Pregnancy Denial-- a real psychological disorder?

I have a sister who had no idea she was pregnant until a paramedic in the ambulance told her she was crowning. She had survived a ruptured appendix with many complications and was told she would probably never be able to have kids naturally. She also had very irregular periods, sometimes spotting, sometimes skipping months at a time. She had a small amount of "tummy rumbles" (kicking), but this was normal for her following her ruptured appy and the subsequent surgeries and adhesions. When she was ill, she lost a lot of weight, so we were all happy to see her gain some of it back--about 15 pounds total. She certainly didn't look pregnant, just a little bloated, which, again, was normal after all she'd been through.

There was no shade of denial on her part. She was thrilled but stunned. As was her husband. And the rest of the family. My mother called to tell me my little sis had just given birth, and I thought she was joking.

As for the woman in France, it's hard to know where to draw the line between a genuine psychosis and a conduct disorder. If she is truly so mentally ill that she can't be held accountable, she ought to volunteer to be sterilized or put on a highly dependable form of birth control, or she should be mandated to have monthly pregnancy tests and some kind of close supervision if she becomes pregnant again. And then the baby should be transferred to a safe environment.

If you can't be held liable because you are that disturbed, then there need to be external measures applied to keep history from repeating itself.

I wouldn't usually put much stock into some of these claims but my mother didn't know she was pregnant with me until she was 5-6 months along. She was told she couldn't get pregnant and because of other health issues, she had irregular periods. She continued to go to the Dr. because of weight gain and suspecting pregnancy but she was assured she was not pregnant and in fact, had a tumor. Well....5 months later...the Dr. said they were mistaken...and 9 months later...me! This was over 20 years ago so I'm sure changes have been made since then.

As for the period issue...you can't actually have a period while pregnant. However you can bleed. 1st trimester it can happen just due to hormones or whatever. After that you can have plecenta previa. It's not a good reason to bleed but to a women who didn't know she was pregnant it could seem like a period.

I have seen that show I didn't know I was pregnant too...while some of them I don't believe...they have shown pictures of the women like a month before and they didn't look pregnant...just chubby. But most of them were a little chubby already. So I could see that by looking at them you couldn't tell.

I have had several friends that have had babies and never knew they were pregnant!!! It's crazy, I know but it does happen. What really gets me is that they all had been pregnant and had children before.

One of them found out she was pregnant only after being admitted into the hospital for a hysterectomy and being cut open and finding out she was 7 1/2 mos pregnant and sutured back up. She had absolutely no clue that she was pregnant. She had been pregnant several times over the years and always lost the pregnancies, always had irreg. periods and over wgt. She did have a son that was 14 yrs old at the time though. She had been getting sick every time she'd brush her teeth and kept switching brands of tooth paste, thinking that it was the tooth paste causing her nausea. lol

This particular couple had been wanting a baby for many years and trying to conceive. They got their wish and didn't have to wait the whole nine months to get it. Ryan Edward Gray made his grand debut in a mere 6 wks, with everyone being totally thrilled beyond belief.
I can't imagine how any woman could ever not know that she was pregnant after having previously been pregnant and given birth. I mean, that baby is moving and flip flopping all over the place! lol I've given birth to 5 and none of them were ever still and there is no mistaking those movements.

My brother's friend (I met her a few times as well), showed up at the A&E once with horrid abdo pains, thinking it was an appendicitis or something. She went home with a new born. She continued to menustrate and didn't show at all. She was a larger lady, but even so she didn't look pregnant!