To ask - Can you really not know you’re pregnant?

[DefrostingBuble]

I’m just curious and it’s not a dig at anyone.

Recently on Facebook, a girl I know posted that she had just found out she was 30+ weeks pregnant and had no clue.

I have two children and during my pregnancies there is no way I couldn’t have known from about 4 months.

I was just wondering whether any of you had no clue you were pregnant until very late on and what made you realise?

cannot imagine it either. But I had severe sickness with both DC from 6-7 weeks until 24 weeks-ish. I had a growing bump and no way I would have not noticed until late in the pregnancy. Baby kicks. I had them with each DD from 18 weeks and clearly visible from the outside after 20 weeks.

can only imaging it possible if one is very obese where belly and movement may be harder to notice and in the absence of sickness. But still hard to imagine.

I found out at over 20 weeks and only did a test because I started to throw back up my dinner so fast it coulda gone back on the plate.
When they sent me for a scan my reaction was 'oh my god it's a baby' and the radiographer asked me what I was expecting to see...

But - I'd been told it was very unlikely I could get pregnant due to ovarian/fallopian tube abscesses. Had reasonably regular periods (probably due to pill). No sign of a bump or feeling any movement. It just never occurred to me, plus I was on the pill.

Said baby was born at 31 weeks so I had zero time really to think of names, get essentials such as a crib and nappies etc!

I knew as I checked as I'd missed my pill so did a test. Had the smoothest pregnancy, no sickness,no nothing, worked up until a few days before I was induced. Had tiniest bump was still wearing sizs 10-12. I've got more of a 'bump' now and I'm not pregnant. So I can see how it happens.

Dd was 27 weeks when she went to the GP about a bloated stomach. She was still wearing size 6 dresses and having periods. She had taken two negative pregnancy tests looking for an explanation for the bloating. GP thought she was 24 weeks but a scan the same day dated her at 27 weeks. She'd had no sickness and had dismissed any movement she had felt as wind because of the negative pregnancy tests. Dgs arrived less than three months after she found out.

I was young though, apparently it's easier when you are young. No idea if that's true but i remember thats what they told me at the hospital.

As someone with hyperemesis from a week after conception each time, I also don't understand. Even after DH's vasectomy, I started barfing and immediately got out an old PG test I was so worried!

No way could I not have known. I put on weight overnight, not all bump, but my body went a bit haywire, plus I was absolutely starving at times the first couple of months, added to that being bone tired and having sore boobs. I also presented it all in the front. I guess other people don't have the same symptoms but it still feels weird to me that they didn't know.

It happened to someone I know but we weren't v close at the time so I heard about it after she had the baby. She said she still got periods and didn't really show so had no idea until she was 8 months! Some people have easier pregnancies than others i guess. I think the movements at the later stages would be pretty obvious though (admittedly I didnt notice movements until later than is typical despite knowing I was pregnant)

I was 22 weeks when I found out about DC2. I was getting headaches (presumably not eating enough) and then the fluttering in my stomach was the give away. DC1 was only 6 months old at this point, I was still breastfeeding and my periods hadnt yet returned.I had no morning sickness with either pregnancy and very little to no weight gain (I never looked pregnant just lost my waist, spongebob comes to mind 😂).

I didn’t know with one of mine till I was 14 weeks. I was still bleeding so assumed I was still having periods. Went to the gp in the end due to ongoing bleeding then sent me as emergency for a scan and it was then I discovered I was pregnant.

If I’d conceived naturally without trying then yes, I’d not have known until about 32 weeks, when the carpal tunnel stopped me driving.

Combination of factors:
PCOS so have maybe one small bleed a year if that
No morning sickness or sore boobs/change in boob size
Tiny bump
Always bloated from IBS anyway
Teacher so tiredness easily mistaken for an effect of working till 11pm (less easily explained during longer breaks)

I never believed all of those ‘I didn’t know I was pregnant’ stories until I was pregnant myself!

Yes I knew quite early with my first but got to about 20 weeks with two subsequent ones !! This was before over the counter tests .

Thinking about ut, I had no symptoms in my first pregnancy. I didn't tell anyone until 20 weeks either.

Not for me. The vomiting from 6 weeks was too obvious.

First time around, it's possible I wouldn't have known straight away if I hadn't been desperately trying to get pregnant for around 3 years, and super aware of my dates. I never had any morning (or other time of day) sickness, and I didn't feel particularly tired, although that might be because as soon as I knew I was pregnant, I assumed I was going to be tired, so I started going to bed earlier and really taking care of myself with healthy food etc. I didn't have any cravings, although I did stop disliking a couple of foods I never liked much before. And I don't think I really looked pregnant until 6 or 7 months. But the lack of periods (I was pretty regular despite apparently not being very fertile) would have given it away eventually, and if not that, then the baby kicking. I get that people who have irregular periods anyway might go longer without suspecting anything, but I'm surprised their babies don't noticeably kick!

I just don't understand how someone could be a size 8-10, as many mentioned here have been, with no bump? I mean, where does the baby GO?

@FlossieTeacakesFurCoat18

I just don't understand how someone could be a size 8-10, as many mentioned here have been, with no bump? I mean, where does the baby GO?

I was although I had a big bump early on with the following pregnancy.

I've heard so many stories about people going into labour completely out of the blue. I'm v sceptical though that you wouldn't experience one single symptom or movement for the whole nine months. Maybe people are in denial (either to themselves or other people. Or both!)

Yes, maybe.

I got to 14 weeks without knowing, but I'd long since been told I couldn't have children so I wasn't expecting it. Plus I thought I was menopausal.

I had no morning sickness at all but I was tired and thought my thyroid was playing up - a family trait. I finally went to the GP to get some help and found out then.

I began to show in the shower at about 24 weeks but I only noticed because I knew by then. People at work didn't notice until I was 30 weeks+

Perhaps if a woman was heavier built and convinced she couldn't conceive.......

I knew of a Lady who didn't know until she went into labour, but had got pregnant very soon after having her 1st. Put the tiredness, extra weight, no return of periods and so on down to having the first and having no experience of how long until she'd feel 'normal' again.

I’m with you op.

Pregnancy has many, many, many symptoms. Not just skipping a period but tender boobs, varicose veins, morning sickness, an acute sense of smell, tiredness, kicks, heartburn, swollen ankles and fingers, cravings etc.

People who say they didn’t know they were pregnant are in denial. I say this as someone who had her first child when I was 17 and I’d ignored my symptoms for as long as I could.

@RedPickledCabbage you can’t speak for everyone and claim they’re in denial! Don’t be silly. I didn’t experience most of what you listed.

@RedPickledCabbage aside from tiredness and a bump - I had no other symptoms & bled throughout my pregnancies. So if I didn't have a bump, I could've easily gone without knowing I was pregnant. Don't tar everyone with your experience!

@Cocomarine oh well, as the old saying goes “no sense, no feeling”
Sorry honey but I’m calling you a liar to your virtual face that you had no idea you was pregnant, no symptoms, no clue! Really? 🥴🤫

I looked after a lady who got brought into A&E with Abdo pain bd then give birth in the department, very unexpectedly, and she had no idea, so yes you can.