After a huge night out, the hungover fog can make light feel unbearable and noise sound like punishment — but imagine feeling so rough you don’t realise you’re actually five months pregnant.
That’s what happened to Alex Paige Moore. At 21, she was working as a dental nurse and had no obvious outward signs that she was already well into a cryptic pregnancy.
“I actually had a six-pack just before I found out that I was pregnant,” Alex said. “I have polycystic ovaries, so I wasn’t getting regular periods anyway, I’d get maybe one or two a year. So, not having a period wasn’t unusual.”
Looking back, several typical indicators were either absent or easy to dismiss. With a packed social life and a consistent fitness routine, Alex explains how she repeatedly found explanations that didn’t involve pregnancy.
She said even the moments that might have raised suspicion didn’t feel definitive at the time.
Explaining how she missed such obvious signs, Alex shared: “As for morning sickness, I had a bit of heartburn, but again, it was after I’d taken pre-workout, so I was like, ‘It’s probably just the pre-workout.’ I was really sick one day after I drank, basically vomiting all day.
“But I was like, ‘I had a big night. I didn’t finish till 3:00 a.m. So, I’m not going to be like, ‘am I pregnant?’ I think I’m just hungover.'”
As the months went on, Alex began experiencing symptoms that felt more concerning, including fainting and ongoing tiredness. Still, she didn’t connect them to pregnancy.
Her mother pushed her to get checked out, and Alex went to the doctor believing there might be another issue at play — such as nutritional problems or a developing eating disorder.
When she learned she was pregnant, her immediate assumption was that it was early days. In her mind, that meant there could be time to decide what to do, particularly given her worries about becoming a mother and concerns about her relationship.
“When I immediately found out I was pregnant, I assumed, ‘Okay, I must be 4 weeks pregnant.’ Did I have a thought of ‘I don’t know if this is what I want right now’? 100 percent. I was thinking that,” Alex shared.
“But then me and my partner were talking about it and before we even found out how far along we were, I felt like the logical thing to do was terminate, even though we were really sad about it.”
But the scan revealed there wasn’t the option she thought there might be — she wasn’t four weeks along at all. The ultrasound showed she was already five months pregnant, something she hadn’t realised partly because of how the baby was positioned.
Alex said: “She was posterior, her spine was against my spine. I also had an anterior placenta, so a lot of the movement and everything was muffled.
“It was insane because it was only a week or two after I found out that I started noticing a bump.”
Like many people who find out late, Alex said she spent much of the pregnancy worried about the months she didn’t know — and whether anything she’d done might have affected the baby.
“I was shitting myself the whole pregnancy. I was like, if I’ve done something, if she’s not healthy… I was already freaking out at the fact I’m going to be a mum, let alone having a child that might need even more care.
“But she came out perfect with five fingers on each hand and ten toes, and I was like, ‘Okay, we’re all good.'”
After her daughter was born, Alex later separated from her child’s father and decided to focus on rebuilding her life and confidence, starting with cosmetic surgery.
“One of the first things I did after the breakup was get a boob job. I was like, ‘I’m spending it on tits,’” she shared. “I figured these weren’t going to make money as little saggy things, it was an investment.”
She said that decision ended up tying into a new career path, turning what she called an “investment” into a significant income stream through adult modelling on OnlyFans.
With money tight at the time, she ultimately walked away from her roughly $30,000-a-year role — a move she says her ex opposed.
She shared: “I suggested it a few times while we were together. I said, ‘I think I want to do an OnlyFans because I can’t live like this. I have no money.’ And he’s like, ‘No, that’s disgusting, selling yourself.’”
Alex also described how quickly things scaled once she committed to it full-time.
Explaining how she built her success, Alex added: “The first couple of weeks, I think I made maybe $800, $2,000, and then we just went really hard. In a couple of months I was making $100,000 USD a month. I knew I had to keep going, I was not going back to being a dental nurse.'”
Despite the shock of discovering her pregnancy so far along, she says she wouldn’t change what happened, and that becoming a mother has been the defining experience of her life.
Alex explained: “Being a mum has been the most incredible experience of my life. I’m forever grateful that I found out I was pregnant when I did, because I truly can’t imagine my life without my girl. She has made my world a million times better, and I love her more than words could ever describe.”