?

None of this has anything to do with "equality". IF the mother knowingly and willingly concealed this pregnancy, she should be prosecuted. Why are some of you so hell bent that she couldn't possibly have done this?

Mark...I think Julie just served you up a platter of STFU casserole.

GI Joe...Are you currently enrolled in some type of creative writing class at your local community college?

That last post was like you were on some kind of "let's just make some sh!t up" roll and couldn't stop. Not one fact, just babble about some crazy idea of her wanting to kill and dispose of the baby? WTF?

Jonedp

Did you skip the deductive reasoning class at YOUR local community college?

Facts from the article:

1: She was pregnant

2: She claimed she didn't know she was pregnant.

My BS radar flew up on that one. Sorry if you were taught to accept someone's utterances as fact without investigating. I personally do not believe she didn't know she was pregnant. This also implies willful concealment on her part, and if she'd endanger the baby by not providing it proper prenatal care, what else would she do? You may believe her story, I do not. Just because I am mentally capable of filling in the blanks, doesn't make me a bad person.

On a seperate note, it strikes me as quite odd that you liberals are always attempting to suppress free speech. Isn't free speech one of your staple platforms?

GI Joe: Here's a little tip: when you're in a hole, quit digging. Makes you sound like a total as$hole, and ignorant to boot.

Most likely she concealed this pregnancy for the sake of career advancement. The fact that she knowingly endangered the baby by doing this will be glossed over.

My wife happened to get pregnant from the activity's the night before she got on the plane (birth control does not always work). She had the pregnancy test before she left but she is always worried that she is pregnant sins she still gets a regular cycle when pregnant So she had a test and found out she was pregnant this took two months. Her pregnancy did not affect her advancement at all she just made it to E-7

British Army and not subject to UCMJ.

I don't think it applied to this case any ways.

Seeings how she was in the Army, I doubt she suffered from obesity.

She may have been gaining weight and thought it was the food she was being served the food is very high in calorie and rich in fat. and when your in the FOB you do PT on you own. this is why so many soldiers come home over weight and have to have two PT's a day. My brother in-law is a health freak in the air force he only eat 1-1.5 meals a day because he counted calories and worked out every minute he could he lost only 5lb.

GI JOE-1977278

Well thank fully for both you and her she not in the US military, she’s in the British one. Also if she was planning on getting rid of the baby (as you so implied) then that’d make her pretty dam ruthless, which sounds like an excellent trait for a combat solider, after all if she’s ruthless enough to kill her own baby, I’d bet she’d kill anyone else the state told her to without hesitation.

Actually they don't love the Taliban. They however favor the Taliban over folks that can't understand their language. Get out of your white trash cave and try to understand a situation before making comments. I am sure if you had Azerbaijani soldiers patrolling your neighborhood you would rather prefer white skinned criminals over someone speaking Azerbaijani.

Man, do you bother to read the stories or just the headlines? She didn't know she was pregnant which happens more often than you would think. Some pregnancies never have any symptoms.

But it sure does not stop them from spewing their ignorance as loudly and obnoxiously as possible!

I guess the socialized healthcare system in the UK doesn't extend to their military. Maybe its not all its cracked up to be.

Perhaps a pregnancy test is a good idea before deployment.

They probably did but if she conceived right before she went over a false negative is a high probability. The body doesn't start producing the hormone detected in urine by pregnancy tests until 4-6 weeks.

I found out about my first pregnancy when I had my pre-deployment physical during Desert Storm. Turned out I was approx. two weeks. Blood pregnancy tests can pick up slight hormonal changes very early.

We found out we were expecting before I missed a period with a urine test...you can tell long before 6 weeks.

Didn't the UK military give her a pregnancy test during her deployment physical? It is a part of the process here in the US....

My wife conceived the night before she was deployed (birth control failed) She also had another soldier that conceived the week before.(she had the "T" thing put in wrong). the test was done a few days before deployment. It happens all the time. When they get in trouble with UCMJ and the British version is if it happens when they are their.

Nice to see the women posting who think they have exclusive knowledge of anatomy and psychology that men aren't privy to.

You seem angry GI Joe. Why the hate?

Trust me Kadie, most men are very aware of how mental women are. Your post is a shining example of it......

@Jessie

So calling out a sexist because of their gender bias is displaying anger? I thought my post was rather calm. No caps rants, profanity, nothing.

