Searches UK, one of the country’s leading providers of searches to UK conveyancing practitioners, is overjoyed, albeit completely surprised, to announce the news that one of their team members gave birth to a healthy baby boy, weighing 6lb 4oz on 1 November.
Vicky Grace, who is a highly valued member of the Searches UK team, went into the early stages of labour whilst she was at her desk, however, at the time, she had no idea she was even pregnant! She assumed she had a tummy bug, so continued to take calls from clients as she felt well enough to stay at work and didn’t want to make a fuss. She didn’t come into work the following day as the pain around her abdomen had increased, and later that evening she took herself to hospital, suspecting appendicitis or something similar. She was utterly shocked — as were the doctors on duty that day — when just 2 hours later she gave birth to her first child, who she and her partner have named Alonso.
Vicky Grace, who has been a member of the Searches UK team for just over a year, said “The last couple of weeks have been something of a roller coaster ride for my partner and I. Neither of us had an inkling that we may be about to become parents but now that we have had a chance to come to terms with things, we are overjoyed, albeit tired! Looking back now, there were a couple of minor signs, such as feeling a bit tired from time to time, but very little more than that. I did go up to a size 10 and although I put on a little bit of weight, I just put that down to eating more — not for one moment did I consider I was 9 months pregnant! My friends and managers at Searches UK have been extremely supportive and I am looking forward to returning to work in the new year, but for now I’m more than happy to focus all my attention on my son, and spend time getting to know him”.
Faye Stenning, Risk & Compliance Officer at Searches UK, said “We were all completely stunned when Vicky came into the office to tell us she had given birth the Friday before. We have all heard stories where mothers haven’t realised they were pregnant until the baby is born, but Vicky is such a slim young lady and pregnancy is normally such an obvious condition, not only with the physical changes to the body, but also with the fatigue, cravings, etc.
“Because none of us knew that Alonso was on his way, we didn’t have the opportunity to provide Vicky with the higher risk assessments that we ordinarily would have put in place for an expectant mother, nor did she have time off for maternity, ante-natal classes — in fact she hasn’t had a single day off sick apart from the day she actually gave birth!”
Vicky has decided to take 6 months’ maternity leave and will be back at Searches UK in May next year. It has been an incredibly emotional couple of weeks for them and everyone from Searches UK would like to congratulate them and wish them all the very best.
