On July 20, 2019, Sydney Dienner was supposed to wake up early and head to New York for a bridal shower. But what woke her up instead was an excruciating pain in her stomach that was about to change her life forever.
At the time, Dienner—of Lancaster, Pennsylvania—assumed that she just needed to go to the bathroom. However, she told Newsweek, the “pain persisted” and she started to wonder if she might have a blockage in her bowel, the feeling was so severe.
“I woke my husband, telling him there was something wrong and we needed to go to the hospital,” Dienner, 30, said. “As he got up and started getting himself and our son ready, I went back to the bathroom to try and relieve some of the pain.
“When I sat on the toilet, my body pushed, and something gushed out of me. I was so scared, I thought I was dying.”
In that moment, as Dienner felt a sharp pain go through her back, she felt the need to assume a more comfortable position.
She moved onto the floor—and to her absolute shock, a baby’s head emerged.
She had no idea she was even pregnant, and here she was delivering her second child by herself on the bathroom floor. While her husband Dwylan was in another room calling 911, Dienner yelled “there’s a baby”—and he came running.
Dienner continued: “Before I saw her, I had no idea what was happening. It was the scariest thing I have ever been through.”
By the time her husband came into the room, the baby had been safely delivered. The 911 dispatcher was still on the call and they offered some instructions for the couple until an ambulance arrived.
“It’s funny because I was supposed to be leaving to drive to New York with my mom at that time,” Dienner said. “It was so hard calling my mom from an ambulance to tell her I’d be going to the hospital instead and that I had just given birth to a baby.
“Once we got to the hospital we found out that baby and I were completely healthy. There were no complications with birth, or the pregnancy. What a miracle,” she continued.
The American Pregnancy Association estimates that 1 in every 475 pregnancies may go undetected or unnoticed until about 20 weeks, while one in 2,500 pregnancies aren’t recognized until labor begins. These are known as cryptic, or stealth, pregnancies.
There may be very few or no symptoms during a cryptic pregnancy, and many of the changes (such as fatigue or nausea) can be attributed to lifestyle or being sick.
Dienner named her daughter Willow and says she is “joy personified.” They have created so many wonderful memories in the last six years, but the birth experience remains a “terribly traumatic event” for Dienner.
At the time, with no idea she was even pregnant, let alone in active labor, Dienner was adamant that she was dying. Now, when she reflects on that day, she’s so thankful that the reality was very different, but it was undoubtedly hard to process.
She’s replayed those nine months in her head so many times but can’t recall a single moment that could have indicated that she was expecting. With her firstborn, Dienner found out when she was around six months pregnant, while with her youngest son, she knew extremely early.
Dienner told Newsweek: “I suffered from postpartum depression, and at the time I was diagnosed, I would have been considered manic. I suffered in silence for a long time because I felt so guilty that my daughter’s birth provoked negative emotions.
“I felt like I simply needed to be joyful and thankful. Though I was those things, I wish I felt more comfortable to tell someone what I was going through. Mental health is so serious, and I wish more moms knew that admitting you’re in a bad spot does not make you a bad mom.”
Not knowing anyone else who had experienced a cryptic pregnancy, Dienner didn’t feel like anyone could truly relate to her experience. After seeing a recent TikTok trend, Dienner shared her birth story online (@sydneydienner) in the hopes of connecting with others.
The post went viral with 156,000 views and 9,100 likes on TikTok at the time of writing, as social media users were left stunned. Dienner said it was “life-giving” to connect with other women who understood what she went through.
She added: “It’s cool sharing about cryptic pregnancies and creating the opportunity to talk about the importance of mental health advocacy in motherhood.
“I am deeply thankful for my girl, but I wish I would have known (even just slightly earlier) that she was coming. I want to give glory to God. He protected me and my daughter every step of the way, and I will spend all my days praising Jesus because of it.”
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