[QUOTE=Ferret Herder]
She visited my mother at our house at one point, and Mom’s dog stuck by the friend like glue. Now, the dog liked “welcomed strangers” but the level of attention was odd for her. Mom compared it to when she herself was pregnant and the dog wouldn’t leave her side except when absolutely necessary, and joked with her friend that maybe she was finally pregnant.
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Is this some kind of widely known phenomenon? Because, my wife’s entering her seventh month, and our little pug has gotten very “clingy” lately. At least, way more than usual. She goes to unusual lengths to be in contact with my wife whenever possible.
[QUOTE=Ruby]
I’m still very skeptical. The father (my friend’s son) is a party animal and he seems like he would be difficult to get a commitment from so maybe she was afraid to say anything for fear he’d leave her. Now he’s a new daddy totally unprepared to raise a little one. Can you imagine the trip home from the hospital…“uh, honey, can we stop by Walmart to get a box of diapers and a crib and a baby bathtub and a stroller and a carseat and and and and and and”
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My cousin told me her family spent about $3000 the week she gave birth to her surprise baby. Although you do need to have that carseat before you leave the hospital
According to my ob/gyn friends, about 1 in 100,000 women have false periods while pregnant. The deciding factor seems to be obesity – the heavier the woman, the longer into her pregnancy she will continue to have false periods.
As for kicking, mood swings, etc… that commonly gets rationalized away. My cousin figured she was angry and moody because of the stress of preparing for Christmas and arguments with her mother. She also thought she was just having really bad indigestion for two months – which is why she thought she had appendicitis when she went to the hospital.
Also, come on…No period for 9 months!!! What woman would not automatically think “Hmm, maybe I ought to get tested” after the second missed period, if not the first. I just can’t believe the mother wouldn’t know.
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe]
Also, come on…No period for 9 months!!! What woman would not automatically think “Hmm, maybe I ought to get tested” after the second missed period, if not the first. I just can’t believe the mother wouldn’t know.
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Well, for teens periods are often irregular anyway and they can be irregular for any number of reasons (breastfeeding, stress etc) and one can go for a long time without having a period and not be pregnant. I’ve gone for a long time without having a period myself (8-9 months), except I knew I wasn’t pregnant because I hadn’t had sex in 3 years..
So that part is quite possible. It’s just the moving around that IMO would be hard to miss.
That article WhyNot linked to about the denial of pregnancy was quite interesting though.
[QUOTE=Flutterby]
Well, for teens periods are often irregular anyway and they can be irregular for any number of reasons (breastfeeding, stress etc) and one can go for a long time without having a period and not be pregnant. I’ve gone for a long time without having a period myself (8-9 months), except I knew I wasn’t pregnant because I hadn’t had sex in 3 years..
So that part is quite possible. It’s just the moving around that IMO would be hard to miss.
That article WhyNot linked to about the denial of pregnancy was quite interesting though.
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Hm, having PCOS I can attest to several sets of 9 months or longer without periods, and more than a few sets of 3 or 4 month long periods. AS to amount, before I went on seasonale to stop them totally I could fill a 16 gram super plus tampon to wringing, dripping soaked through with fluid in about an hour, and still drop clots the size of a pingpong ball [which navy medical was totally uninterested in fixing. 'You have PCOS, this isn’t unexpected. Learn to live with it." Direct quote.]
I had a cousin who gave birth unexpectedly. She was only moderately overweight, she had her periods all the way through, and had been pregnant 14 years before. Her fourteen year old was the only coherent person in the house when she gave birth. He helped take care of the infant and umbilical cord etc. and called an ambulance. My cousin had thought it was the stomach flu and about lost it when a baby came out.
Her first pregnancy was very difficult and the birth was worse. It was feared that another pregnancy would kill her. The pregnancy that she never noticed was so much easier than her first so she never associated the symptoms with being pregnant.
[QUOTE=WhyNot]
By “menstrual fluid”, I mean the stuff that comes out of you, chunky or not, during the time of your menses. It’s a little over half water, with very little actual literal blood, which is why I try not to call it “blood” or “bleeding” (although I see I slipped into that colloquialism at least once recently.)
“Normal” menstrual fluid is between 60 and 240ml per month. (cite) That’s between 4 Tablespoons and 1 cup. More than 240mL and you qualify for a diagnosis of menorrhagia, or excessive menstrual volume. Most of us are somewhere in the middle, but even those 4T ladies cover a lot more pads than you’d expect. A woman can easily fill a couple of pads a day with anovulatory bleeding while pregnant and still maintain sufficient placental attachment. I know, I was one of them.
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…Huh. I just figured it up (I use a Mooncup, so figuring is easier), and it looks like I qualify for menorrhagia – bleeding like a pig, etc. Thanks for that link - I probably need to have a conversation with my doctor sometime soon.
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe]
Also, come on…No period for 9 months!!! What woman would not automatically think “Hmm, maybe I ought to get tested” after the second missed period, if not the first. I just can’t believe the mother wouldn’t know.
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I only have a regular period when I’m on hormonal birth control. Since hormones make me sick, I don’t take them anymore. I might have a period next week. Then again, I might not have one until November.
Because of this lovely phenomenon, I wasn’t aware for the first five months that I was pregnant with my oldest son. I didn’t have a normal mentrual cycle to watch. I didn’t weigh myself regularly, so I wasn’t aware of any significant gain. Plus, all my clothes still fit without straining. Although I was 20, I wasn’t that in touch with my body.
Looking back, I remember being sick to some extent (not to the point of vomiting) at roughly the same time each day. I guess that was my “morning” sickness.
One day, it just dawned on me that I might be pregnant. His kicks became more identifiable. I could no longer blindly assume that the flutters and tremors were gas bubbles or the churning of my stomach. A pregnancy test confirmed that I was indeed with child.
Eight years later, I was able to tell within a reasonable amount of time (six to eight weeks along) that I was pregnant with my youngest son. I can’t explain why I was able to figure it out the second time around other than pregnancy wasn’t a condition my body was completely unaccustomed to experiencing.
Funny thing, I “felt” my youngest son’s kicks earlier in the pregnancy than I felt anything from the oldest (that’s counting the time that went by while I assumed it was gas).
A terrier breed actually. She was very protective of “her pack’s” children or any children welcomed into the home, and I suspect she could smell the hormonal changes in a pregnant woman (not so strange since some dogs can apparently sniff out cancer) and would decide to protect the pregnant “pack member” to the best of her abilities.
As for volume of menstrual flow - yeah, that means TMI time -
When I was a teenager it was a nightmare for me. I’d use a huge pad upon going to sleep and could still wake up to the bottom sheet looking like someone had been murdered on it. Tampons would soak through within an hour. Due to age and/or being on oral contraceptives, that got so much better in recent years. I could tell with using my DivaCup that my flow volume was maybe 4-6 tablespoons total. These days I’m on continuous oral contraception, so I don’t get periods any longer.
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe]
Also, come on…No period for 9 months!!! What woman would not automatically think “Hmm, maybe I ought to get tested” after the second missed period, if not the first. I just can’t believe the mother wouldn’t know.
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Read posts again please. Women can have what appears to be a period while pregnant.
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