Women who don't know they're pregnant

Cherry2 · Jun 28, 2005

Another one here!

In September 2003 I stopped getting my periods, went to the doc in oct when it still wasn't back- I had taken 2 pregnancy tests already and they were negative so my doctor told me to wait 2 more months and come back if it didn't return.

January I was back, complaining of exhaustion, headaches etc. She asked me if I could be preg? I said no, I have been taking tests every 2 weeks, all negative. She does a blood test just to be sure- also negative. I was then told to come back in April b/c at the six month late mark that is when it needs to be looked into.

April comes along- same problems going on, now I am gaining weight. Still getting negative tests though. She thinks it is my thyroid- I get tested and no, not that.

Then she sends me for an MRI b/c she thinks it might be a pituitary tumor (!!) So I am completely freaked out. I wasn't able to get in for the MRI right away- and since my mom has had ovarian cysts she tells me to get the doctor to send me for an U/S.

Now it is the week before my U/S, I can barely squish into my jeans (same ones all along- and I am not overweight) I have stretch marks showing up on my stomach- but still all preg tests are negative so I 'know' I'm not pregnant!

May 31st 2004, the day of the U/S I walk in and the tech sees my stretch marks and says "are you pregnant?" I get really MAD.. I said "shouldn't it say on my chart or something why I am here?? I have done (pregnancy) test after test since January- I am not pregnant! "

So she gets me to lie down and put the wand thingy (lol) on my belly and says "well..... you are pregnant!"

I croaked out a "whaaat?" to which she says, "and it isn't that little of a baby either"

21 weeks and 1 day by her measurements! So here I am at 5 months pregnant having taken who knows how many tests and blood tests with out it ever showing up that I am pregnant!

My son is the best thing in my life- but I worry if I will know next time, and I hope I won't have to get an U/S to find out, since I was all alone when I found out this time.

It does happen- even to those who aren't overweight, although I will say, I 'popped' out just 3 days after I found out and there was no mistaking I was pregnant then! 2 days after that I felt movement. I truly believe though that if I had been overweight I may have ended up as some do and not known till I was in labor. I can see how that happens now, but I too used to believe it only happened to teenagers or those just plain in denial! Now I know! :chuckle

nckdl · Jun 28, 2005

I worked with a lady who had a lot of bowel problems. She was younger and not married and so tiny and skinny. Well one day she said she couldn't come to work on a certain day because she is seeing her doctor to do a ct of her abdomen because she had alot of gas and stomach cramps. Well 2 months went by, she is still skinny and she didn't come to work. Found out she was 8 months pregnant!!! went into early labor and the baby unfortunatly died. Of course we all wonder, did she know she was pregnant by that ct or did she really not know like she said????:uhoh21:

elliebellie · Jun 28, 2005

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...

okie2 · Jun 28, 2005

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 don't understand this either. My babies rolled around- pushed their hands, feet, & butts outward and jumped on my bladder. If I hadn't known before- I would have known by 4 months, or thought I had an alien in my gut!!!:chuckle

BUT no two pregnancies are alike:p

very interesting thread btw

JoniL&DRN · Jun 28, 2005

Well I'm one of those who continued with her period. I was still nursing baby #2 and had my first and second period (he was just one year at the time). I was on the pill. We moved and I was feeling rather ill and tired but of course had a period and was on the pill. One night I thought ok this isn't just "I moved and I'm tired and it's July so I'm hot." I thought I was maybe 6 weeks along. The US tech just laughed and said "yeah try 12 weeks". But it wasn't another two weeks before he was kicking the daylights out of me so I would have figured it out for sure by then. My story isn't that dramatic but here is one that is...

My hairstylist has a 17 year old daughter. She noticed she was gaining some weight. Started taking her to the gym daily to run two miles. Still gaining weight. Starting Atkins and vigorous weight training. Took her to the doc and she checked out fine (boy that doc needs to rethink her methods I think). Two weeks later daughter is complaining of a belly ache. Mom sits outside the bathroom door and hears the grunting and groaning and is thinking "oh man I think I might need to call 911". PLOP. Baby falls in the toilet... 8 lbs. 6 oz. little boy. Daughter said delivering the placenta was worse than the baby (now that's my kind of labor). She had had intercourse one time with a boyfriend who she then broke up with (feeling bad about her premarital relations). Baby turned out gorgeous. But I couldn't believe it when I heard it!

luvmydanes2 · Jun 28, 2005

When my mom called her family and said, "Guess who's pregnant?" they ALL said, "Damnit, not the dog again?!?!"

Gosh that sounds like me! Usually it is one of the danes that are prego when I say that now.

