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California woman, 45, unexpectedly gives birth after not realizing she was pregnant

Posted at 11:24 AM, Oct 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-27 12:34:15-04

LOS ANGELES -- When 45-year-old Beth Clay began experiencing excruciating abdominal pains earlier this month, she suspected she had kidney stones. Instead, after arriving at a hospital emergency room, the Venice woman discovered she was about to give birth to her third child.

Beth Clay and her newborn son Liam are seen in this photo provided by the family to KTLA.

Clay told KTLA in an interview Wednesday that she had no idea she was pregnant until Liam Ryder Clay entered the world 10 days ago.

“The shock is just amazing," she said.

For the past nine months, she maintained an active and healthy lifestyle, exercising daily and even going for a long bike ride on the boardwalk just days before the delivery.

She also kept to a strict diet that led her to lose 15 pounds during her pregnancy.

Her husband was equally stunned that he's once again a new father.

“I was like, That just can’t be real.' It's all contrived, never could happen. You would know if there was a baby in your belly, but we're living proof," Scott Clay said. Beth Clay added that she never even felt the baby kick.

Clay said doctors have a theory as to why she never knew she was expecting a child until she went into labor.

A sleeping baby Liam on Oct. 25, 2017. (Credit: KTLA)

“The doctor feels sure that he was behind everything, behind my kidneys behind my liver," she said. "I was in tiptop shape, and then the next three days here’s this little rascal."

Liam spent a few days in the intensive care unit but is now healthy and thriving.

The Clays, who already have two adult children, never imagined they’d be on diaper duty at this stage of their life, but say they are thrilled once again to be parents to a newborn.

“We waited a whole day before we told any of our family," Beth Clay said. "Just so we could absorb what was actually happening, it's huge."