You would know if you were pregnant SURELY?

[Gwladgwlad]

Heard one of those stories today- friend of a friend out on a friday night as normal, next day gets tummy pains & has a baby! No bump, no symptoms, out of the blue!?
SURELY you would suspect? Both my dc's were lively in my tummy, my belly moved a lot and I felt them constantly. Its not like having bad wind or something.
SURELY you would know!? Suspect things werent as per normal!
Aibu - it just leaves me amazed!!

I know of someone who thought she couldn't get pregnant after trying for many years, then she developed a strange squirm in her stomach & became convinced she had a tapeworm. After a few months of denial she developed such a pain that she had to go to A&E... She came home a few days later with her little girl!

TheDoctorsWife a bit of both really, having had 2 horrendous pregnancies and been in and out of hospital, it was nice to have that all out of the way without a fuss iyswim. However, I did miss out on the kicks and scans and excitement so in that respect I would have liked to have known sooner.

A friend of mine had a surprise baby. Went out on the town on her birthday, rushed to hosp with excruciating stomach pain, hello baby. She was already a good mum to her existing DC and certainly wouldn't have gone out partying if she'd known! It is rather insulting to say "I don't believe it, they must all know really." There are whole TV series about incidents like this!

I had no sickness, anterior placenta so little movement.
I was under 9st till about 20wks.

But did have a small bump. Told work at over 20wks and workmates even later. I expect i could have concealed until 7m if i wanted.
Some are small, short babies, which isnt shown in the weight.
I think women gain extra weight as they eat more as they know.
If they didnt know so didnt eat more, they would gain less weight and baby may be smaller.
I had no periods though.
dM couldnt confirm pg with me as dr said she wasnt as did tests till about 5m.

I haven't said anyone is "lying" about this issue anywhere, there are a host of complex reasons why pregnancies are not diagnosed until delivery, I would like to think that I've never implied that about anyone.
Sometimes the perfect storm occurs, lack of symptoms,etc but I think it's very rare.
Very young women and older women with children already appear to make up the majority of this group. Here's the irish report, a few years old now, and all straight from the women themselves, in their own words.
I should point out the report is entitled "concealed pregnancy" and is published by the Crisis Pregnancy agency in case that is a trigger for anyone and they wish to avoid such language.
crisispregnancy.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/15.-Concealed-pregnancy-a-case-study-approach-form-an-Irish-setting.pdf

Just because you think something can't be true, doesn't mean it isn't.

During my lower sixth year, my A-Level history class went on a trip to Rome, and on the third day one of my class-mates gave birth at the back of the coach.

She really had no idea she was pregnant, I remember seeing her being taken off the coach (carrying her baby son), and the look of shock was there for all to see.

I have 3 DC's. I found out I was expecting one of them at 35weeks (ish) and delivered at 37weeks (ish) as much harder to ascertain gestation at that stage. I had three gynological appointments in the time I was pregnant, including one internal at roughly 20weeks and they didn't realise I was pregnant either. I had NO BUMP until the baby turned 18hrs before delivery, even then the bump was small. I bled throughout. I lost weight. The baby really didn't move around like the others.

I was the size of a house and sick as a dog with the other two pregnancies.

Dontlaugh, though that report says:

"Our analysis indicated that the term ‘undetected pregnancy’ was a better fit with the accounts of women who reported no subjective awareness of being pregnant until advanced pregnancy or even labour than ‘unconscious denial’. The evidence generated in this research indicates that this was an outcome of failure to detect the pregnancy on the part of physicians women were attending rather than the outcome of a psychological
process of denial on the part of the woman."

(also I have just realized I vaguely know the woman who wrote the report because Ireland is small)

I can absolutely understand how it can happen that a woman doesn't realise she is pregnant, even though it didn't happen to me.

I didn't have many of the classic pregnancy symptoms. I had no morning sickness with any of my three, and didn't get any real food cravings until more than half way through. I also got some breakthrough bleeding in the first few weeks (which scared me, and I did miscarry once). Nor did I feel any definite movements with my first daughter until well over half way through. If I hadn't already had a positive pregnancy test and sprouted a large bump I may well not have realised for sure that I was pregnant until an advanced stage.

It may not be too common, but it concealed pregnancy does happen.

I think it's a good report and the term "undetected pregnancy" is much more accurate. Don't know why the term "concealed" is in the title.

I didn't know I was pregnant with my eldest til I was 26 weeks. I went for my '12 week'scan and was told I was pretty much full term.

Four weeks dd arrived.

At school a girl in my year had a baby unexpectedly. We saw her one Saturday at a party,no bump and quite slim really. On Monday she gave birth on the loo at home

My mum's friend (who was a midwife, and already had a toddler DD) found out at six months...and it was twins. She'd had no real symptoms but had put on weight, and was furious about it (and had started wearing full on support wear!) so went to her GP to have her thyroid checked!

When DD was born there was a lady in her 40s in the bed opposite me.

She had a 17 year old and a 19 year old and had been having gynae investigations because of possible endometriosis. She'd just found at that she was 6-7 months pregnant. Both she and her dh were pleased, but still quite shocked.

A friend at uni who had erratic periods went to the doctor because she was losing weight and feeling very sick and tired. 33 weeks. Gorgeous son at 35 weeks. It happens.

artandco, "I think regular pregnancy tests like you buy in boots only work in the first weeks due to what hormones are released, I think say first 12 weeks. So if you don't suspect first 12 weeks and took home test at say 15 weeks it could come up as negative." is a much-repeated myth.

Home pregnancy tests measure HCG levels above 10-25 miu/l (depending on the brand). Throughout pregnancy from about 7 weeks until the end, HCG levels are in the thousands and would be positive throughout pregnancy.

The only reasons for a negative pregnancy test in someone who is pregnant is because the HCG level is too high so 'floods' the test (the hook effect) or because they are one of the very rare women who metabolise HCG differently causing undetectable levels in the urine.

As I've never knowingly been pregnant, i don't know if this is relevant (don't flame me if it isn't...)

I went off the mini-pill for a couple of months a while back. I felt wildly hormonal, weepy, irrational, nauseated, had acne, hair felt thicker, feet ached, had boobs twice normal size, had migraines, and grew 2 jeans sizes. Periods were all over the place too.

Lots of people told me in a very "knowing" way that I was "absolutely glowing"... and at that stage I had not had sex for 6 months and was very obviously not pregnant. I did a couple of pregnancy tests anyway because I felt so bloody weird. I'd been on the pill for >15 years at that point and had forgotten what it felt like...

If that's how some people feel all the time when not on the pill, I'm not surprised if they don't notice they're pregnant.

I was told I wasn't pregnant. First they thought I had a brain tumour and then they thought I had ovarian cancer. Finally found out I was pregnant at 24 weeks having been back and forth to the doctor. If you're told you're not pregnant you believe it.

Is this thread making anyone else nervous? I feel like I should POAS now just incase!

With dd2 (dc3) I had a mirena and was 13 weeks before I found out. It was the throwing up that convinced me (had been 4-16 weeks with dd1, not at all with ds, started at 12 weeks along with another very painful pregnancy symptom I'd suffered before, which affected my kidneys).

I was and I honestly thought dh was going to faint or throw up! I'd been told another pg was ill-advised due to my kidney condition and dh had his vasectomy when I was 7 months.