Florida woman surprised to give birth after mistaking labor pains for food poisoning

Crystal Gail Amerson thought the stomach pains that woke her at 4 a.m. were from a bad batch of General Tso’s chicken.

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According to the Pensacola News Journal, Amerson waited an hour, as the cramps got worse, and then called an ambulance.

While on the way to the hospital, she delivered a baby boy. She told the Journal she had no idea that she was 37 weeks pregnant.

"The stomach pains were just excruciating and I could hardly move," Amerson, 29, told the News Journal. "I think it was about 6:30 (a.m.) when (the ambulance) got there. ... It escalated so quickly that I was having contractions and we figured out kind of what was going on because at first we really didn't know what was going on."

Before she and her fiance, Brian Westerfield, made it to the hospital, baby Oliver James was born. He was 19.9 inches long and weighed 5.27 pounds.

Amerson told the News Journal that she was just as surprised that Sunday morning as everyone else.

She already has a child, and said both times while pregnant, she didn’t experience typical symptoms or gain much weight.

"I gained a little bit of weight, but I think with my first baby I didn't notice either," she told the News Journal. "I never gained that pregnancy shape, really. And then, I wear scrubs to work because I work at a retirement home for Alzheimer's and dementia patients. So I guess the way they fit me, as well, it was hard to notice anything or tell anything."

Amerson said she’s staying away from Chinese food.

"I think I'm traumatized from Chinese food," she told the News Journal. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at it the same way again."

Cox Media Group