Before home pregnancy testing was available you still must have known you were pregnant?

[Skydiving]

I have a colleague, almost 60, who claims that when she had her dc, 30-40 years ago, pregnancy tests for home use weren’t really available, and no one knew they were pregnant until about 12 weeks.
Supposedly, the gp wouldn’t see you to ‘confirm it’ until you had missed two periods. So according to her, you just continued as normal (drinking, smoking etc etc) until you had missed at least two periods, and could get a gp appointment, making you about 10-12 weeks.

Now I know times were different, but, I think even if this business about the gp not seeing you was true, you would still know that you were pregnant. You would have to have a serious lack of awareness of your own body not to notice the tiredness, sickness and every other bloody symptom. And even if you are the one in a million that gets no symptoms, the missed period would give it away surely?

I don’t know if it’s just a different time now, and people get over excited about very early pregnancy, and very upset when they miscarry (I’ve had one myself), whereas in the past they didn’t take things as a given so much.
Or is it because if you don’t know you are pregnant by test confirmation, maybe the symptoms seem less because you aren’t fixating on them.
Or is my colleague just talking bollocks?

My Dm was really shocked that I paid for pregnancy tests. ‘In her day’ the tests were always done at the doctors surgery much further on than I did my home test. She was shocked I wasted my money on the tests and didn’t even believe they were accurate. I’m not even sure the doctor would do a pg test now? Although some pharmacies do advertise that they do do these tests, but they are so cheap to buy I can’t imagine anyone takes them up on the offer?

They cost £14 each when mine were born- so equivalent of about £50 now. That was 25 years ago. Nobody really did them, you went to Gp who confirmed pregnancy by a test- which was free.

My period started at 11am on a Sunday- always. I was on holiday abroad. It got to 1pm (allowing for time difference). So I announced that I was pregnant- and I was.

I'm sure that throughout time, there are women who have found early miscarriage very distressing and upsetting...some for the rest of their lives.
However, at the same time, I think that for many things were a bit different in the past. So women married very young,neglected to have lots of babies and part of that was expecting some 'late periods' where you then suspected you might have been pregnant but didn't quite know, plus one or two where you definitely knew. And these often came in between having one or two or three children already and more coming later.....so although sad, the context was often very different because for many there had already been babies and would be more babies. I think that makes a big difference, as does not having the ability to ever confirm pregnancy many decades ago, or more recently, to only be able to confirm it after the majority of miscarriages have happened anyway. I don't think it was just that women were stoical to the world, but heartbroken and devastated and remained devastated for many years in most cases. I'm sure there was unspoken pain and grief, which would have benefitted from being more 'out there' for some, but for many, with a houseful of toddlers and more pregnancies very very likely, a late period at 6 or 7 weeks, when a pregnancy wasn't a certainty, wasn't devastating, but one of those facts of life and dare I say it, even sometimes welcomed. And I hope I don't offend anyone with these comments - I know things are very different today and a loss at however many weeks can be a terrible experience for many people. Perhaps whether it remains a terrible loss into the longer term is affected by whether there are already children or whether later children appear. I know it's complicated and very personal.

I got pregnant in the days of digital pregnancy tests and still didn't know !! I was 20 years old and never had particularly regular periods. I was tired but I had just started working a 2nd job so I was doing very long hours and 14/15 hour days so I blamed that....I was feeling sick quite a lot but blamed that on the tiredness, it was only when I started to complain about the tiredness and sickness to my mum that she suggested I did a test. I was completely adamant there was no way I would be but took a test anyways just so I could say to her that I wasn't....except that little clear blue said 'pregnant 3+ weeks' I made an appt with the doctor and when she felt my stomach she reckoned I was about 20 weeks pregnant and sent me for a scan straight away thankfully I was only around 12 weeks but still I think I would have carried on for a good few more weeks without it crossing my mind if it hadnt been for my mum saying ! We weren't ttc so weren't symptom spotting.
With my next pregnancies another 3 I knew straight away every single time because I had horrific sickness and bleeding, had a miscarriage and an ectopic and then fell with DD a month after the ectopic I woke up one morning was sick and knew instantly I was pregnant and I wasn't even 4 weeks gone

Yes some good points chocolatewombat I think because there were bigger families and lots of little ones around, even if not Your own, but neices and nephews, because extended families were often closer, it would certainly stop one ruminating about a loss/late period of 6/7 weeks.
Indeed these women wouldn’t have had early scans, where they saw a heartbeat etc etc. No 3D images in text books of what am embryo looks like. So I agree if a woman was in a happy marriage, young with lots of childbearing years ahead of her, and perhaps already blessed with children, an early loss probably wouldn’t seem quite so significant.

I didn't know I was pregnant, irregular cycles, took a test on a whim, found out from a dating scan i was nearly 9 weeks. If i hadn't taken it I swear I wouldn't have know til I was 18 weeks as I had no symptoms and no bump or movement til then.

With dd1 I was 14 weeks before I did a test. My then-bf's nephew asked if I was pg because I had a little bump, and I assured him that no, I was just that shape. Then I thought about it and realised I couldn't remember when my last period was, which wasn't unusual for me since they've never been regular. So I tested, it was positive, had a dating scan which put me at 14 weeks. I literally had no clue whatsoever if you discount the lack of periods which was common for me. I'd often go 4/5/6 months without one (this has later been explained by a diagnosis of pcos). I wasn't particularly tired, no nausea, no symptoms at all.