My first husband and I had difficulty getting pregnant and after 6 miscarriages we decided that it was no longer emotionally feasible for me to continue trying to get pregnant while in the service and because of health concerns I could not take bc and no way was he using protection. Anyway, I had two surgeries scheduled 1 month apart. One was to have my tonsils taken out and the other was a tubal. The day of the tonsilectomy I got set up for surgery and just before inserting the IV the nurse says, "let me check your pregnancy test". I said its going to be negative..i've always been irregular and just lost a baby in feb. This was May the day after mothers day. I just knew I wasnt pregnant and everything would go fine with the surgery. Needless to say I still have tonsils and my daughter was born in November. I didnt go as long as some of other mothers not knowing but had I not had surgery scheduled it might have been a couple months before I figured it out for myself. I only gained 18 lbs with my oldest and was past the 12 week mark by the time I found out. Needless to say, fertility wasnt a problem...a year to the date I found out I was pregnant again this time though I was only 4 weeks.

rn/writer, RN · Jun 28, 2005

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...

My sister (who had a ruptured appy with peritonitis and many other complications) had always felt lots of rumblys in her tumbly. Her surprise baby was quiet compared to her other two and whatever motion there was, Sis chalked up to her previous problems.

KaroSnowQueen, RN · Jun 29, 2005

My first baby was born in August. I was breastfeeding (and did so for a year)and my cycles had not returned after her birth.

Fast forward to August the next year. I'm lying in bed one morning and feel my little baby girl kicking me in the side with her little feet. "How strange", I thought, "it doesn't feel any differently than when she was inside me." I reached over to scoop her up and realized that she was in her crib and NOT in bed with me!

Talk about an eye-popping moment!!!! I had no nausea, of course didn't think one thing about not having a monthly, had felt nothing that I would have called fetal movements, and if she had been in bed with me that morning I would have still not known!!!! :rotfl:

I had a lovely little boy three months later.

My daughter's SIL had three kids. She was looking a little "hefty" and the family was wondering is she was pregnant and not wanting to say since they had fallen on hard times and she, her hubby and both kids were living with her parents. At a family get together on the Fourth of July, we were speculating that "maybe" she might be four or five months, but it was really hard to say. Add to that the fact that she was still smoking and coloring her hair and eating junk food, which she FAITHFULLY stopped doing all the above during each pregnancy and we concluded, "Nah,no way."

The next morning the kids called me and said they were at the hospital, the SIL had complained of a tummy ache after the party and went home, stayed up watching tv and taking Mylanta, and woke up the house screaming as she delivered her "tummy ache" in the bathroom.

She and her hubby swore she had her cycle each month and had no symptoms that either of them noticed. She has since had another baby and

knew right away about it!!

HisTreasure, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2005

I didn't know for about four months. I had just had my first daughter on Christmas, 2001. It was a difficult labor ending in an emergency c-section. I went to my two week post-partum check up and was still having abd distension and some cramping with HEAVY bleeding. OB?GYN said it was d/t nursing. I stopped bleeding in my third post partum week and the cramping stopped. Two weeks later I was bleeding again, soaking through a sanitary napkin in less than an hour etc... I started freaking out and called my husband at work to tell him the problem. He told me he would leave work and take me to ED.

I received abdominal and lady partsl ultrasounds and was told that there was a very small "something" there and it was most likely left over placenta. I was prescribed a med to stop the bleeding (which it did) and was told if the bleeding did not cease in 24 hours to return to ED immediately for a D&C.

Went to regular 6 week check up the following week: no problems.

FAST FORWARD two months. My mom comes down to GA to visit. I am wearing a sundress and my mother says "Are you sure you aren't pregnant?" I am offended. Of course not! I just had a baby! It's baby fat and how dare you insult me? WELL... she was right. Two more months pass, my husband and I are temporarily seperated and I am back in NYS. I don't get a period but I am not concerned because I am exclusively nursing and under stress of being a new mother and being seperated. However, I noticed my abdomen getting slightly larger and I am experiencing some stress at my incisional site. Mostly as a comfort measure I take a EPT with two in the box. Right there in the store restroom I test. POSITIVE. I go home to my mom's, sleep, wake up and retest. POSITIVE. So, I called my husband to let him know. He comes up to NY to retrieve me and our growing family, and I wait until I am safely back in GA to tell my parents I was expecting. I am now 21 weeks.

It just so happens that my middle baby is my miracle child. She most likely was that "something" seen on the ultrasound, and if I hadn't gotten that med she most likely wouldn't have survived. She brought me and my husband back together. She was also born at 34.5 weeks at 4 pounds 13 ounces but did not need to go to the special care nursery! She beat me out of surgery! She has been perfectly healthy since the day she was born. She's a miracle all around. ((Never trust a 34.5 weeker who doesn't need the NICU!))

ilbskees · Apr 6, 2009

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

morte, LPN, LVN · Apr 6, 2009

https://allnurses.com/ob-gyn-nursing/women-who-dont-109586.html

this is a thread where this has been discussed before.......

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 6, 2009

Thanks, morte.

Threads merged.