For Cecil, the Teeming Million, or any MD or OBGYN,
A coworker has a friend who went to the doctor with a sharp pain only to discover that she was pregnant, had been for the full nine months, and the baby was coming out. The mother had no idea she was pregnant, had been having her period, only gained 6 pounds over the period, and had no other symptoms of pregnancy. I can believe that a woman can pathologically ignore a pregnancy, but I find it hard to believe that a woman can actually experience no pregnancy symptoms. After the birth the mother joined a support group of women who had similar experiences. Has anyone else ever heard of this? Does it have a name? Is my co-worker or her friend full of sh-t?
They happen. I delivered at least 4 kids in my career (about 700 deliveries before giving it up) whose moms discovered they were in labor just shortly before giving birth. 3 were in frank denial, the 4th was in her early 40’s, had 2 grown girls, and thought she was just entering menopause. She was a bit heavy-set.
One of my co-workers had a similar experience, except she made it up to the 7th month without knowing. She’d been having unrelated gynecological problems, and so was having abdominal pains and irregular periods. She was rather overweight, so no weight gain. They only found the pregnancy on doing an ultrasound to diagnose the other stuff. And this was not her first kid, either.
Mom and baby are now doing fine. And my co-worker is an educated person, and not a crackpot. So in sum, it’s unlikely, but no timpossible.
I don’t know the name of it but my sisters friend found out she was 8 months pregnant when she went in for her yearly gyno exam. She had no symptoms during her pregnancy and only gained about 5 or 6 pounds. She never felt the baby move, didn’t have any morning sickness, strange cravings and continued to have a monthly period.
She was more than shocked to find out she was pregnant but extremely thankful that at least she found out before actually going into labor.
It’s called “not realizing you’re pregnant”. Yes, it does happen, no, your coworker and her friend aren’t full of shit.
Not all women are equally focused on what’s going on in their bodies. For one thing, some women are taught by their mothers that what goes on “down there”, like their menstrual periods, is “dirty” somehow, and is best ignored, other than the monthly use of Kotex. Sometimes these women, when they get pregnant, just notice that their “monthlies” have stopped and simply feel relief at not having to mess with Kotex for a while–they don’t necessarily question why the periods stopped.
It’s also possible that some women have been taught by their mothers that sex and where babies come from is “dirty”, and so they tune it out–simply ignore the information coming in from Sex Education class, or Phys Ed Class, or the media, as to where babies come from, and the fact that sex can lead to pregnancy.
Also, not all women get huge when they get pregnant. I’ve known women who knew full well they were pregnant that hardly “showed” at all. Every woman carries the baby differently–some women look huge at 7 months, and some women barely show on the day of delivery.
So yeah, it does happen, and no, it doesn’t mean the woman is stupid or something.
The surprising part for me is that they kept getting periods. I guess they had irregular spotting that can happen during pregnancy that they took for light periods. Does that make sense?
A friend of my mother’s had a pregnancy like this in the early '70s. She was very heavy-set and thought she was just gaining more weight. At one point she did go to her doctor and say she thought she might be pregnant, as she didn’t get her period for a while, but he told her she wasn’t pregnant. (I used to know which hormone was involved, but there is a particular test that will come up negative later in pregnancy, and I think this test was used - too late to give a proper positive result.) I don’t know if the friend felt no fetal movements or dismissed them as digestive troubles; this was her first pregnancy and she didn’t know what to expect, plus the doctor had told her she wasn’t pregnant, after all.
At the time, my mother owned a dog that would act terribly protective of pregnant women, even guests - to the point of leaving even family members alone in favor of keeping at the side of the pregnant woman at all times. This friend visited my mother late in her unknowing pregnancy, and my mother teased her that she must be pregnant. Mom was one of the first people - besides the woman’s family members - to get a call of “Er, I just had a baby?!” after her delivery.
I guess it would also depend on how regularly you got your period to start.
I have two friends who each only get a period about twice a year. One went on the birth control pill as a way of making sure that she got a periods once a month because it was causing her too much anxiety thinking she could be pregnant and not know it.
I had a friend in HS who was adopted, as his parents could never have biological kids. When his mother was 43, she stopped having periods, started having hot flashes, gaining weight, generally not feeling well, etc. Chalked it up to early menopause. Finally, she went to the doctor, only to find out she was 8 months pregnant! The doctor who gave her the news was the same doctor who had told her she’d never have kids of her own!
Seriously, some women have way fewer symptoms than other women, or are just not in touch with what their bodies are doing.
I can understand women continuing to menstruate during pregnancy, I can understand not putting on much weight or not suffering morning sickness/sore boobs/tiredness and whatever. I can even understand women mistaking uterine contractions for having a tummy-wog.
But there is no way in hell that you can ignore or mistake a baby wiggling around in your belly for a bit of indigestion. I cannot see how these women, especially the one’s that are multigravid, could confuse the ‘sensation’ of foetal somersaults with something more benign.
My mother’s best friend was pregnant seven months before she realized, and then only because the baby was turning flips and dancing jigs.
Remembering my own pregnancy and the movement being visible to my ex-husband from across the room, Im amazed that it wasn’t even questioned by these women.
But I don’t doubt it for a minute.
Sorry kam, but women can and do.
My cousin in Toronto gave birth 3 years ago next month without knowing she was pregnant. She never missed a period, she did not gain weight (admittedly, she was already 200 pounds on a 5 foot tall frame), so why in hell should she think that a baby’s kicking was anything but indigestion?
Now, you have to know that her line of the family is reknowned for easy-peasy births. She thought she had appendicitis when she went to the hospital-- she was 4 cm dilated, and gave birth to baby Mathew an hour later.
Who says a fetus has to move a lot, either? One of my sisters-in-law didn’t move (noticeably) at all during the last month or two of the pregnancy. Completely ceased any movement. My mother-in-law (who’d had children before and knew she was pregnant) was worried that the baby was dying or disabled in some fashion, but she turned out quite normal.
Sure. There are lots of women (raises hand) who are perfectly normal except for screwed up cycles. Sometimes I’m heavy, sometimes I’m light, and I have - for some reason - skipped more Julys than I care to remember. (Panic, anyone?)
Toss in a lack of interest in visiting a doctor unless I’m sick, a lot of cellulite, and infrequent…um…opportunities…to get preggers, and I can easily see myself becoming one of “those women”.
When my mom was pregnant w/ me she had no morning sickness, weight gain, missed periods, etc. Still wearing the same little jeans & skirts. Only found out when they needed to x-ray her ribs after a car accident. She was 6 months along. Surprise!
Very occationally, women will continue to get regular - though lighter - periods while pregnant.
When I was going through infertility treatment, one of the other patients had gotten to the point of surgery. When they do this, they don’t want to risk miscarriage, so its a month where you don’t have sex. She’d had a normal period the month before. She pee’s in the cup “just to be sure” and guess what - preggers.
Now, this is a woman who is visiting the fertility clinic every month - and her and the infertility doc missed it because of the regular period. My infertility doc said “sometimes it happens”
Thanks for all the replies. I am certainly convinced that this does happen! Now my question is: is there a name for this phenomenon? Is there some medical reason that some women get their periods while pregnant? My co-worker said that her friend joined a support group after the birth, so there must be some kind of organization/website. I tried to find it, but to no avail. I find this fascinating! I have one child myself, several nieces and nephews and, like Kambukta above, I feel this defies comprehension. I need to know how and why this happens!
