Pregnancy Denial-- a real psychological disorder?

[FireStarterRN]

I was reading about the woman on trial in France for killing and freezing her newborn babies. Some are claiming she suffered from a psychological disorder known as 'Pregnancy Denial'. Has anyone seen this?

Babes-in-freezer trial grips France

From the article:

In the run-up to her trial, it seems that every leading pregnancy expert in France has been interviewed by the media - and suddenly people here are no longer talking about premeditated murder, they are talking about an intriguing psychological condition called pregnancy denial.

In the flood of articles on the subject this week, it was a double-page spread in the left-leaning Liberation which really grabbed my attention.

The figures the paper gave were startling - every year in France, between 1,600 and 2,000 women apparently suffer from pregnancy denial, and at least 230 discover or admit they're pregnant only at the moment they give birth.

Surprisingly, most of the examples cited were not of teenage girls who had never had a baby - they were mainly mothers of at least two children who were all so mentally opposed to the thought of having another child that they didn't show a single physical symptom of their pregnancy.

Apart from a tiny weight gain of one or two kilos there were no visible changes to their bodies. Many of the women even continued to menstruate - the need to deny the pregnancy was so strong, explained doctors, that the mind controlled the body and suppressed all external manifestations of the pregnancy.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Goes to show the power of the mind. I wonder if mankind will ever learn to harness that power in a conscious way?

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

It is possible to lactate while pregnant - lots of women continue to nurse children while they're pregnant.

Regarding the individual in the OP, there seems to be a lot of psych stuff going on behind the scenes. I have, however, seen cases of women who have very irregular periods to begin with, are a little overweight, and whose bodies can hide a pregnancy for a very long time. If they've had trouble with infertility in the past such as happens with PCOS, the thought that they could be pregnant is often far from their minds. Missed periods and the like are par for their course.

While I don't believe every single story that mom 'didn't know' she was pregnant, I don't automatically write them off, either.

[PedsAtHeart, LPN]

From what I understand you will continue to lactate as long as you have that stimulation. Not in all cases, but I guess in general.

Could be wrong though, I am no OB nurse.

[83studentnurse]

I'm sorry, when I brought up lactation what I meant was that women with hysterical pregnancies can begin to lactate/leak (symptom of pregnancy that occurs in the case of hysterical pregnancy can occur even without a fetus).I was just using it as an example of how the mind can make the body do unusual things sometimes!

[meluhn]

This is so strange. On one hand, you know this lady cannot be right in the head but where do we draw the line between having a mental disorder that excuses this sort of thing and making her accountable for her actions. She knew she was pregnant (it said in the article). She did this 3 times! I can understand that denial can be very strong but I cant understand murdering 3 helpless newborns. Hasn't she ever heard of the pill? She knew enough to conceal her pregnancy from her family--even her husband. I just dont get it.

[tbell2]

I'm sorry, when I brought up lactation what I meant was that women with hysterical pregnancies can begin to lactate/leak (symptom of pregnancy that occurs in the case of hysterical pregnancy can occur even without a fetus).I was just using it as an example of how the mind can make the body do unusual things sometimes!

The "man" who gave birth was on Oprah and his wife began to lactate adn breastfed their first baby.

[BabyRN2Be]

I've actually seen this happen before, but mostly with teens and some early 20's. They've convinced themselves that they are not pregnant and won't have any symptoms. They won't even show, even those who are quite thin to begin with. However, later on in the pregnancy (I'm talking 36 weeks) for some reason or another they admit to themselves that they are pregnant, and over the course of a few hours, they'll start to have symptoms, and then start showing for that stage in pregnancy. Quite bizarre.

[beachmom]

I asked a doctor once if she had any patients who didn't know they were pregnant. She said only a few, mostly teens who were in denial.

One, however, was a woman who was told she could never have kids. She was obese and had lots of stomach issues. She was 37 weeks when she found out, and two days later she delivered.

She said many women have "a bun in the oven. She had "a bun in the microwave."

[rn/writer, RN]

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.

[mcsn]

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.

[oguesswhat]

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.

[Bama_Jypsy1]

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.