TLC: I didn't know I was pregnant

Csltdk · February 2014

... Have any of you watched this? I just saw it for the first time today and am having a hard time coming to terms that this is real. This is fake reality T.V..... right???

alyssa719 · February 2014

Nooo.. I can't even think about this show anymore!! They say they're real stories, but omg, I hate them!! Also, the descriptions that they give kind of make me want to vomit - one girl gave birth in her sweatpants and said it was something slimy moving around in her pants. I was grossed out for... well, obviously I am *still* grossed out.

1982Babies · February 2014

The other day, a coworker was telling me about her former coworker who was having belly pains, went to the ER and wasn't heard from again until the next day, when she texted my coworker a picture of the baby.

She "had no idea", and I guess she didn't even look pregnant. I was amazed.

Csltdk · February 2014

mamabc14 · February 2014

I usually watch this every morning. its so interesting. I honestly don't think its fake. I can totally understand relaying pregnancy symptoms to other causes. just so scary yo think about because of the lack of prenatal care for the mom and baby!!

eta spelling is hard

Buttercup509 · February 2014

I've watched it once and that was enough. There was a 16 year old girl at an amusement park. She got off a roller coaster and then gave birth in a toilet.

Csltdk · February 2014

mamabc14 said:

I usually watch this every morning. its so interesting. I honestly don't think its fake. I can totally understand relaying pregnancy symptoms to other causes. just so scary yo think about because of the lack of prenatal care for the mom and baby!! eta spelling is hard

I have only seen one episode and I am not comprehending how this this real?! What about the belly growing, the increased appetite, having to pee every 5 minutes?

lindslalala · February 2014

I refuse to believe these stories are legit. In the last month of pregnancy your entire belly moves when the baby does and I just can't imagine people are that stupid. I mean, I know stupid people are out there, but how out of tune with your body can you be?

alyssa719 · February 2014

Toilet babies are the worst part of the show.

bgoodbpar · February 2014

I watched this allllll the time when it first came out. I couldn't believe some of the stories. You should try to watch one born every minute. That show is comedy for pregnant women, esp if you've been through labor before.

Csltdk · February 2014

alyssa719 said:

Toilet babies are the worst part of the show.

Are you telling me that people on this show have babies IN THE TOILET?!?!

mamabc14 · February 2014

Csltdk said:

mamabc14 said:

I usually watch this every morning. its so interesting. I honestly don't think its fake. I can totally understand relaying pregnancy symptoms to other causes. just so scary yo think about because of the lack of prenatal care for the mom and baby!!

eta spelling is hard

I have only seen one episode and I am not comprehending how this this real?! What about the belly growing, the increased appetite, having to pee every 5 minutes?

some of the ladiedidn't gain weight others attributed it to stress eating etc. I don't know if the show is real or not but I don't think its fake. im just saying I can see how each symptom there could be an explanation. especially if you weren't trying to have a child or were on bc, you would definitely have other things come to mind besides oI must be preggers! i hope that makes my opinion a but clearer lol.

alyssa719 · February 2014

Csltdk said:

alyssa719 said:

Toilet babies are the worst part of the show.

Are you telling me that people on this show have babies IN THE TOILET?!?!

Hahaha. I shit you not. MOST of the ones I've seen are toilet babies. It's horrible.

TricksyPixie · February 2014

Idont watch tlc because I don't "learn" anything. Boo. Boo on that.

abunai523 · February 2014

I honestly have no idea if any of them are real. I've only seen a couple, I do think at least some of them were in denial or hiding it, and actually knew. There are too many women out there that do that for that not to be the case some of the time.

On a similar note, my pregnancy buddy at work didn't find out she was expecting until she was about 19 weeks! And this is her second! She got almost no symptoms and attributed what she did get to other things. Of course now that she's in the mid-20 week range it's becoming visible, so she wouldn't have been able to go all the way without knowing. She still can't feel anything though, anterior placenta.

jnnfrrose6 · February 2014

It's a Mad Men baby! Oh Peggy, to be naive and Catholic in the 60s.

I had a co-worker who didn't find out until about 5 months (this was several years ago). She had a 7 year old daughter and was on the pill. She felt "something" growing and got worried. She told me she thought she had a tumor or something. Nope, it's a baby. She didn't look pregnant, either.

Buttercup509 · February 2014

I haven't had many symptoms but I still can't fathom not knowing. I haven't had a period in a few months now. That's a pretty good clue, if you ask me.

