Women who don't know they're pregnant

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Just curious about this...

I think everyone has heard stories about women who had no idea they were pregnant and then suddenly delivered. I had heard a story like this about a friend of my Mom's, thought "yeah right, whatever," and forgot about it.

However, my MIL was one of these women. With her second child she said that she had no idea she was pregnant, because she was overweight, on the pill, and had a period every month during her pregnancy. While on vacation in Las Vegas (we live in Southern California) she felt ill (abdominal pain and vomiting), and her husband drove her to Sunrise Hospital. You can imagine his surprise 30 minutes later (there is a family history of extremely short labors) when a nurse came out and informed him "It's a Girl!" It probably didn't help that he'd been drinking all night. LOL :rotfl: Ever since, my sister-in-law has been know as the "Sunrise Surprise."

People absolutely do not believe me when I tell them this story, but I believe her! After all, she had one child before and knew what pregnancy was like. I admit I wouldn't be rushing to take a pregnancy test if I was on the pill and having my period each month. It's harder to explain away the kicking and movement of the baby (thought I was going to die with #2 because my daughter was trying to come out my bellybutton!) but still...anyone have any experience/stories with this?

Jennee

Specializes in Critical Care.

Sorry double post.

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I was watching this new show called " I didn't know I was pregnant". It was pretty interesting and a little scary. I was just wondering how common this really is, and if anyone knew what percentage of women this happens to?

thanks

That show is so awful. They make way too much effort to make it dramatic. Each time they say "And she had no prenatal care and yet the baby and mother survived!"...it drives me nuts. Obviously each of the women and babies survived or they wouldn't be on the show. The real drama is in delivering a baby and not expecting it- not in health outcomes. There is evidence to show that prenatal care does NOT improve outcomes except in socially at-risk populations. Just a little pet peeve of mine.

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Specializes in LDRP.

I have NEVER had this happen to me. LOL, I can't imagine. Usually b/c I want a baby so bad I know my periods.

Though, we've seen a few patients like that at work. One who was nursing her 12month old, and still didnt have her first period. Said one day coffee made her sick, which it only did when she was pregnant. so she took a test-pregnant again, before she ever got her first period. but she wasn't that far along.

Had another who came in with abd pains, but she "couldnt be pregnant" since she was on her period. no, she was 35 weeks or so, having an abruption. baby was already dead.

Had another, who was 36 weeks or so, with a 1 year old, and "didnt know" (b/c honestly i dont know fi they didnt knwo or they were in denial. She knew when her water broke. Then, she knew. baby was fine, she gave him up for adoption.

Had another who had delivered a baby previously. Didnt know, went into labor early (before 30 weeks). Had baby in the ambulance, and 2nd baby in the ER. Babies went to nicu, of course.

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We have a family friend who had this happen to her son and then g/f. The g/f was 19 and very thin but had a long history of bowel problems that had caused her all sorts of problems (including a distened abdomen and those "rumblings" another poster mentioned). Right before Christmas she went to her dr because she was having a lot more pain than usual and thought her "bloating" was worse than normal too. Dr checked her out and ordered some tests and set her up w/ an appt for after Christmas. Christmas Eve our friend gets a call from the girl's parents saying they are at the hospial. They ask if everything is okay w/ the g/f and they said "yeah, now that she's had the baby". Talk about a bomb!

The guessed that she was about 27 weeks or so and delivered in a podunk hospital w/o a NICU. The baby was around 2lbs and did a lot of NICU time (after being airlifted) but is know 5 y/o and has absolutlely no problems!

*ETA* - The girl also said she had random spotting throughout the pregnancy and never thought anything about it since she had never been regular.

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Specializes in LTC.
That show is so awful. They make way too much effort to make it dramatic. Each time they say "And she had no prenatal care and yet the baby and mother survived!"...it drives me nuts. Obviously each of the women and babies survived or they wouldn't be on the show. The real drama is in delivering a baby and not expecting it- not in health outcomes. There is evidence to show that prenatal care does NOT improve outcomes except in socially at-risk populations. Just a little pet peeve of mine.

It drives me nuts, too! Especially when they say "And she delivered the baby completely natural w/out any drugs!" Ummm...haven't women been doing that since the dawn of time? They make it sound like this huge accomplishment; it grates on my nerves.

(No disrespect to those of you who had drugs w/your deliveries - IV Stadol was my friend throughout both of my labors.)

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Honestly, I can buy the story sometimes. Especially when it's someone who is big (not necessarily fat, just big-structured) and/or who never had regular periods to begin with. I don't believe every single person who comes in with the "I-didn't-know-I-was-pregnant" line, but I don't automatically disbelieve them either.

It kind of grates on my nerves too, the whole "and she was just fine inspite of no PNC." Um, I wonder exactly how the human race survived if everybody HAD to get prenatal care as we define it today. Not knocking PNC, but I think we sometimes go overboard with it in a low-risk pregnancy.

