A person or couple tries to get pregnant but is unable to, gives up, and then decides to adopt a baby, but SURPRISE! Not long after adopting a baby, they find out they're having a baby! Mixed results, drama, happiness and hilarity may ensue. When news of the unexpected pregnancy (second child) is revealed, the couple or person may either be thrilled with the news or debate about what to do now that they're having two kids. They might consider raising both new babies and start looking for a bigger place to live. They might even contemplate disowning the first kid. It might happen during a New Baby Episode.
Compare Happily Adopted, Law of Inverse Fertility, But I Can't Be Pregnant!, Babies Ever After, A Mistake Is Born, Adoption Angst, and Blended Family Drama. Subtrope of Sweet and Sour Grapes and Surprise Pregnancy. This can be justified if the previous failure to conceive was caused by stress. This may be related to the idea that washing your car causes it to rain.
Examples:
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Fan Works
- The AFR Universe: In "The Amamiya-Niijima Family," Makoto and Ren have been trying to start a family, with tests resulting in "improbable." The two then consult with Sae, who suggests adoption as an alternate means if things don't work out, the Niijima sister submitting the adoption process papers after their meeting. A few months later, Makoto reveals she's pregnant to Ren, and they begin making the necessary preparations to welcome their new baby. In the excitement of Makoto's pregnancy, everyone (including Sae, Makoto, and Ren) all forget about the application for adoption, blindsiding Ren when he's informed by child services that they were approved for an adoption, two months before Makoto gives birth. Ren and Makoto briefly have a moment of hesitation about whether or not to adopt while also having their first child, but the two ultimately decide to adopt her into their family. By the end, they have two daughters; Hanami as their birth daughter and Ryoko as their adopted daughter.
- Second Chances (TheNovelArtist), Marinette announces her pregnancy to Adrien right when he presents the papers that would officially make her Emma's mother.
"So," he said, shifting to hover over her. "What do you say, Marinette? Will you be the mom of my child?"Her breath hitched, and Adrien grew worried that he'd said something wrong. He opened his mouth, only for the response to die on his tongue when he saw the sweet look that wore. "Adrien," she said, her voice soft and gentle and precious. "I already am."
- In With Pearl and Ruby Glowing, Cassandra McAdams had fertility problems, so she and her husband kidnapped Li Ping when he was a baby to raise him as their own child. When Cassandra later became pregnant with Kimmie, she decided she didn't need Li anymore and kept him in the basement as a sex slave until he was a teen.
Films — Live-Action
- Arthur 2: On the Rocks turns this into a happy ending, when not only are Arthur and Linda approved for adoption, Linda discovers she can get pregnant after all, and is!
- In the first Sex and the City movie (2008), Charlotte and Harry become pregnant and welcome their second child Rose long after adopting their first daughter Lily in the show's series finale. This comes as a surprise to both the couple and their friends as Charlotte had difficulty conceiving due to her having a 15% chance of getting pregnant. Nevertheless, they're thrilled.
- In Instant Family, Ellie's younger sister is unable to get pregnant while visibly jealous of her sister Ellie for fostering three children. However, after Ellie's sister decides to foster a child of her own, she is revealed to be pregnant.
- In The Reaping, after losing her husband and daughter in The Sudan years ago, Katherine Winter adopts the angel Loren McConnell as her own and then discovers she is pregnant with her second child. Unfortunately for her, that second child may be the Antichrist.
- In Omen IV: The Awakening, Karen and Gene adopt a daughter, Delia, after a lot of failed attempts to become pregnant. Then, just as Karen starts to suspect Delia is the Antichrist, she becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Except, it turns out the pregnancy wasn't natural. Delia is actually the daughter of the Antichrist and was born carrying his reincarnation. The OBGYN is in on it, and so removed the fetus from Delia and implanted it into Karen.
- Malignant: Madison was adopted at the age of seven when the couple couldn't conceive. However, sometime after the adoption, Madison's adoptive parents conceive, and at first Madison is encouraged to be jealous of the incoming baby by Gabriel, her Imaginary Friend. However, once Sydney is born, Madison becomes a loving older sister and forgets about Gabriel.
