British soldier gives birth in Camp Bastion

[MikeL]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9554528/British-soldier-gives-birth-in-Camp-Bastion.html

British soldier gives birth in Camp Bastion
A British soldier has given birth to a baby boy while serving in Afghanistan, despite allegedly being unaware she was even pregnant.
By Hannah Furness6:30AM BST 20 Sep 2012

The woman, a gunner in the Royal Artillery, had complained of stomach pains before medics informed her she was in labour.
She gave birth to a son five weeks premature in Camp Bastion on Tuesday.
Mother and baby are both said to be in a stable condition, with a specialist paediatric team from the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, preparing to travel to Afghanistan to assist them on the flight home.
The Ministry of Defence last night confirmed it was against military policy for servicewomen to be deployed on operations while pregnant and said they had been unaware the servicewoman was expecting.
It is the first time a soldier from the UK has given birth while in Afghanistan.

The gunner, who has not been named, had been deployed with the 12th Mechanised Brigade since March and had not been aware she was carrying a child, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
It is understood the baby had been conceived before she flew to Afghanistan to begin the six-month tour. The gunner was in her 34th week of pregnancy when she went into labour.
The Mother, reported to be originally from Fiji, and baby are being cared for at the Camp Bastion Field Hospital until they are able to safely fly home to Britain.
She is said to have passed fitness tests and training, including a eight-mile run with a 25lb backpack.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence last night said: “We can confirm that on 18 September 2012 a UK servicewoman serving in Afghanistan gave birth in the Camp Bastion Field Hospital to a baby boy.
“Mother and baby are both in a stable condition in the hospital and are receiving the best possible care.
“A specialist Paediatric Retrieval Team is being prepared and will deploy in the next few days in order to provide appropriate care for mother and baby on the flight home."
She added: “It is not military policy to allow service women to deploy on operations if they are pregnant. In this instance the MOD was unaware of her pregnancy.
“As with all medical cases, when the need arises, individuals are returned to the UK for appropriate treatment and care.”
Two US Marines were killed and unprecedented material damage caused when attackers armed with guns, rockets and suicide vests stormed the base - where Prince Harry is also located - last Friday.

 

[dimsum]

Besides the massive fail on the pre-deployment medical side (how one manages to hide the fact that they're 7.5 months pregnant is beyond me), I would have loved to see the kid's birth certificate.  Does he immediately start collecting hazard pay?    ???

 

[ttlbmg]

I read a CBC article on the same woman. In that article they noted that she was deployed to Afghanistan in March of this year. (if she delivered at 34 weeks, that would have made her anywhere from 5-9 weeks pregnant) So, she may not have known that she was pregnant when she deployed. I was somewhat surprised that she continued her deployment, all things considered.

 

[medicineman]

Lots of things can cause women to miss their periods, and some even keep having them during the pregnancy...we also note many male soldiers that are carrying medical issues that they hide in order to deploy, either for the financial gain of the deployment, to be able to say they did it or quite simply becuase they're afraid of letting down their mates...take your pick folks.

MM

 

[Jarnhamar]

I've known a few soldiers who used pregnancy to get out of EVERYTHING- this girl sounds pretty tough to me.

 

[GnyHwy]

The way I am reading it, is that she is claiming that she was not aware of her pregnancy at all.  Not until, she "complained of stomach pains".  Although very difficult to believe, this is not the first I have heard of this.  Watch any afternoon talk show, and this topic will eventually come up.

Is it possible to not know physically?  Seems absurd.

Is mental denial that powerful?  I don't know.

 

[ttlbmg]

Tough chick indeed! Although I think it would be odd, I have heard that it is possible to not know if you're pregnant. (I would assume especially if you weren't late at anytime, pregnancy wouldn't be the first thing that came to mind, particularly if the woman was on birth control) There would be a number of factors involved. Here is a question though, if born in a foreign country, would that mean that said child would have citizenship in that country, or because child was born in a British airbase would that make the citizenship issue a moot point?

 

[medicineman]

I've known a few soldiers who used pregnancy to get out of EVERYTHING- this girl sounds pretty tough to me.

Seen that a few times too...

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . . . .
Watch any afternoon talk show, and this topic will eventually come up.

Is it possible to not know physically?  Seems absurd.

Is mental denial that powerful?  I don't know.

Though I'm not much of a watcher of afternoon talk shows, I am (or would be) of the opinion that many of the subjects of such shows are not exactly Mensa candidates.  While it does sound absurd that a soldier could be pregnant for several months without being aware of her condition, it may not be beyond the realm of possibility.  I'm aware of at least one similiar situation involving a Canadian dependant (obviously it didn't involve a deployment) and it was a couple of decades or so ago.  She also claimed that she was unaware she was pregnant, but luckily was diagnosed a month or so before delivery.  It was discovered by accident (well actually by a very astute German physician) when she was referred to a specialist for a problem totally unconnected to women's plumbing.  She claimed she did not recognize the signs of her condition or attributed them to other reasons.  Should she have known better, maybe, since it was not her first, but everything turned out well for her and her husband.

