Nothing could have prepared a Michigan mom for a double shock: first realizing she was pregnant again and then later discovering she was already 20 weeks along during her ultrasound.
Jennifer Spearman (@fittxjenn) posted her reaction to the surprise in a reel on Instagram. “Oh, my god, I knew it too,” she gasped.
Rewinding a few months, the 32-year-old said that there were headaches, cravings and insomnia she couldn’t explain.
“It felt like my body was speaking in half-sentences for months,” she told Newsweek. “I chalked everything up to being a busy mom, training hard, juggling work, life and a toddler who thinks sleep is optional.”
Spearman, who is mom to 13-month-old Leo with husband Ike, had been exclusively breastfeeding, which can sometimes mask or delay typical pregnancy symptoms. Essentially, Spearman was pregnant for the entire summer and didn’t even know.
It wasn’t until she noticed feeling unusually bloated and a sense that “something was off,” she finally took a pregnancy test. “[It] felt like pressing pause on a movie I’d been sprinting through,” Spearman said. “When it came back positive, it was one of those moments where time folds in on itself [and] I had no idea just how far along I was.”
Just days later, Spearman and Ike brought Leo along for what they assumed would be a routine early scan.
“I expected early dots and shadows, not a halfway-grown baby saying hello,” Spearman said. “Seeing a whole little human on the screen, already stretching and wiggling, felt surreal.”
Her mind raced through every possible emotion, but ultimately, the mom felt calm and ready beneath it all. “A strange, steady knowing that this baby was arriving exactly when they were meant to,” Spearman added.
The soon to be mom of two told friends and family in the same matter-of-fact way she had received the news.
“Most people needed a moment to recalibrate: no slow rollout, no early-trimester updates, just a midseason twist,” Spearman said. “But once the surprise settled, the excitement took over quickly and everyone was so supportive and excited for us.”
Spearman’s reel has gone viral on Instagram, amassing 1.8 million views. Many other moms shared their experiences of early pregnancy in the comments.
“With my third I took a pregnancy test and went in for an ultrasound thinking I was only 6-8 weeks along because I hadn’t had any crazy symptoms, but nope, 16 weeks,” one user said.
“I found out at 22 weeks with my one and only son. It was a wild week that’s for sure,” another added.
A third user commented, “I was spewing my guts up and feeling like death by 6 weeks every single time. It’s amazing how everyone’s so different.”
Now, as she prepares for “Baby Spearman 2.0,” Spearman has found a rhythm between the urgency of catching up and the calm of surrendering to what’s already unfolding.
As a pre and postnatal coach, she has the knowledge to prepare herself for labor with shorter sessions, intentional rest, more purposeful movement and stretching.
“It’s fast, but there’s a strange beauty in the momentum. I love it and I really can’t wait until baby gets here,” Spearman said.
