# How do women claim ignorance of their pregnancy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748 "2009-07-02T22:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748/21 "2009-07-04T20:14:30Z")
An old colleague of mine insisted that her next-door-neighbour’s sixth (dunno, loads of kids anyway) child was born without labour. The woman woke up with a connected baby sleeping between her legs. Is this even remotely possible? Obviously the baby wasn’t a surprise, although I guess the timing was. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748/22 "2009-07-04T20:50:13Z")
A former girlfriend’s daughter had a baby completely unexpectedly. Collapsed in the bathroom, was rushed to hospital and was a mother an hour later. No-one suspected. She is a well educated and intelligent woman but had very few periods although she was late twenties at the time. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748/23 "2009-07-04T22:04:39Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > Weight issues aside. When my wife was pregnant, the baby _moved_ a lot! Very noticeably too. I find it hard to credit taking a live baby to term with no knowledge. Everybody’s different. Some babies don’t move much; in some women there is padding (fat or placenta position) which hides movement. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748/24 "2009-07-05T13:15:37Z")
Here, as I sit, currently 38 weeks pregnant, 12lbs heavier than usual and with a 7lb foetus visibly (and painfully) kicking me in the ribs, I don’t get it either- but it obviously happens. Obviously, because it is something that can only be investigated retro-actively it is hard to kow what is going on. Some psychiatrists believe that there is a disorder characterised by a psychological dissociative state and serious denial, to the point where the woman’s body “colludes” in the process- by continuing to have light bleeds, not gaining weight, etc. [This](http://psy.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/48/2/117) is a rather interesting paper on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![StaudtCJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748/25 "2009-07-05T13:53:30Z")
With my second pregnancy, I honestly did not know I was pregnant until my 26th week, when I got kicked. Even then, since I was, as far as I knew, on my period at the time, I was freaked out about some sort of floating tumor or something. An emergency ultrasound revealed the baby. I had no morning sickness, had lost 8 pounds, had no other noticeable signs of pregnancy, and like I said, what I thought were my regular periods. I have difficulty understanding how a woman could miss the kicking unless they had a retrograde uterus, but based on my experience, I have to admit it must be POSSIBLE. I’m severely skeptical about anyone claiming so, though. My second pregnancy was nothing at all like my 1rst and 3rd, which had normal-type pregnancy symptoms from the beginning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-claim-ignorance-of-their-pregnancy/501748.md?page=1)