 

[Jimmy_D]

On kinda the same note, There was a much younger girl down home, who never missed her period once. Got into a car accident and was told she was 7mths pregnant. Even the day before she had the child, to look at her you would never have known.

 

[Maxadia]

How many people don't recognize they are having a major heart attack until it is too late?

Unknown pregnancy, completely plausible. 

 

[brihard]

On a different tack, what an awesome day for the docs and med staff in Bastion. With everything they're normally dealing with, suddenly delivering a surprise baby with one of their own contingent's troops has gotta be one of those rare really happy moments...

 

[Pat in Halifax]

Okay, I admit...I am a man but if she did not know she was pregnant, how did the Drs know she was 5 weeks premature...again, I am a man and may be ignorant to these things!

 

[bridges]

Okay, I admit...I am a man but if she did not know she was pregnant, how did the Drs know she was 5 weeks premature...again, I am a man and may be ignorant to these things!

Well, if a woman is in a war zone and if she hasn't had sex since her last night home, I'm *guessing* she probably remembers the date when she left home!  She probably told the medics and they counted forward from there.  [Edit:  unless the child was conceived even earlier... or maybe they did some kind of size measurement to figure these things out... ah, I don't know.]

As for the issue of other people "using pregnancy to get out of things"... with the physical, emotional and financial commitments inherent in having a child, it sounds more like getting INTO things... but whatever. 

On a different tack, what an awesome day for the docs and med staff in Bastion. With everything they're normally dealing with, suddenly delivering a surprise baby with one of their own contingent's troops has gotta be one of those rare really happy moments...

:nod:    Yep.  That'll be quite a story to tell.  Best wishes to her. 

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . . . . Here is a question though, if born in a foreign country, would that mean that said child would have citizenship in that country, or because child was born in a British airbase would that make the citizenship issue a moot point?

Acquiring citizenship of the country in which born would depend on the laws of that country.  Don't know much about Afghan law but I don't expect there is a line up of people wanting to acquire that citizenship.  Simply because a tiny piece of foreign soil is occupied by British (or whatever nationality) troops doesn't make it British soil.  The children born abroad of British soldiers (like the many Canadians born in Germany) are British citizens because a parent was British.  This particular child "may" raise some questions about his nationality.  According to reports the mother is not a British citizen but is a Fijian national.  British citizenship for this " B*****d of Bastion" (I'm assuming the mother was unmarried) might depend on who his father is, if known.

 

[exgunnertdo]

Okay, I admit...I am a man but if she did not know she was pregnant, how did the Drs know she was 5 weeks premature...again, I am a man and may be ignorant to these things!

I had my first at 35 weeks.  I was certain of my due date, and it was confirmed by ultrasound.  When he arrived, 5 weeks early, the nurses were all convinced he was not as early as I thought, since he was a good size for being early.  The pediatrician confirmed his gestational age as 34-36 weeks, based on a couple of "markers" in his development.  So even without my certainty and the ultrasound (because the pediatrician didn't talk to me before he saw my son, and my records were at a different hospital), the doctor could say he was a 35-ish week baby.

As for the period thing - she could have had a period the whole time, or, also likely - women who are deploying often take hormonal birth control for the duration of their deployment to avoid the whole period issue.  Not overly familiar with the options myself - but if she did this, she wouldn't have had a period, and wouldn't have thought anything of it.

 

[medicineman]

Is it possible to not know physically?  Seems absurd.

Is mental denial that powerful?  I don't know.

Most definitely to both...especially if it's a first baby...not everyone pays attention in health class or even pay attention to their bodies that much.  I've lost track how many women of childbearing age can't tell me when their last period was, even if they're regular.  If this lady, to quote Hannibla Lecter, was "roomy" in the hips,  they might not notice a change in the tummy at all...she's likely fit and exercising heavily as a gunner, so would/might have minimal weight gain.  As I said before, maybe she was concealing it to stay on the deployment...I'm willing to bet that now ALL female soldiers will be getting pregnancy tests done as part of their final DAG screenings now  ;D. 

Seen some weird things...I will say this though - the only patient that follows the textbook usually has Munchausesn's Syndrome.

:2c:

MM

 

[bridges]

Are Canadian soldiers currently tested for pregnancy as part of their pre-depl medical?  (the female ones....)

 

[medicineman]

As a general rule, unless things have changed since I got out, no...we treat them like adults and expect to act like them too.  I can just see the CFHS over reaction message now - "All personnel will have a urine Beta HCG done before emplaning and monthly while in theatre"...of course, being that we're supposed to be gender non-specific, someone will read that as boy soldiers as well as girl soldiers and act accordingly  :nod: .

But I'm not a cynic.

MM

 

[bridges]

we treat them like adults and expect to act like them too. 

Actually, it was you who gave me the idea, from your earlier post about DAG screenings.  At any rate, I wasn't thinking of CF-as-parent, but more along the lines of cases where they simply don't know, as seems to have happened here.  But it's hopefully an isolated set of circumstances & soldiers will continue to give themselves pregnancy tests of their own volition.  (the female ones...  :  )