“I wasn’t showing, I had PMOS and any symptoms I had were typical side effects of taking a GLP-1,” Alysha MacDougall told ABC News
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Alysha MacDougall gave birth unexpectedly in an ambulance during a blizzard after negative pregnancy tests in January, mistaking pregnancy symptoms for GLP-1 symptoms
- Her son Julian was born at 22 weeks, weighing less than a pound and had a 15% chance of survival
- Doctors called Julian’s survival remarkable and praised his parents for their patience during his five-month NICU stay before he went home at last on June 29
A Massachusetts mom who didn’t know she was pregnant gave birth to a baby boy after mistaking her pregnancy symptoms for side effects from a GLP-1 medication.
Alysha MacDougall and her fiancé Carl Pina of Brockton, Mass., brought home their son, Julian, from Tufts Medical Center in Boston on June 29, a spokesperson for the hospital shared in a statement with PEOPLE. MacDougall, 33, gave birth in an ambulance during a blizzard in January, hours after coming home from a friend’s baby shower.
MacDougall recalled taking several pregnancy tests shortly before giving birth, all of which came back negative. She had previously been diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), and was prescribed a GLP-1 medication to assist with weight management, as weight gain is often a symptom of PMOS.
“I didn’t think there was any possible way,” MacDougall shared with the spokesperson for Tufts about not knowing she was pregnant in January. “I wasn’t showing, I had PMOS and any symptoms I had were typical side effects of taking a GLP-1.”
PMOS is a “hormone health issue that starts to show signs in women of childbearing age,” and can impact a person’s fertility, according to Mayo Clinic. GLP-1 medications, meanwhile, can induce nausea and vomiting, per Stanford Medicine.
She began bleeding on her bathroom floor at 3 a.m. on Jan. 26, the spokesperson for Tufts shared with PEOPLE. Pina, 43, proceeded to call 911, and drove behind the ambulance en route through the treacherous conditions to the hospital.
MacDougall recounted having “excruciating stomach pains” before she lost consciousness, according to ABC News.
“I’m listening to her mother on speakerphone with the hospital,” Pina told the outlet of the shocking moment he learned his fiancée had given birth. “They said, ‘We’re just letting you know that Alysha’s doing great and the baby’s OK. It’s a boy,’ and I just sat there. I’m like, ‘Did I just hear that right?’”
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Baby Julian was born at roughly 22 weeks, meaning he had been carried for less than half of a typical full-term pregnancy, and weighed less than a pound, the spokesperson for Tufts said.
Tufts Medical NICU’s medical director Dr. Jaclyn Boulais said in a statement that Julian was “fragile, unstable and needed meticulous care, including maximum ventilator support” and that “his skin was paper-thin.”
Credit: Getty
“He was intubated on a specialized ventilator that we use for preterm infants,” Boulais told ABC News. “He [had] very thin, gelatinous skin, extremely small, and was requiring help, essentially, from every system.”
Dr. Boulais said that Julian only had a 15% chance of survival, according to Tufts Medical.
“It’s incredibly uncommon for babies of this gestational age to have no brain bleeding,” Dr. Boulais elaborated in a statement from Tufts. “Many of these extremely preterm babies born outside a tertiary care hospital have substantial bleeding, but nearly all have at least some. It’s one of the biggest markers of long-term neurological impact.”
“We were so worried about all the things we didn’t do in preparation for having a baby, because we didn’t know we were having a baby,” said Alysha, per Tufts. “But we made it through, he’s home now and he’s perfect.”
She thanked the NICU staff for their support during little Julian’s long journey to health.
“We really fell in love with the NICU staff,” Alysha shared with the spokesperson for Tufts Medical. “I went back and forth virtually every single day and there was just so much love and support for Julian and our whole family. We are truly grateful.”
PEOPLE has reached out to MacDougall for comment.
Read the full article here
