A woman has revealed how a sudden pain in her ribs while in college led to a life-changing discovery.
Olivia Wilson-Graham was 20 and studying at a university in London in 2018 when what she describes as a “whirlwind” of unexpected events kicked into motion.
It started with Olivia heading off to work as a volunteer for the nonprofit organization Raleigh International.
“It was a 10-week placement in rural Nepal, living in community and working towards helping the villages become sustainable,” she told Newsweek. “We did everything from building polytunnels, to teaching basic business skills.”
She returned from Nepal and straight into a job in central London a changed woman. “I’d been vegan the whole time in Nepal, losing nearly 3 stone [42 pounds] in the weeks I was there,” she said. “It was a proper ‘eat, pray, love’ experience.”
Olivia did know it yet, but more change was already afoot. Initially, it seemed like the long days back in the office were taking their toll.
“I was fatigued and had rib pains consistently,” she said. “I put this down to sitting at a desk for hours and honestly not eating loads due to wanting to keep the weight I had lost off.”
Yet, as time went on, the rib pain got worse, to the point where she was struggling with the “horrific” pain. Olivia began to wonder what the issue was. “It did cross my mind that I’d caught something awful [in Nepal] or, despite being so careful with what I was eating, had picked something up from the unpasteurized milk I’d tried so desperately to avoid.”
Eventually, she went to go and see a doctor about her rib pain. Blood samples were taken and Olivia underwent a couple of other tests before a doctor delivered the most unexpected news of her life. She was pregnant.
“I was honestly so in shock, I’d always wanted a career, and honestly thought I’d be the ‘cool, rich auntie’ and never a mother,” she said.
Olivia always had “irregular periods” so she hadn’t thought much of any changes in that respect. “Pregnancy honestly never crossed my mind,” she said. There was one further shock to come, however, when Olivia was told she would be having her baby “within a matter of weeks.”
“I was shaking,” she said. ” I couldn’t talk the whole train ride from the doctor’s clinic back to my apartment near Richmond.”
Olivia was initially distraught at the idea.
“I spent at least two weeks grieving the life I’d thought I lost,” she said. “The working in a big city, having a career and travelling that I so desperately wanted. I found it honestly hard, I hadn’t connected with the baby inside me and was petrified of giving birth.”
But everything changed the moment her son arrived, via a C-section at 39 weeks, around seven weeks after Olivia found out she was pregnant.
“The way I felt when they put him on my chest, it’s indescribable,” she said. “Suddenly everything was right and I knew I was meant to be a mom after all.”
Olivia returned to university, completed her degree and now has the career she always wanted in finance.
“I don’t want any more children but I do think I finally have the best of both worlds,” she said. “The balance of having a career, going on luxury holidays and having nice things all whilst I get to raise this incredible human who defied so many odds to be here.”
Olivia recently opened up about her journey in a video posted to her TikTok under the username @luxehotelreviewer. It’s a channel where she regularly documents her travel experiences with her husband.
“We travel frequently, this year alone we’ve been to Switzerland, Thailand and Cambodia already with plans to go to Montenegro over Easter and I really want to document that through Tik Tok,” she said.
This particular video, however, was about celebrating a different journey, the one that helped Olivia realize “you are stronger than you think.”
“A large part of my story was getting lost, being a mum young, losing myself and now I’m a woman I am proud of,” Olivia said.
The post Gen Zer Returning From 10-Week Trip Shocked at What ‘Horrific’ Rib Pain Was appeared first on Newsweek.
