Baby makes shock arrival in football club toilet

A woman said she had no idea she was pregnant until she gave birth in a football club toilet.

Charlotte Robinson, 29, said the arrival of her son Henry at the ground in Lowestoft, Suffolk, was "the biggest shock of my life" but proof that "miracles do happen".

Six hundred people were at the match on 24 August when Mrs Robinson rushed to a cubicle, felt the urge to push and saw her son's head.

Dr Louise Jenkins, the head of midwifery at Anglia Ruskin University, said cryptic pregnancies, where the mother was unaware of the baby, affected about one in 2,500 births.

Mrs Robinson, who is from Bradwell near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, said things were normal in the run up to Henry's birth.

She had been working an office job and enjoyed a trip to London with her husband Macaulay.

"I couldn't feel him moving... There was nothing different at all," she explained.

Mrs Robinson said she had suffered with hip pain since the birth of her 18-month-old daughter, so did not think anything of it when it worsened.

After the football match finished at Kirkley and Pakefield, she went to the toilet and felt a sudden pressure.

"I thought hang on a minute, I know what that feeling is. I had a quick sort of feel and there was something there that shouldn't have been there."

Mrs Robinson quickly lifted her son out of the toilet and tried to contact her family, but the signal was poor.

"There I am trying to ring my husband or my mother-in-law to come and help and thinking someone's got to answer the phone."

Mr Robinson did not want to go into the women's toilets so his mother Miranda went instead.

She described the scene as "utter chaos".

"I just wondered if the baby was even alive because he seemed so small," she said.

"We eventually had to get Macaulay a chair because he doesn't do blood!"

She said another family member used a football shirt to wrap the baby in, while the club fetched towels and foil sheets.

An off-duty paramedic helped until an ambulance arrived.

Mr Robinson described the day as "surreal but amazing".

He said: "All I'm going to say is I sobered up pretty quickly from the drink... hearing a little man cry.

"Everything just went so slowly. It was as if the earth had literally just stopped."

Dr Jenkins, who is based at Anglia Ruskin's campus in Chelmsford, said Mrs Robinson was not alone.

"We do get lots of women who it's a surprise and they don't realise that their baby is there until it's being born," said Dr Jenkins.

She said the risk was that antenatal care would get missed.

"Generally, once the baby's born they need a good check over to make sure everything's healthy."

• The term is used when a woman does not realise she is pregnant - sometimes until she is in labour

• Irregular bleeding can make women think they have not missed a period. This can happen when a woman is young or has fairly recently given birth, or women going through the menopause who can go up to nine months without having a period. Women with polycystic ovary syndrome can also have irregular periods

• Pregnancy spotting can be mistaken for light bleeding

• If the baby's legs and arms are facing towards the front, someone is much more likely to feel their baby moving. It can also make their bump more visible

• About 300 births in the UK a year are affected. That is the equivalent of one birth per maternity department

Source: Dr Louise Jenkins, head of midwifery, Anglia Ruskin University

The couple said the day of Henry's birth had been more poignant because the match was dedicated to the man Mr Robinson called "uncle Huggy".

James Hutchinson died of a brain tumour in 2023 and the club is trying to raise money for a memorial garden.

The couple have named their new arrival Henry James in his memory.

Mr Hutchinson's wife Jane said the timing of the birth was "so special" and that when she had announced the news to the remaining supporters, something unforgettable happened.

"My friend's little girl came running up to me and said, 'Look what's landed on me' and a white feather had landed on her, so I just felt like he was here on the day."

Mrs Robinson said Henry's arrival had been an adjustment, but a good one after six family members had died in 12 weeks.

"I couldn't imagine life without him now," she said.

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