Literature
- In White Indian: the original Renno is adopted by Ghonka during the Seneca raid that began the series as Ghonka and his wife have long failed to conceive a child. Once they do, here comes El-i-chi.
- The Missing: Jonah and Katherine are like this. Thirteen years before the events of the main story their parents had been desperate to have a baby. So when a sketchy adoption agency gave them the opportunity to adopt Jonah no questions asked they took it. Then the mother got pregnant with Katherine shortly afterwards. Both children are aware of the adoption but they have a perfectly ordinary sibling relationship.
- The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side: Marina adopted several children because of her yearning to be a mother. However, when she got pregnant herself shortly thereafter, she abandoned them all because of it. Though this is suggested to have been more because her baby was born severely disabled.
- They Do It With Mirrors: This happened to Mildred and Pippa's parents. Having adopted Pippa, they then had Mildred shortly after despite years of trying to have biological children. However, in an inverse of Orphan's Ordeal, Mildred (who's described as ugly) says that she always felt completely ignored in favor of Pippa, since their parents had chosen the beautiful, charming Pippa, as opposed to getting stuck with her.
- Kris Longknife: Hank Peterwald was a Designer Baby, but due to a Contrived Coincidence, his mother became pregnant with a girl around the same time his embryo was artificially implanted. His twin sister Vicky was the result.
- The half-sibling "twins" Adelis (born to their father's wife) and Nikys (born to their father's concubine) from the Penric stories in World of the Five Gods counts as a Tropes Are Flexible variant. Their father took a concubine because his ageing wife had been unable to get pregnant — and then both women got pregnant at once.
- In The Secret of Platform 13, Mrs. Trottle tries to adopt a child, but the waiting list is too long. She kidnaps a child instead and then becomes pregnant.
- In Piece of My Heart, Marcy and Andrew adopted their eldest child Johnny as a newborn, due to being told by doctors it was highly unlikely they could conceive. Three years later, Marcy unexpectedly discovered she was pregnant with twin girls. Marcy says that Johnny had started asking for a sibling, even saying he wanted little sisters, so the situation worked out great for everyone.
- Mentioned in Letters to a Sleeping Brother by Andrey Desnitsky. Maria, being in Heaven, observes the life on Earth, and she writes to her brother, who is stuck in limbo, that very often a couple's adoption of a child is followed by a natural pregnancy.
Live-Action TV
- CSI: NY: In the B-case of "Zoo York," the parents of two teenage girls had adopted one of them when they thought they couldn't conceive but got pregnant right afterwards. So soon in fact, that the girls are to be presented at the same debutante ball.
- In Call the Midwife, Dr. Turner and Shelagh adopt a child after the latter was believed to be infertile from Tuberculosis, but then a season or two later she ends up pregnant anyway. She had complications, but gave birth to a healthy baby in the end.
- In Judging Amy, Amy's older brother Peter and his wife want to have children but are unable to conceive, so they settle on adoption. However, after a couple of seasons when they stop trying to conceive, they become unexpectedly pregnant.
- In The King of Queens, after trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child, Doug and Carrie adopt a baby girl from China and then Carrie delivers the shocking news to Doug that she is pregnant with their second child, a boy. Despite this surprise, the "one year later" time jump shows the couple content with their two children.
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: In "Damaged", the Kurtzes adopted then twelve-year-old Missy because they were told they couldn't have their own children. They then had Rebecca, who is six. Considering that Missy is still in high school, they must have gotten pregnant right after adopting her. Missy says they don't care about her and only want their own biological daughter. This is explicitly shown to be incorrect; even after finding out that Missy raped her own sister and arranged her murder, the Kurtzes still consider Missy their daughter and plead for mercy on her behalf.
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Ted finds out he suffers from low sperm count and is convinced he won't be able to have his own family. He and his wife agree to adopt, at which point his wife tells him, "Well, you may have a low sperm count, one of those little buggers pulled it off!"
