Born pregnant?

[saruman]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere about a human female who was born pregnant. Sorry if this is completely off the wall, but is this possible? If it is, did it happen, and how? All help is greatly appreciated.

[Coldfire]

A WAG: this is not possible.

Could it be some sort of Siamese Twins thing? I seem to recall a man geing operated at 18 or so. They had to remove a “stone” phoetus from within him, that turned out to be his little twin brother.

Take it away, Steven King. ::shudder::

[tcburnett]

To put it crudely, girls can’t get preggers until they start making eggs. This happens when they get their period.

[Cartooniverse]

*Originally posted by tcburnett *
**To put it crudely, girls can’t get preggers until they start making eggs. This happens when they get their period.
**

Weeeeeeell, not to be too persnickety about it,but human females do NOT start to make eggs when they reach menarche. They are born with their ENTIRE supply of eggs, buried in their ovaries. During each cycle, the level of Progesterone rises, making a follicle -or, two or three- “ripen” ( this is the terminology, trust me). Then, it is released. You know the rest.

Men, on the other hand manufacture spermatazoa. And, in usually prodigious numbers. Alas, not in my case, which is why I know a LOT more about Progesterone, HCG and such than I need to to get along in the world.

Cartooniverse

[John_Kentzel-Griffin]

Well, it may not be possible for humans, but tribbles are born pregnant.

[tcburnett]

*Originally posted by Cartooniverse *
**

*Originally posted by tcburnett *
**To put it crudely, girls can’t get preggers until they start making eggs. This happens when they get their period.
**

Weeeeeeell, not to be too persnickety about it,but human females do NOT start to make eggs when they reach menarche. They are born with their ENTIRE supply of eggs, buried in their ovaries. During each cycle, the level of Progesterone rises, making a follicle -or, two or three- “ripen” ( this is the terminology, trust me). Then, it is released. You know the rest.
Cartooniverse **

I should have used ‘generate’ instead instead of ‘make’. I said I was putting it crudely. I did that to prevent: “OH! If they already HAVE the eggs, couldn’t they REALLY be born pregnant?”

You get to handle that debate.

[bibliophage]

Not only tribbles, but also aphids, according to Cecil: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_223.html

I remember reading in the Guiness Book of Records 15 or 20 years ago about the youngest mother on record. I’m not sure of the age, but I think it was between 5 and 10 years old. She lived in South America and was impregnated by her own father. The newer editions of the Guiness Book make no mention of the record.

[Diceman]

I remember reading in the Guiness Book of Records 15 or 20 years ago about the youngest mother on record. I’m not sure of the age, but I think it was between 5 and 10 years old. She lived in South America and was impregnated by her own father. The newer editions of the Guiness Book make no mention of the record.

I can think of two possible reasons for this:

1. They removed it for reasons of taste (not likely)

2. The story turned out to be a legend,a la the story of a Civil War era girl impregnated by a bullet. This latter story was actually started as a prank by a turn-of-the-century doctor, BTW. Guiness is fairly carefull about authenticating its records, so the 5-year-old mother story may have been yanked because they’re no longer sure it’s legit.

[lee]

Maybe they were refering to a dermoid cyst like this one: http://www.kumc.edu/instruction/medicine/pathology/ed/ch_18/c18_dermoid_gross.html

WARNING! it says gross, it is gross!

Such cysts can have any type of tissue including teeth, hair, and skin. They can be present from birth and can occur in men and women, and in the past have been thought to be indications of a fetus. Very odd, very disturbing.