Are you a feminist psychology expert as well?

GI Joe...pretty sure that women have exclusively been the ones getting pregnant for the last several million years. I'd say that that gives them an insight into the process that NO man can ever understand.

It's really not that hard to get - the irony of a man telling a women how to feel when she is pregnant, when that man has never, and more importantly CAN never, know how to feel when you are pregnant. Talk about back seat driving.

Then to make it worse, this particular women is risking her life in a combat zone, while you sit behind a keyboard...telling her how she should feel while she's pregnant...WTF?

Oh, Jonedp

Unless you are an OB/GYN you have to ask the Dr. whats going on inside just like I do. I doubt seriously that any physician has one set of pregnancy explanations to give to males, and a different set to give to females. Your claim to exclusive insight concerning human anatomy is bogus.

As for her "risking her life in a combat zone while I sit behind a keyboard", I already did my bit many times over. After repeated and lengthy deployments over the past 22 years of my active service, I'm in no need for an instructional on "combat zones". If it were up to me, she wouldn't have been there in the first place, but you feminists just keep pushing.............

Some of those "noisy trouble makers" with IED holes in their heads and chests that you mention could be gay and lesbian soldiers who also put their lives on the line, soldiers whom you stereotype and mock. Please - stay in your pit.

She, as a soldier, wouldn't have been "serving" and doing her job if she had gone into labor just before or during an attack. She would have been "unavailable" for duty, her fellow soldiers would have been deprived of her skills and related protection, her child would have been in harms way, and lives could have been lost. The whole scenario is stupid, but you excuse it by calling criticism "sour grapes from macho men". Equality means being equally responsible and doing your part, not, "I can't fight the enemy right now, I'm having contractions!"

So nothing ever happens to anyone before battle, that they can't be "on the spot," Nikolaus? Your scenario is not only pure conjecture, it also is one that fails to accommodate the fact that many things can go wrong medically with a soldier that would render him or her unfit for duty at a particular moment of crisis. From appendicitis to undiagnosed heart ailments and beyond. Look how many high-school football players die each year. Up to the point where this soldier started complaining of stomach pains, she appears to have been responsible and doing her part, or she would have been in trouble for performance problems. If she had had a heart attack, would you have been happier? BTW: they took my uncle "off-line" in WWII when they found out he had caught malaria.

PS: when a pregnant woman or infant is injured or killed in a combat zone, it is commonly referred to as "collateral damage." Disgusting, isn't it.

Twisted logic. Of course things happen unexpectedly to soldiers so that they can't be "on the spot". Heart attacks "happen". Other medical disabilities can suddenly "happen". It's possible that she didn't know she was pregnant, but the act of GETTING pregnant doesn't just "happen". If your female, a soldier, and you have sex, then you risk getting pregnant. There are tests for that. Being fit for duty means that you check for anything that might counter battle readiness. Women rightly blame men for certain pregnancy situations that affect their lives negatively, but then make excuses for women who give birth in a combat zone! Sorry, but hat's disgusting too.

Read the posts. The "tests for that" are not necessarily accurate, and certainly are not accurate in the early stages of pregnancy. I would think that this soldier underwent a physical before going overseas and passed. It's pretty much standard operating procedure. Look. It happened. Stuff happens. The vaguarities of life happen. The British military dealt with it, as it does every other emergency, and life goes on.

When my aunt served in Viet Nam, she had a colleague who was sent home because she was pregnant, and that was in the early 1970's.

You don't have to politicize everything, you know. Try appreciating what your fellow citizens try to do for you.

Pattie, having reread your comments, I begin to understand some of the points you make. As for my "politicizing" everything, I'm not sure what you refer to. If you found the following to be "political":

"Women rightly blame men for certain pregnancy situations that affect their lives negatively, but then make excuses for women who give birth in a combat zone! Sorry, but that's disgusting too."

then the following from you qualifies also:

"Most of this complaining by men is either great naivete or sour grapes because women can serve in the military, the last bastion of the macho."

In your posts, you rejected all possible logical scenarios in order to dump on this woman. There has been no need for that. She was pregnant, she didn't know it, she shipped out, she did her job, she had the baby. That's it. No harm, no foul. As for having a baby in a war zone, that has occurred for centuries.

