Woman Gives Birth, Despite ‘No Signs’ of Pregnancy, While Attending Burning Man Festival: ‘She Wasn’t Even Showing’

A woman who didn’t know she was pregnant gave birth unexpectedly at Burning Man.

On the morning of Aug. 27, 36-year-old Kayla Thompson went into labor in an RV she was staying in with her husband, Kasey, at the festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times reported.

“I just started yelling for anyone to come help me,” Kasey, 39, told the Los Angeles Times. “In a matter of minutes, we had an [obstetrician], a NICU nurse, a pediatrician in there — I don’t know where they all came from, they just came.”

The couple “had no idea they were expecting,” according to a GoFundMe page set up by the family.

“It was absolutely 100% a cryptic pregnancy. No signs, no morning sickness. She wasn’t even showing,” Kasey told the L.A. Times.

By luck, a group of medical staff staying nearby rushed to help deliver the baby. Kayla gave birth to a baby girl, who weighed about 3½ pounds, and doctors estimated she was a month premature, according to the L.A. Times.

Soon after the birth, the newborn, named Aurora, was flown alone by helicopter to a neonatal intensive care unit in Reno. The parents had to drive themselves to the city, which is an hour-and-a-half flight from their Salt Lake City home, because there was no room for them to travel with their daughter.

“The medical staff at Burning Man grabbed me and just hugged me and said he’s not going to let her out of sight,” Kasey told the L.A. Times. “He kept reassuring me she’s going to be OK.”

The couple is now staying in Reno while their daughter remains in the hospital. “She is currently in the NICU, gaining strength every day,” the baby’s aunt, Lacey Paxman, wrote on GoFundMe. “Mom and baby are both doing okay, but she will need to stay in the hospital until she is ready to come home.”

The fundraiser is meant to help cover medical bills, travel, lodging, and baby supplies. Over $6,000 has been donated so far, with a goal of $11,000.

“Since this is their first child and the pregnancy was completely unexpected, my brother and his wife don’t have anything prepared — no baby supplies, no nursery, nothing at all,” Lacey said.

Despite the surprise, Kasey called his daughter’s arrival “an absolute miracle.”

“Had I known [about the pregnancy], that’s the absolutely last place on this planet I would have been,” he told the L.A. Times.