Periods and pregnancy

[pamelanoon]

Do you think that women were wrongly educated about this?

When I was at school, I was taught that the biggest first sign of pregnancy - is missing a period.

My cousin just had a baby very unexpectedly. It was a shock to all of us. She didn't realise that she was pregnant until she was in labour.

She told me that she didn't realise that she was pregnant, because she had periods all the way through. She was also quite overweight so a bump wasn't noticable.

I was talking about what happened to my cousin to various friends and colleagues. Several of them had similiar stories. But they realised they were pregnant earlier than my cousin did, as they felt some movement.

My colleague told me that she had periods all through her pregnancy and didnt realsie she was pregnant until she was six months pregnant. She felt something moving at that stage and took a pregnancy test. She told me it was a terrible shock, as especially at that stage it was too late for her to get an abortion.

Two other women i know told me that they also had periods all through pregnancy and didnt realise they were pregnant until 4-5 months pregnant.

They all didnt think they were pregnant, as they were getting their periods all the way through.

So why are we teaching women this? It is misleading women.

I was definitely taught that when women get pregnant, your periods stop for the nine months

That is not true. It varies. It stops for some women and it doesnt stop for other women. I just want to raise a bit of awareness of this. As my cousin is understandably traumatised at not realising she was pregnany until she gave birth. And i hate to think of other women not realising until the very late stages of pregnancy.

I wasn't taught this - that missing a period is the obvious sign of pregnancy.

We were taught about pregnancy tests and that unprotected sex could result in pregnancy. I do remember someone mentioning that some women experience spotting or bleeding during pregnancy, but it's quite rare. TBH, the emphasis on pregnancy tests/ unprotected sex was offered more in the spirit of teaching you how to respond to a potential unwanted pregnancy as quickly as possible. All of our sex education was geared towards preventing pregnancy.

What were you taught? Because all the women I've spoken to, said they were taught that periods stop in pregnancy.

Oh, sorry, I was editing while you were reply.

No, definitely taught about spotting etc.

But it just wasn't relevant. I had sex education in the 90s and the basic message was if you had unprotected sex, you needed a pregnancy test asap (and to test for STDs, but it was pregnancy was the real scare story). The whole emphasis was on teenagers getting pregnant, which does annoy me a bit now. But you definitely weren't taught to wait until you missed a period.

Well I think for most women absence of periods is a big indicator of pregnancy.

Also developing a large stomach bump, feeling baby move, bigger breasts, morning sickness and developing a linea nigra are also big clues.

I'm sorry for people who are taken by surprise by discovering pregnancy relatively late. I'm always a little baffled by it though.

Not everyone develops a bump, especially if they are already overweight. I saw my cousin when she was nine months pregnant, i couldnt tell she was pregnant. She just looked a bit overweight.

It wasn't spotting though. They had full six day periods every month

No I think you have been wrongly educated about this. You cannot have periods whilst pregnant.

How did they shed the lining of the womb whilst a baby was growing inside it?

They're not actual periods, but lots of people experience bleeding that they understand to be a period at points during pregnancy; some people have enough that they don't realise their periods have stopped (or they had irregular periods to start with).

I know. So no periods then?

Well, obviously! I pointed out that some women experience spotting or bleeding, and said we were taught about this. I was responding to the OP's question, which asks what you were taught.

I was taught that spotting or bleeding is possible.

However, I wasn't taught that a missed period is the definitive sign of pregnancy anyway - at the time when I was at school, everyone was so terrified of teen pregnancy we just had it hammered into us that if you had unprotected sex, you needed to take a test. I don't think anyone was waiting to see if they missed a period.

That's just how sex education was for me. I am now 40 and I wouldn't use the education I had aged about 14 as a good guide to anything much, but the OP asked what we were taught, so I explained.