TallMomma29 · February 2014

I can believe that some women may not find out until several months into it, but I just can't believe a person who was 8 or 9 months pregnant would have no idea that was something was up! While many pregnancy symptoms can be explained away as something else (and some women have very few symptoms if any), you just can't explain away a baby moving inside you! If you didn't know you were pregnant, you would have to at least think there was some kind of crazy big tape worm or alien inside you, and get that crap checked out.

I've only seen a couple of episodes and they were always teen girls which makes me think they knew and they were just trying to hide it as long as possible, and then finally went into labor before they had a chance to be like "oh, btw, I'm pregnant."

Jbosarge85 · February 2014

lindslalala said:

I refuse to believe these stories are legit. In the last month of pregnancy your entire belly moves when the baby does and I just can't imagine people are that stupid. I mean, I know stupid people are out there, but how out of tune with your body can you be?

My belly didn't move when the baby did. I felt unmistakable kicks but you couldn't see anything from the outside

Jbosarge85 · February 2014

The ones I have seen most had PCOS and frequently missed a period so that didn't raise flags. I saw one where the lady gave birth on the bathroom floor while her husband was out of town. The next day she greeted him at the door with the baby and he said "Whos baby is that?" And in the interview he said that he thought that she had stolen someone's baby until he saw the bathroom.

[Deleted User] · February 2014

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AnotherPreggo · February 2014

I actually went to high school with girl that was on the show. She is on the episode "it's not my crohn's disease" in season 4. Now that I have been pregnant, I cannot comprehend how you wouldn't recognize the movement, but apparently it IS possible.

jackieo1309 · February 2014

Some of the stories are insane (ever seen the 120 lb girl who had twins on the toilet??) but some of them definitely look real. When I worked in the hospital we had a baby in the special care nursery whose mom came into the ER thinking she had appendicitis. Nope, that's a baby. The baby was fine thankfully and they were just monitoring him because there was no prenatal care and he was almost born in the parking lot. It was kind of terrifying watching them prepare to bring home this baby though.

I could totally see how people get far into the pregnancy without knowing though. I haven't had a ton of symptoms at this point, had mild spotting at 4 weeks (and could go 4-5 months without a period before if I didn't take something to start it) and movements still feel like twitches at this point. My cycle has been messed up for years and I hardly ovulate on my own so I definitely would write everything off as something else!

Jbosarge85 · February 2014

ZeroZeroOne said:

My mom didn't know she was pregnant with my brother until 16 weeks but she said she had heavy brown spotting each month around her period (up through week 12) so she just thought it was a light period. I know some women have really long cycles but I'm guessing not EVERY woman on that show had crazy long cycles. I haven't seen it though...I just wonder how they don't notice a missed period.

My grandmother said she had a period every month she was pregnant. I dunno, I guess that could happen.....

ahjahbaba · February 2014

I don't know if it's fake or not but I feel like if you don't know that you're pregnant after 9 months, more than likely you shouldn't be procreating...

Csltdk · February 2014

My mind is blows that someone said there is 5 seasons of this- I feel like a live under a rock!

Edit: live under a rock, not love

mrs.amma · February 2014

alyssa719 said:

Toilet babies are the worst part of the show.

The worst one I saw was a couple moving across country. In the middle of the night while driving she gets crazy bad cramps (i.e. contractions) and has her boyfriend pull over in an essentially abandoned truck stop. Of course she goes into the nasty, nasty bathroom AND SITS ON THE FLOOR! Luckily a trucker stopped there and helped her because the baby was breach and stuck (ended up needing some CPR from the truck driver too). Plus the boyfriend didn't know where they were exactly to tell EMS to come get them (truck driver to the rescue again). But mom and baby were both miraculously fine.

The show blows my mind....

iris427 · February 2014

I suspect a large number of these people are in some form of denial or hid their pregnancy from everyone else and then claimed not to know. I have a relative who "didn't know" until 16 weeks, but later admitted she did, and another who supposedly didn't know until 7 months. They were both living with their own single mothers, broke, not in stable relationships, had medical reasons they claimed they didn't think they could be pregnant, etc.

DarlingCakes · February 2014

I used to watch this show all the time years ago (started in 2009), but have not seen any recent episodes. I think they make it harder to believe since all of their reenactment actors are much thinner than the actual people. When you get to the end of an episode they show the real person. Most of the ones I've seen are very heavy girls who had irregular periods, so I understand them not knowing for a few months, but towards those last months, how does anyone not know???

