New Mom Didn't Know She Was Pregnant; 'It Just Clicked' When Baby Came

NEW LENOX, IL — A New Lenox woman who got the shock of a lifetime when she delivered a baby she didn't know she was carrying recently praised the paramedics who were on the scene that day.

Amanda Griffin, 22, had no idea she was pregnant when she began experiencing stomach cramps on a Friday night in August. She fought through them for a day, before finally crawling into bed to try to "sleep it off." The pain kept her up, and the cramps—which she now realizes were contractions—increased in intensity and frequency, with one coming every five minutes.

She felt she needed to use the restroom, and as she tried, realized something didn't seem or feel right. She glanced in a mirror that was positioned across from her, and spotted something ... unexpected.

"What the heck is that?!" she remembers thinking.

Minutes later, as she lay on the floor of the bathroom, she birthed her son—an 8-pound, 3-ounce, 21.5-inch surprise. He cried instantly.

"Oh my gosh, what do I do?," she recalled thinking.

She took the newborn—now named Chase— to the bathtub and climbed in, rinsing him with warm water. She then realized she still had to deliver her placenta. Moments later, she stood with her son in one hand, and placenta in the other. She laid both on a towel on the bathroom floor, and went to wake her boyfriend, Dillan Murphy, 20.

"Hey, I just had a baby in the bathroom," she told him, as she tried to rouse him. He groggily began to wake—and then heard the baby's cries and muttered, "What's that noise?!"

Both in shock, her boyfriend went downstairs to wake Griffin's father, too, who also lives in the house. They called 9-1-1, and Griffin can still picture the moments after they arrived.

One rushed up the stairs to check the baby and cut the umbilical cord. Others focused on Griffin, making sure she was warm, comfortable, and not in pain. They got both into an ambulance and to Silver Cross Hospital, where doctors said both were perfectly healthy, and that Griffin had in fact carried her pregnancy to full-term.

"I knew I was gaining weight, but we were frequently eating out, so I thought it was because of that, but yeah, apparently it wasn’t," Griffin said, laughing, of the months leading up to that night.

Griffin's body never necessarily showed her pregnancy. Her boyfriend recalled to her that she never appeared very clearly "round," only "puffy," Griffin said, and her friends agreed. Nurses told her she likely carried her son deep against her back, making his growth and the pregnancy's progression less obvious. Her menstrual cycle had been irregular in the past also, she said. She experienced no pregnancy symptoms—no morning sickness, no visible growth—and did not feel any kicks or fetus movement throughout the months leading up to his birth.

With seven siblings—five sisters and two brothers—Griffin's family sprang to action to get them all the necessities for their unexpected arrival. One of the paramedics even delivered diapers, wipes and some clothing for Chase.

After testing positive for COVID-19, Griffin was released from the hospital several days later. Chase was kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit briefly for difficulty swallowing and breathing at the same time. Four days after he was born, his parents brought Chase home to their very new reality.

Griffin, a lifelong New Lenox resident and Lincoln-Way West High School graduate and Murphy, a Tinley Park native and graduate of Victor J. Andrew High School, have been together three years. Prior to Chase's arrival, the two had hopes of starting a family—eventually. Being thrown into parenthood unexpectedly has been an adjustment, but Griffin's years spent babysitting and Murphy's years as a big brother came in handy for both.

Some of it came naturally for Griffin, though, she said.

"It just clicked," Griffin said. "Instincts like 'mom mode.'"

In November, the couple took their surprise bundle to meet the New Lenox paramedics—Dan, Missy, Matt and Jeff—who were there that day. They told the couple to bring Chase back some day when he's older, and they'll show him around and the ambulance and fire trucks.

"... just to be able to thank them for how fast they got here, and how they were able to make us feel comfortable," Griffin said. "We were able to bring them some snacks and drinks, just as a little thank you for all that they do. That was amazing.

"I could not thank them enough for what they do!" Griffin wrote on social media. "They are our literal heroes."