I didn't know I was Pregnant!

nauticalmama · November 2014

Okay so who here watches that show on TLC? I think that's the channel is on....

I kinda love it, find it super fascinating and entertaining. But now that I'm 30 weeks pregnant, I kinda feel like calling bullshit on all those women. Between the morning sickness, heartburn, shortness of breath, fatigue, baby jumping around like crazy and obviously no period; how could anyone not know they are pregnant?! Does anyone think there is actually a woman alive who legit just didn't know she was pregnant until she was in labor?

Just some random thoughts on my mind this Sunday evening:)

twinklymama · November 2014

I thought the same thing until one of the ladies I worked with (who was BFing her first baby and hadn't had a period yet), found out that she was 20 weeks pregnant! Weird.

lailou · November 2014

I'm with you on this, I can't believe this is possible. It did happen to a girl I used to work with, went to a&e with bad stomach pains *eyes rolling. I read once that it's a psychological problem where women mentally don't acknowledge being pregnant and just completely block it out. If that is the case then it is slightly believable.

Alygohome · November 2014

My friend didn't find out with her 2nd and 4th until after 5 months. Both times she only found out when baby moved and she felt it, I have girls in my yoga class who claim they haven't had a since symptom (I wanna punch em) and I had a friend who didn't find until until she was almost 8 months/ her kid was deaf blind and paralized from waist down and the placenta was infront, she was pretty young and never felt baby move. But ya. It could never happen to me!!! I was sick before the pee even dried on the stick!

Alygohome · November 2014

dorothygale01 said:
I can buy it until movements. There is no mistaking that something is kicking the shit out of me!

If I weren't pregnant, I'd be pretty conscerned that I had an alien implanted in me or something.

10 ft tapeworm

usmcwife89 · November 2014

My neighbor never knew she was pregnant. She never had a belly/looked pregnant anytime I saw her. One night there was ambulances at her house and she went to the ER. She was in labor but didn't know it. Totally crazy and I often ask her how she didn't know. She says she never had regular periods so that didn't tip her off. She had bleeding throughout the pregnancy so she thought it was her irregular periods. She never felt the baby move or anything. I swear I would see her all the time and she never looked different at all!

chicagojackie · November 2014

There are only two actual cases of this I believe, both discovered around 20 weeks.

The first chick had an implantable device in her arm (progesterone-implanon) which she thought was good for five years (nope, three) and she never had periods since it was placed. She came in thinking she had Crohn's disease like her parent(s) because of the unusual stomach pains and pressures and bloating.

The second chick had bad pcos and irregular periods and spotted irregularly through the 1-2 tri anyway. She was also >200# at least before getting pg so no showing to worry about.

Dannylion24 · November 2014

My cousin didn't know she was pregnant w her second - found out at 26 weeks! They'd had to undergo fertility treatments in order to get pregnant w their first, and she'd never had a regular period to begin with, so she honestly thought she'd just gained weight. When she finally started suspecting that something was going on she assumed at most she was only 3-4 months along, not 5.5!

krispy83 · November 2014

My cousin found out at 20w - she was BFing her first AND on Depo-Provera (the shot.. which happened to be the same BC I was using at the time, scared the shit out of me considering I was like 20). Anyway, I can believe 20w because she popped almost immediately after finding out and had an anterior placenta so she wasn't feeling movement yet.

But 40w? Yeah, I call BS on that. How do you NOT notice the elbows and knees sticking out of your abdomen or feel the kicks/punches to the bladder? Even if you're lucky enough to not have any nausea, heartburn, RLP, etc. there doesn't seem to be anything that can explain away baby movement and BH contractions.

ambz06060 · November 2014

Me and my mom were just talking about this because my baby was kicking like crazy tonight.