It's like a car accident, it's terrible, but you just have to keep looking. Now I need to catch up on the recent shows! So many toilet babies...

ashesandpearls · February 2014

It is hard to believe, but I do think some of them are real. Some of the more real seeming ones have factors that help to explain how it might plausibly happen, like they don't regularly get their period anyway or they keep getting their period through the pregnancy, they don't gain a ton of weight and/or it is not all out front like a typical pregnancy. That said, I imagine some of them must also be in denial to not figure out that they are pregnant or they must be in such poor health that they normally feel sick/constipated/crampy/achy. Not feeling the baby move/identifying the feeling as movement is the thing that is most difficult for me to understand.

cookieinva · February 2014

I was pregnant for a whole cycle without knowing it and it still freaks me out. My husband makes fun of me like I could be on this show (joking, not knowing for a month because i had no symptoms and got my period is not the same).

My actual real life cousin didn't know she was pregnant for I forget exactly how long but definitely at least 7 months, possibly longer but I can't recall. Honestly, knowing her as we all do, we weren't all that surprised.

rattlecanqueen · February 2014

One of my best friend didn't know she was pregnant until 5 months. She had food poisoning and he co-workers gave her crap about being pregnant (which she said it was their first cycle of "trying")...hpt came back positive. Her first appt, confirmed the pregnancy, dated her and found out she was having a boy lol!

jessie55 · February 2014

I have a friend who didn't know till 5 months, it was right after college and she ended up giving the baby up for adoption. Another facebook 'friend' seemed to not know till delivery, but from what I know of her she was probably in denial/hiding it and is also a bigger girl.

Kristinwhit · February 2014

I feel like I am aware of my pregnancy nearly every minute. I can't imagine explaining everything away. Shocking isn't a strong enough word.

hgtvmom · February 2014

I have a friend who is one of twins. The two girls were conceived 2 months apart and she didn't know until she was 8 weeks pregnant with the second baby. She had a period and, obviously, ovulated, despite being pregnant. One was born at term and the other was premature. This blows my mind!

Ecomom17 · February 2014

I've seen a few episodes and can see how the stories were totally plausible (e.g., a woman with MS who didn't have much feeling in her lower body; a college girl who was just pretty ignorant and didn't have very noticeable symptoms). My cousin's wife didn't know she was pregnant with their first until, like, 8 months. She is very heavy and couldn't feel any movement and otherwise didn't have symptoms (I don't know about whether she had any bleeding). My friend's wife was 20 wks with her 2nd before she knew b/c she kept having bleeding, so she actually thought she had miscarried, then had no idea she was still pregnant.

If you actually watch the show, there are always somewhat extenuating circumstances which explain why the women aren't aware that they're pregnant. Sure, some of it is probably that they're not paying attention to their bodies, but I can totally see how if you weren't trying or didn't think it was likely you'd get pregnant and then didn't really have symptoms you might not think of it.

Also, you're all thinking from your own experiences. Not everyone can feel the baby kick. Lots of women experience regular bleeding throughout their pregnancies. Etc. It's not really that shocking that this happens to a lot of women.

honeybee434 · February 2014

MIL was pregnant with my BIL for about 4 months before she knew she was pregnant. She was used to irregular periods, still had bleeding and no first trimester symptoms. She was also very young, newly married and wasn't really paying attention to things until she was about that far along and realized something was definitely not normal.

redhotmama7 · February 2014

I could go years without AF due to my pcos... But I can't now because every time I go more than a month my body tried to hemorrhage due to my bleeding disorder...

I have a real life friend who didn't know till she was 24 weeks and felt the baby kicking.

I still don't know that I would believe all these women though...

hope1017 · February 2014

I love this show it's so interesting. My theory is that it's all in the mind. Most of those stories where women who were under stress, going from one situation to another, had menstrual cycle problems,etc. So because you don't know you are pregnant your belly doesn't grow or it grows but not to the point where you know it's not "fat." Most of the people that don't know until 19 weeks or so will then see a change in their body, is it because your mind is adjusting to the new information? I hope I'm making sense. This is just like phantom pregnancy but opposite; a woman desires for a baby or believes 110% that she is pregnant that she has normal symptoms, her belly grows and she even has normal labor pains.

fmb2011 · February 2014

The show is crazy! I saw that same episode @jessa8907 ! All I could think when they said the baby hit the concrete floor was "I hope the baby is ok!"

TwizzyG · February 2014

Although it's extremely rare, women give birth on the toilet in the hospital too!!! Usually they've had a couple kiddos before. Never happened for me, but did have one happen during my shift. Baby was fine!
(Just an FYI- when the baby is low and about to come out, it puts a lot of pressure on your bottom and it will feel like you have to poop! So, if you are in labor and tell your nurse you have to poop, they will most likely check your cervix).

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