So I am always fully prepared to believe women who say they've no idea about being pregnant. I've been there.

With dd2 I knew much earlier, mainly because we'd been trying so I was watching out for it.

My third pg I knew about quite early too. I miscarried, and there's no way on earth it could have just been a late period. I was 14 weeks when I miscarried so obviously not as similar to a period as an earlier one.

I don;t totally agree with you chocolate wombat

My mum is 75, and talks about how as a young woman she often had late periods. Nowadays I am 99% certain she would have done a pregnancy test and it would be an early miscarriage.

She does NOT absolutely does not consider them to be mc. She did have a mc at 10 weeks, and that was a mc, but those late periods, which were probably mc at 6-7 weeks, no, she doesn't think of them in terms of pregnancy loss.
In her day, so that was in the 60s, the GP did a test. When pregnancy tests first came in, you had to be at least one week post due date for it to work.
I have had 4 mc and my mum, while really sympathetic (as I said she had one later one) has talked about how they didn't know and they just called them late periods, and that she doesn't think it is necessarily helpful for us now to know so much so early.
Interestingly enough she was very very sick through all her pregnancies, so once nausea hit, she would have definitely known. But nausea doesn't hit at 6-7 weeks.

It does also assume that people have regular periods, and with bf and poor maternal health, iron deficiency, poor diet etc, many women were having regular periods. My mum was dreadfully anaemic for years, until they got a new (female) GP who took one look at her and sent her to hospital, where she ad a blood transfusion, her iron was so low. Women's health has never been a priority.

steppemum everyone is different.
I have heavy periods but my 8+3 miscarriage certainly wasn't like a period. It was awful and very much like labour when I actually passed the sac.
No way could I have mistaken it for a period.

and someone said that 15 years ago there were no scans????

Sorry, but you are about 15 years out. Scans were around when I was in my early 20s (possibly longer but I don't remember) That was 30 years ago

dc1 is 15 and scans were very routine by then

One thing I don't think I'll ever understand is how people do not know they are pregnant until very late on/birth.

I can understand irregular periods, no symptoms, not having a large bump etc. But how do you mistake the baby's movements?

I'm 22 weeks on Monday and say here getting booted left right and centre and as the pregnancy continues the movement gets even stronger and more frequent. How on Earth do women not associate this with being pregnant?

Back in 95 home test were still quite expensive. Im sure they were over £10 each.

Bruffin - Over £10.00 and that was probably for a fairly rubbish quality one compared to what’s on the market now. Plus £10.00 then was probably like £15.00+ in today’s value.
I bet you would have been just furious if the result was invalid!!

I didn't really have any symptoms with my first pregnancy and was only keeping an eye on my periods as I'd been about to join a trial for a hormonal patch and we'd just decided to try for a baby so I knew when my last period was and when the next one was due. Having said that my normal cycle varies from about 14-40 days so if I wasn't keeping an eye out I could very easily be surprised. Second time round and I had classic morning sickness from very early so very different.

I believe not feeling the baby much is due to unusual lies where the kicking is less obvious. I guess if you have digestive issues it woudl be easy to put the more butterfly type early movements down to gas.

I fell pregnant in Feb 2016. I was 5+5 When I eventually tested as I'd been told I didn't ovulate so didn't think I was pregnant as I regularly missed periods etc.

It was the constant nausea and beer tasting off that made me eventually test just to rule it out.

I got a very positive test at 8pm and confirmed next day with a clear blue digital.

I then phoned the doctor to be told they don't confirm it anymore and to register with the maternity unit.

I am 33 so I will need to ask my mum how she found out with me etc.

These stories are all very interesting though

i think your wrong theres stories in the news relatively frequently of women giving birth not knowing they were expecting

treacle - I am sorry, I wasn't in any way suggesting your experience wasn't a clear mc, I was only saying that as we are all different for some/many people it could be mistaken for a heavy period. So many different factors, everyone if different, but it is certainly possible to have a mc at 8 weeks and just think it is a heavy period. Obviously not in your case, I wasn't trying to suggest otherwise.

Why are you so keen to completely discredit your colleague, OP?

12 week scans must have depended on the hospital 15 years ago as where I live (West Yorkshire) I definitely didn't have one - would have liked one too! When I was pregnant with DS2 3 years later, I was under the same hospital and had both the 12 and 20 week scan so it had obviously been introduced by then.

Back in 95 home test were still quite expensive. Im sure they were over £10 each.

£14 in 1993 which based the cost of the items (a pint In london for example) is about £50 now.

Oddly nappies cost more per pack in 1995 than they do now. They were at least £5 a pack and packs were smaller.

1995 I had a scan at 20 weeks, that was all. Although they did say at that stage "didn't anyone send you to King's at 12 weeks" they were trialling 12 week scans there. By about 1998 scans were more routine

In the early 1990s I had:
Dating scan- 8 weeks ish?
Nuchal scan at 12/13 weeks. This was only at Kings I think as it was a pilot.

20 week scan- this was the big one where any abnormalities were picked up.

I had an early miscarriage but back in my mum's day it would have been a very heavy period.
You might have worried/hoped but not known. I had no pregnancy symptoms aside from the positive test.

A lot of the early symptoms are in the mind I think. Just look at the TTC boards of all the women who have convinced themselves they're pregnant because they have tiredness/sore breasts/nausea/increased appetite etc. But they turn out not to be. The mind is a powerful thing.