A mom’s baby bump was so big strangers thought it was “fake” and joked she was carrying a “penthouse.”
Lauren Draper, 22, was delighted when she fell pregnant with her fourth child in June last year.
She went for a scan at 24 weeks due to her unborn baby’s reduced movements and was told she had an excess amount of amniotic fluid in her uterus.
Lauren was then diagnosed with polyhydramnios — where you have too much fluid during pregnancy — and monitored closely.
At 29 weeks Lauren started to realize how huge her bump was — due to the fluid build up — and started to struggle to walk and roll over in bed.
She was admitted to the hospital at 31 weeks pregnant — due to a risk of cord prolapse.
By 34 weeks pregnant her bump was so big strangers thought she was carrying quadruplets and even joked “what’s in there — a penthouse?”
Lauren welcomed little Olyve, now three months, on Jan. 6, 2025, at 3:29 a.m. weighing 6lbs 1oz.
Lauren, a support worker from Cardiff, Wales, said: “People said ‘OMG, what’s in there? A penthouse? A three bedroom apartment?’
“I was a fair size.
“People saw the bump before they saw me.
“In the lift someone said ‘how many are you having?’ I said ‘just one’ and she asked ‘can I touch it?’
“People also thought it was fake and said ‘it’s AI.’
“When my waters went a nurse said ‘look how much your belly has gone down’. I was like a pancake!
“It took 10 days to go down.”
Lauren was already being monitored closely due to having a high risk pregnancy — after going through a miscarriage in 2022.
She had experienced polyhydramnios with her first child, now seven, but it was only picked up at 38 weeks.
This time round doctors noticed it was a problem at 24 weeks and the fluid was still increasing at 29 weeks.
Doctors realized little Olyve wasn’t swallowing the fluid — causing the build up in Lauren’s uterus.
In December 2024, Lauren had steroid shots to try and help mature Olyve’s lungs and she was admitted to hospital.
The fluid build-up also left Lauren struggling to move and even caused bruising on her ribs.
She said: “I came out in all these bruises — it was so tender.”
She spent three weeks there before going into labor at 34 weeks and four days.
But when Lauren started gushing blood doctors realized she was having a placenta abruption and she was rushed for an emergency C-section.
She was able to see her little girl seven hours later — after losing five liters of blood herself.
Lauren said: “They said when she was born she wasn’t breathing.
“She was blue. It was horrific to hear.
“Seeing her in an incubator — it was horrific.”
Little Olyve is still fighting in the hospital — struggling with respiratory failure but mum Lauren has every faith she will pull through.
