Movies, TV and old wives’ tales have preached that experiencing particular symptoms is a surefire way to diagnose pregnancy: strange cravings, nausea and vomiting, sore breasts and more. But as the WNBA’s Chicago Sky forward Ruthy Hebard recently learned, that’s not everyone’s experience, and just because you aren’t running to the bathroom every five minutes to purge, it doesn’t mean you’re not pregnant.
According to Insider, the 25-year-old shared in a video for media company Togethxr that she was already “five to six months along” when she found out she was pregnant with her first child during the WNBA offseason.
In the clip, Hebard said she didn’t have any telltale signs during her the first half of her pregnancy.
“I was playing 30 to 35 minutes a game, and I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like I’m getting bigger, and I probably shouldn’t be getting bigger if I’m working out all game, every game and working out,'” she recounted.
“There was no morning sickness, no cravings, none of the normal signs,” Hebard added.
During this time, Hebard played ball in Hungary as part of the country’s KSC Szekszárd women’s basketball team. Even though she was aware her body was changing, which was peculiar due to her “regular high-level training and competition,” the former Oregon Duck said she ignored her concerns, especially after taking a pregnancy test and receiving a negative result.
She learned she was pregnant much later, when she returned to the States.
“I went to the doctor and found out that I was pretty far along,” she said. “More far along than I thought I would be.”
Hebard also noted she didn’t start to show until later in her pregnancy. And just a few months after learning that she was pregnant, the 25-year-old gave birth to her son, Xzavier Reid. Around three weeks after that, she started the Chicago Sky training camp.
Though Xzavier’s arrival was unexpected, Hebard is thrilled to be a mother.
“Even though you’re a surprise, you’re a great surprise,” the basketball player said to her newborn.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, cryptic pregnancies are relatively uncommon. Studies show that around 1 in 475 pregnancies go unnoticed until about 20 weeks into gestation. And about 1 in 2,500 pregnancies go unnoticed until delivery.
