William Morgan
A heavy night of drinking can leave you feeling like every ray of light is stabbing you in the eyes and that every soundwave was put out there to hurt you, but what one woman thought was a hangover actually turned out to be a surprise pregnancy.
This was the shocking experience of Alex Paige Moore when she was 21, working as a dental nurse with no visible signs that she was in fact halfway through a cryptic pregnancy.
"I actually had a six-pack just before I found out that I was pregnant," Alex said. "I have polycystic ovaries, so I wasn't getting regular periods anyway, I’d get maybe one or two a year. So, not having a period wasn't unusual."
In fact, many of the classic signs of pregnancy that every woman knows were missed as a result of Alex's active lifestyle, with her full social calendar and fitness regimen explaining away a number of her major health red flags.
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Explaining how she missed such obvious signs, Alex shared: "As for morning sickness, I had a bit of heartburn, but again, it was after I'd taken pre-workout, so I was like, 'It's probably just the pre-workout.' I was really sick one day after I drank, basically vomiting all day."
"But I was like, 'I had a big night. I didn't finish till 3:00 a.m. So, I'm not going to be like, 'am I pregnant?' I think I'm just hungover," she recalled.
Alex suffered a number of other more worrying symptoms that should have hinted to her that something was seriously wrong, with the young woman experiencing fainting spells and a general fatigue as her unwitting pregnancy progressed.
But thanks to the insistence of her mother, the then-dental nurse went to see her doctor, believing that her odd symptoms were the result of a growing eating disorder or some nutritional deficiency.
"I went to the doctors and did the blood test and never went back for the results," Alex revealed. "And it was a month later. Mum was like, 'Did you go back and get the results because you're not feeling any better?'
"And I'm like, 'No.' So, she's like, 'You need to call up and get the result.' So, I went in and then they're like, 'Yeah, everything's normal. It's probably just the fact that you're pregnant.' I was like, 'What? I'm pregnant?' And they're like, 'Yeah didn’t you know?' I was like, 'What the hell?'"
Yet, at this point, Alex was unaware of just how far along she was, and she found herself consumed by concerns about being unprepared for motherhood, as well as about her less than suitable boyfriend. She hoped that there would be a quick way out.
"When I immediately found out I was pregnant, I assumed, 'Okay, I must be 4 weeks pregnant.' Did I have a thought of 'I don't know if this is what I want right now'? 100 percent. I was thinking that," Alex shared.
"But then me and my partner were talking about it and before we even found out how far along we were, I felt like the logical thing to do was terminate, even though we were really sad about it.”
However, this possibility would not be available to Alex as she wasn't four weeks pregnant, she was actually already five months into her motherhood journey, an ultrasound revealed. The dental nurse just hadn't known because of the baby's rare positioning.
Alex said: "She was posterior, her spine was against my spine. I also had an anterior placenta, so a lot of the movement and everything was muffled.
"It was insane because it was only a week or two after I found out that I started noticing a bump."
As is quite common in young women with active lives who suddenly find themselves pregnant, Alex found herself consumed by worries about what she had done in those five months when she was unwittingly pregnant and how it could impact the baby.
"I was sh****ng myself the whole pregnancy. I was like, if I've done something, if she's not healthy... I was already freaking out at the fact I'm going to be a mum, let alone having a child that might need even more care.
"But she came out perfect with five fingers on each hand and ten toes, and I was like, 'Okay, we're all good.'"
In the years following her unexpected pregnancy, Alex broke up with the father of her child and went on a mission of self improvement, which has turned into a successful career as an adult model on OnlyFans.
"I was living at home with my mum, so I didn't have to pay rent. She was very nice about that. No bills. They provided food. Obviously I would just buy formula and stuff, but yeah, I was looking at that and I'm like, there is no way I'm ever going to buy a house or move out. I can't afford it. And I was like, 'That's just ridiculous.'"
That's when the young cash-strapped mom left her $30,000 per year job behind to work on her own content.
Explaining how she built her success, Alex added: "The first couple of weeks, I think I made maybe $800, $2,000, and then we just went really hard. In a couple of months I was making $100,000 USD a month. I knew I had to keep going, I was not going back to being a dental nurse.'"
And she doesn't regret a thing, despite her surprise at finding out she was five months pregnant.
Alex explained: “Being a mum has been the most incredible experience of my life. I’m forever grateful that I found out I was pregnant when I did, because I truly can’t imagine my life without my girl. She has made my world a million times better, and I love her more than words could ever describe.”