My second cousin claims she didn't know she was pregnant and went to the hospital for stomach pains and out came a baby. Although we do suspect mental instabilities with her. We think she was in denial and trying to "make it go away". She stayed on BC and drank. She was only 21 and with the baby daddy (who also has another child wih another girl) for only 3 months, was living at home with no career (dropped out of school). Her mother kept asking her if she was pregnant and she kept saying no. Just the movements I'm feeling, I say the denial is more believable than she didn't know.

Neesey · December 2014

A friend's now daughter in law had this happen. She thought she might be 4-6 weeks pregnant and went to the hospital thinking she was having a miscarriage. Nope,she was in labor with a full term 7lb baby. She put back on her size 2 jeans when she left the hospital. She's tiny but never looked pregnant at all! She has pcos and fibroids and had periodic bleeding throughout her pregnancy. Crazy!

CatLadyTX · December 2014

I worked with a girl who was told by three different practitioners that she wasn't pregnant, and that she had a large cyst. She kept insisting that there was something else going on, though and she was a little girl so it was obvious that she was showing.
Her daughter was the cutest little cyst I've ever seen. I think she was around 24 weeks when they finally confirmed her pregnancy.

RedGiant · December 2014

Wow, I thought the same thing watching that show. While my DD is kicking and squirming a ton, I guess other kids don't move as much? I don't know anyone who just found out they were pregnant so far along. I could totally believe about 20 weeks, but 40 really makes me skeptical.

IsabelC687 · December 2014

I was telling my husband the other day that I just can't believe someone could go 40 weeks without knowing they are pregnant, unless they are working extremely hard at denial. The changes your body go through are ridiculous to ignore.

toadandbug12 · December 2014

I watch that show and am flabbergasted at how some women don't know - or are really good at denial. One woman said she had leaky boobs - I mean, come on! How do you not suspect pregnancy with leaky boobs! She was like "If it doesn't hurt me, I just go 'hmm' and move on."

One thing I can't understand is women who don't show. Where is this 7lb baby hiding?! There was one woman who had her first baby and gained 50 pounds and looked VERY pregnant. Then she didn't know she was pregnant again and went full term without ever looking pregnant. How is that possible?

A little off topic, but my (male) college professor one time told the class that labor pain is made up in the mind. Women expect pain and therefore experience pain. I wanted to get up and punch him. I wish I had said something regarding these stories, since obviously these women had no idea and experienced a lot of pain.

mom2xover2002 · December 2014

My mom was BF'ing my sister, her periods were already irregular before hand, & she never got sick at all. She only went to the dr to have a test done because she thought she felt my brother move. She was 5 1/2 or 6 months along. She said when she told my dad she was pregnant he was excited & then she told him how far along she was...lol...she almost had to pick him up off the kitchen floor.

toadandbug12 · December 2014

@krendel1990 I really should have. What makes me more mad is that not one of us in the class said anything. I bit my tongue, but I wish I hadn't. So this guy, who will never experience childbirth, just got to talk for fifteen minutes about how he thinks labor pain is imaginary... UGH! I was much younger when this happened so I didn't have the balls I have now, because these days he would have gotten a piece of my mind.

misshart00 · December 2014

I only can't imagine this because I took a pregnancy test probably every three months after I got married. I was paranoid.

As for the professor, dang. Shove a watermelon out your nostril and tell me it doesn't hurt.

aggiebug · December 2014

H has a hs friend who went to the er for stomach pains and came home with a baby. She had just been on a booze cruise less than a month before, was (well still is) engaged and not planning on kids for a while longer.

