Trish Staine, a 33-year-old woman from Duluth, Minn., got the biggest surprise of her life after going to the hospital for what she thought was a ruptured disc or pulled muscle after a two-hour run, and returning home with a baby girl.
It all started on Sunday, after Staine ran nine miles training for the Garry Bjorklund half-marathon on Grandma's Marathon weekend June 22. She started feeling some back stiffness and her pain increased throughout the day. But she soldiered on and watched her husband play basketball at noon, and went to her daughter's short play. When Staine got home, she took a bath because she thought it might help her pain.
"I had a sore back Sunday evening. I had taken a hot shower and was dealing with it," Staine said. "Monday morning, I woke up and had more back pain, and as the day went on it got worse. I thought I should go to the ER. I thought I ruptured a disc or pulled a muscle."
John Staine, Trish's husband, said her pain increased throughout the day on Monday and he had seen his wife crying earlier in the day, which eventually led to "screaming, crying and yelling out." She took some pain relievers, she took baths and she lay down. But it only got worse.
Finally, two of the couple's older children were asked to take her in to the hospital. But the pain was too great and an ambulance was called instead.
"I felt like I was dying. I didn't know what was going on," Trish said.
During the emergency room examination, Staine was shocked to learn that medical staff had detected a fetal heartbeat. She was taken to the delivery room and "5 minutes later," according to Trish, she had a daughter that weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and was 18.9 inches long. Although the baby was born five weeks early, she seemed healthy and both her and her mother are doing fine. The family named the newborn Mira, short for "Miracle."
Trish Staine had no idea she was pregnant before Monday. She said she hadn't gained any weight or felt fetal movement in the months before. And besides, her husband had a vasectomy. "She didn't gain any weight," said John Staine. "Her face was even thinner."
It came as a surprise for the dad as well. When John walked into Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center and doctors said "you have a brand-new girl," he replied with: "Whose baby is that? It's not possible."
The Staines already have foster children and two biological kids, 7 and 11. Trish is also stepmother to John's three boys, ages 17, 19 and 20.
Although the baby came as a surprise, it's not stopping Trish from running the marathon.
"We paid for it," John Staine said of the entry fee. "They've already cashed the check."
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