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Not knocking PNC, but I think we sometimes go overboard with it in a low-risk pregnancy.

I totally agree. It's like ultrasound. People are aghast at someone who doesn't have multiple ultrasounds in their pregnancy. And yet- ultrasound does not fix or change anything. In rare cases it can warn of a problem, but it cannot fix that problem or improve the outcome. Ultrasounds cause incredible stress for many women, inaccurately estimate weights and due dates (in later pregnancy), and cost $$$$$$. Yet it is the standard of care. I think I need to work in a different field:)

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Thanks for these stories...still can't believe it, those shows on DHC or TLC still kill me. I think most people have to be in denial, but I guess these stories are a little more credible coming from some OB professionals. When I was PG with both of mine I felt like I had a jack hammer jabbing me everywhere all the time...NOT GAS! LOL!

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For those of you who found out during labor: didn't you feel fetal movement before that & wonder what it was? I always had visible, painful kicks & punches with all 3 kids. I can't imagine blaming it on gas pain...

I can understand not feeling a baby move. I knew I was pregnant both times, but with my oldest I almost never felt her move. Maybe once a day or every other. Scared the poop outta me since all the books and websites say you should feel 10 movements an hour. :uhoh3: I could have easily passed those off as nothing if I hadn't vomited everyday for 6 weeks. Not a problem with my twins. They were like tiny jumping beans!

I also have 2 friends who barely showed just due to the way they carried. Combine those together and I can see how someone may not know.

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is anyone else getting totally freaked out by this thread and thinking could this be me??? i don't have periods cuz i'm still breastfeeding my baby, although 18 months really isn't a baby anymore, is it? noticed my pre prego pants are now getting tight again, hmmm. i took a test back in feb, not cuz i thought i was prego but just to be sure i wasn't before i got my mmr, of course it was neg. i think i'm just trippin, i feel way to good to be prego...i think???

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is anyone else getting totally freaked out by this thread and thinking could this be me??? i don't have periods cuz i'm still breastfeeding my baby, although 18 months really isn't a baby anymore, is it? noticed my pre prego pants are now getting tight again, hmmm. i took a test back in feb, not cuz i thought i was prego but just to be sure i wasn't before i got my mmr, of course it was neg. i think i'm just trippin, i feel way to good to be prego...i think???

I think that 24 months is the cutoff when a baby is no longer a "baby." Spoken like the mom of another 18 month old baby, but she really is getting out of the "baby" phase. *sniff* She's getting to be a big girl...

I think I could understand getting to six months and passing off a lot of pregnancy symptoms. But at the end, I really couldn't blame any of her wild movements on anything else. Her movements were so big, that they could be seen from across the room by my husband. If I didn't know that I was pregnant, I would not have known what to think.

In later pregnancy, there must be some serious denial going on if a woman claims not to be pregnant.

Working in L&D triage, we run across the other end of the spectrum, women who are convinced they are pregnant, look like they are pregnant, and u/s shows no baby whatsoever. Clearly a topic for another thread.

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When my sister was in her mid-twenties, she had a ruptured appy followed by severe peritonitis. She nearly died and lost a lot of weight during her recovery. She was told she might never have kids d/t scarring and adhesions. Her periods stopped entirely for a while. Then she had occasional spotting for months. She also had a lot of GI complaints, some due to the peritonitis, some related to IBD.

Fast forward a year or so. She gained back the weight she lost when she was so ill and put on a few extra pounds (which actually look good on her). One Sunday afternoon, she was having her usual belly problems only nothing was giving her relief. Hours went by and my brother-in-law was getting worried. He'd never seen her in so much pain. Against her wishes, he called 911 and followed the ambulance to the hospital in his car.

When he got to the ER, a nurse told him that mother and baby were doing well. He told her he was looking for my sister who came in with abdominal problems. The nurse said, "Mother and abdominal problem are doing well."

In the ambulance, my sister had an urge to push and that's when the paramedics realized she was crowning. They barely made it to an ED room when she gave birth to a 6 lb. 6 oz. baby girl.

My bil was shocked. But no more so than my sister.

As a side note--the hospital where she gave birth did not have an OB department. All OB cases went to the other hospital across town. However, the ED folks were so tickled that they got to deliver a baby that they kind of adopted my sister and her family. They also knew that with this baby being a total surprise, no preparations had been made for her arrival. The next day, some of the staff brought in a mini-baby shower. The ED staff had chipped in and bought baby clothes and a teddy bear and diapers and even a car seat. My sister and her husband were surprised and grateful.

My niece just turned 12 and she's a delight. My sister had two more kids and became as big as a house with each of them. She knew within several weeks that she was pregnant with each of them. We laugh about that.

Before I witnessed all of this, I had a hard time believing that anyone could NOT know they were carrying a baby inside them. Now, I believe . . .

Miranda

What a great story!

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