A WOMAN who thought she was suffering from painful food poisoning was stunned when she went to the toilet to see 'a baby come sliding out'.

First-time mum Patricia Crawford, from New Jersey, USA, had been up all night feeling sick and with stomach cramps and put it down to something she'd eaten.

But it wasn't a case of food poisoning - Patricia had been through a cryptic pregnancy, having no idea she was pregnant until the healthy baby boy appeared.

She told TV station News 12: "By the time I got back to the toilet area all of a sudden the baby came sliding out. It was just like, 'Oh my God - what are we even going to do?'."

Neither she nor husband Evan Darragh expected the birth of their son on March 28, exactly one year after Patricia's father died suddenly.

"We didn't have a diaper, a wipe, an outfit, a onesie. Nothing," she added.

The mother-of-one didn't notice any major symptoms of her pregnancy other than occasionally suffering from what felt like an upset stomach.

But the couple had been trying for a baby, and Patricia was stunned their son, named William James, arrived exactly a year to the day of her dad's death on March 28.

She also noted the baby boy arrived at around 5am, the time her father would wake up every day to go to work - and she believes it is no coincidence.

Patricia said: "I think my sister said it best. She [said] it was like my dad came from heaven and said, 'You will no longer be sad on March 28 ever again'. And it's the best thing in the world."

The couple are now settling in to life as parents, with the help of family and friends who have sent them all the supplies they need.

"He's absolutely perfect", Patricia said of her son. "I was just getting through day by day, just keeping myself busy. After such a year, this being the end of it is indescribable. It's wild."