I can't imagine not knowing but I truly believe she had absolutely no clue.

toadandbug12 · December 2014

Wouldn't that be nice if he were right? Too bad the reality of L&D and what your body is actually doing doesn't really add up with "it's all in your mind..."

misshart00 · December 2014

I'm curious why he would specifically single out labor pain. Why not breaking your leg pain be all in your mind? Or appendicitis?

toadandbug12 · December 2014

@misshart00 I guess because labor is something you anticipate (besides those who didn't know they were pregnant), and breaking your leg or having some sort of other illness can't be predicted and therefore can't be "worked up" in the mind. I do believe there is a strong mind-body connection and in some instances pain can be made worse by the mind, but it was just such an odd thing for someone to think.

misshart00 · December 2014

toadandbug12 said:
@misshart00 I guess because labor is something you anticipate (besides those who didn't know they were pregnant), and breaking your leg or having some sort of other illness can't be predicted and therefore can't be "worked up" in the mind. I do believe there is a strong mind-body connection and in some instances pain can be made worse by the mind, but it was just such an odd thing for someone to think.

I just asked my husband if he ever thought that. He scoffed and said people are crazy and he's very happy he doesn't have to go through it.

MrsScally13 · December 2014

Yeah that professor needs to shut his mouth. I practiced hypnobirthing and was able to lie still and silent during contractions and was able to breath through them, but they still hurt! I was mentally prepared for no pain but it came anyway, lol. We ended up with a cs so I didn't even get to try the pushing stage and it was painful. And he can never experience labor pain so that can be imagined, breaking a leg that could happen to him so that must be legit pain. And isn't all pain in your head anyway? Some people can't feel pain (which is a really dangerous thing).

As far as the "I didn't know I was pregnant" thing. There was one case I could understand. The woman was told she could never have kids and she had a spastic colon so she thought the baby moving were her intestines jumping. On top of that if you are told you can never have kids you are probably in denial. If people really have no symptoms (good for them but is miss feeling the baby kick) I guess but it has to be SUPER RARE. I do doubt most of the TLC stories.

dreemkin84 · December 2014

Denial is a powerful thing.

nauticalmama · December 2014

Yes I agree with you guys, denial is probably the most common culprit in these cases. I remember the one where the woman thought she had a tumor growing in her stomach and still didn't go to the doctor because she was terrified of what they would tell her. I guess that's just how some people deal with their shit.

jadempyre1 · December 2014

Its called denial!!!! Trust me, we see it in our office a lot, I had a women come in for an ultrasound thinking she was around 8 weeks, she was 34 weeks!! People are dumb and ignorance is bliss. Lol.

FlutterOfYoshis · December 2014

I would think you'd know with all the movement too, but a former student of mine somehow had no idea she was pregnant until she went into labor...she explained she had gained a lot of weight while she was in college and was on birth control that essentially stopped periods so she didn't get those obvious signs. Luckily she was visiting home when she started having labor contractions, so her mom as a nurse was able to piece things together in time...but apparently it was a huge surprise for everyone. I just can't imagine it happening that way!

wirtlehm · December 2014

There are two episodes of this show that I understood why the person didn't know.

1) Lady had her tubes tied after her last baby (something like 15 years ago) and was in her 40's so she thought, ehhh menopause?!

2) Lady was told by the doctors that her uterus would never be able to carry a baby.

My favorite episode of this was the one where "my husband and I could SEE THE MOVEMENT but we just called it the alien in my stomach"... ummmm, I'm SORRY, you didn't think that random ass movement in your stomach worthy of getting CHECKED OUT?! I couldn't even...

thegoodpotato · December 2014

I can see it in some cases. This baby has been so different from my other two. I call this my "I didn't know I was pregnant" pregnancy.

Other than getting a basketball stomach, I've had NO symptoms. Baby is also very, very quiet. She mostly sleeps during the day. If it weren't for insomnia, I would barely ever feel her, because she mostly only moves around at night.

If I didn't have any obvious physical signs (ie an expanding belly), I could probably brush off the odd bump here and there as gas. She seems to prefer to be sideways with her limbs down, kicking/punching at my butt.

22615lastone · December 2014

I do believe that some people can go without knowing they are pregnant. Someone in my family has actually had this happen. She was 6 montha pregnant before she knew she was pregnant. She never had any symptoms or anything. I dont remember excatly how she found out she was pregnant. And her period has always been irregular.