- Only Murders in the Building: In Season 3, Dickie was adopted from his biological mother Loretta due to his parents' belief that they couldn't have kids. Due to the Law of Inverse Fertility, they then had Ben, their biological son, who grew up doted on and spoiled.
- Once Upon a Time: Played for Drama with Emma's backstory — Emma's first foster family kept her until she was three when they ended up having their own kid and sent her back.
- In Sex and the City, Charlotte York Goldenblatt and Harry Goldenblatt were trying to conceive but couldn't and adopted a baby daughter from China, Lily. During the adoption process then in the first movie set just after the series Charlotte and Harry find out they are expecting and Charlotte has another daughter, Rose.
- Variation in Friends: Monica and Chandler both find out they have low fertility and decide to adopt, they end up being chosen by a pregnant young woman — Erica — to be the parents of her unborn baby... which when Erica gives birth the baby they're adopting ends up being twins to Monica, Chandler and Erica's surprise.
- Shameless (US): In season four, Kev and Veronica are trying for a baby, but have trouble because of a medical condition Veronica has. They decide to have Kev impregnate Veronica's mom so that the baby will have some of Veronica's DNA. Kev is successful in getting Veronica's mom pregnant. However, after learning that her mother is pregnant, Veronica finds out she's pregnant too.
- In Smallville, after failing to become pregnant and hoping to be blessed with a child, Johnathan and Martha Kent adopt the protagonist Clark Kent when he was a child that crash-landed in his spaceship during the meteor shower in the pilot episode. Years later when Clark is a teenager, in the second season episode "Fever", Martha falls ill due to accidentally inhaling a toxic inside the storm cellar where Clark's spaceship is kept hidden and Johnathan and Clark are surprised to learn Martha is pregnant despite doctors saying that she couldn't become pregnant. Martha explains to Johnathan that the magic from Clark's spaceship somehow made it possible for her and Johnathan to conceive and Clark, Johnathan, and Martha couldn't be more thrilled. Unfortunately, in the second season finale, after Clark goes against Jor-El's orders to leave Earth and fulfill his Kryptonian destiny and destroys his spaceship with a Kryptonite key instead, the explosive shockwave blast from the spaceship causes Johnathan and Martha to end up turning over in a car crash and Martha to miscarry.
- In Mike & Molly, newlyweds Mike Biggs and Molly Flynn attempt to become pregnant but they fail to conceive naturally many times. After weighing their options, they decided to adopt a child and go through a lengthy adoption approval process. By the series finale, after Mike and Molly have welcomed their newborn son into their family, Molly delivers the surprising news that she is pregnant with her and Mike's second child. Molly even lampshades it.
Molly Flynn: "Well, I mean... You know how you hear those stories about people who can't have a baby and then they end up adopting. Once all the pressure is kind of off of them, they end up getting pregnant."
Western Animation
- A variant occurred on King of the Hill. After trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child, Hank adopts the family dog Ladybird when she was a puppy. Soon after, Peggy got pregnant with Bobby.
- In Thunder Cats 2011: King Claudus and his wife struggled to conceive a child and chose to adopt an orphan tiger, naming him Tigra. Years later, the queen finally fell pregnant — only to pass away from the strain of giving birth to Lion-O. This was the source of much resentment from Tigra to Lion-O; not only did Tigra lose his beloved mother but also any chance of inheriting the throne, as Lion-O being Claudus' son by blood meant he was now next in line to be king.
Real Life
- Ice hockey players Hannah Brandt
(biological) and Marissa Brandt (adopted).
- Happened to Erma Bombeck. After having trouble conceiving she and her husband were told having a baby was unlikely, so they adopted a daughter. She went on to have two sons. It was a few years after the adoption, but still a surprise.
- In Russia, there is a pretty firm and widespreadnote belief that if a childless couple adopts a child, they will also soon be able to conceive, so such couples are often advised to adopt to "trigger" pregnancy.