The "naivete" is for you (and the other guys) refusing to accept what actually can happen during a pregnancy, including not knowing that it exists until the deadline, notwithstanding how many times it is explained to you. The "sour grapes" is a reference to seizing on the fact that the biological functions of women and men differ as an argument for keeping women out of the military in general and blaming people who are women, basically, for being women. What you are into is sexual politics. In fact, we're all in this together and we should realize that and start working together.

"Defending" her country, Big Al!!

Thank you so much for insulting the memory of my aunts, who served in WWII and Viet Nam. Just what do you think my brave ancesters were doing? Go to hell. Thank you SO MUCH for your insults to the people who proudly don the uniform of the United States of America to defend us. You worthless pig. You are not even worthy to speak the names of Helen and of Anne Marie. I spit on you.

"Defending" her country, Big Al!!

....and what in the hell is a reading comprehension illiterate person doing commenting? RTFS

Bravo!!

Yeah, I sure am tired of people who comment on articles without reading them.

homesick yank, I have disliked many of Big Al's comments in the past, but this one is reasonable. The article says that the soldier didn't realize that she was pregnant until she started to give birth. Yeah? And? Despite not knowing, she was still "a pregnant women out in the field". If a woman's body is her own (and it is) - then you can't expect commanding officers to order routine pregnancy tests for female soldiers. A sexually active women soldier has a responsibility to check for pregnancy HERSELF. If she didn't take precautions, or if precautions failed, or if she didn't have herself checked out, then "what is a pregnant women doing in the field" is still a legitimate question.

It's a good thing we handle pain better than you do.

Since her pregnancy wasn't discovered until she was already in labor, that would have been a bit difficult. Or do you think flying on a plane out of a war zone is a safer place to give birth?

Is reading the whole story really that difficult?

tigntink: Based on several of the responses I've seen here, yes, it is.

Why not, you can.

Tarzan...I just love it when peoples screen names accurately describe their personalities.

You couldn't have picked a better name for yourself.

To be completely fair, if she conceived immediately before deploying, any pregnancy test would have come back negative. You can also come back negative on a pregnancy test from the doctor's office and still actually be pregnant (my 7 year old is proof of that possibility).

Carly - false negatives are more common that you might thing on pregnancy tests. That's if you are showing any symptoms you are suppose to take one every 3 days for x amount of time. A false positive is much more rare.

All a pregnancy test is looking for is certain hormones in the urine which aren't consistently present during early pregnancy.

In the US, predeployment pregnancy tests are blood plasma, not urine. They show much earlier. I was approx 2 1/2 weeks when mine was discovered.

Who says she had "unprotected" sex?

Maybe she never assumed she might be pregnant BECAUSE she used birth control (it just didn't work).

In the US, predeployment pregnancy tests are blood plasma, not urine. They show much earlier. I was approx 2 1/2 weeks when mine was discovered.

Yes they do and yes it does but would it show if she conceived the night before deployment and the birth control failed? it happened with my wife.

They only read the headline not the actual article and then scurry their way down to the bottom to post some drivel about how women shouldn't be in the military or why would she be in a combat zone while pregnant or doesn't the uk give pregancy tests... blah blah blah.

I had no idea I was pregnant with my son until I was 5 months. I was 110lbs, gained no weight, still had my period, no morning sickness, and not other symptoms. I went to the er for appendicitis and the policy of the hospital was to do a pregnancy test on all women who need xrays. Turned out I was also pregnant and five months at that. I didn't gain weight or show until my 8th month and then it was only 14 pounds. My son was healthy and weighed just under 6 pounds at birth. Most people had no clue I was pregnant as when I gave birth I was wearing a size 6 instead of the normal 2 I wore.

Jfl, if you're on the short side, too, we're kin. I weighed 97 lbs when I found out I was 16 weeks pregnant, I weighed 120 lbs when I gave birth. I had three kids, never had one day of morning sickness. No hot flashes, etc on the other side of things either! :)

Every pregnancy is different and being in a combat zone already makes your body do wacked out things. Many women have their period go irregular just from the stress. The signs may have been there but it is easy to write those things off to stress or dehydration or exhaustion.

Well, exactly, she probably was in denial. Which doesn't mean that she denied it to others, it means that she really truly didn't know she was preggers, her brain simply could not accept the possibility. It is not a conscious choice.