To find cryptic pregnancies mind blowing

[wowiswow]

I'm posting in AIBU as it gets the most replies I think? And I'm super interested for someone to fill me in on some knowledge and to know do you know anyone who has experienced one???

I've heard of cryptic pregnancies before but never knew anyone who has had one,

My daughters best friend had one last week! She had absolutely no idea she was pregnant, she woke up with period like cramps, jumped into the shower and 5 minutes in she felt the urge to push , she screamed for her mum as she knew something wasn't right , and her mum delivered her baby girl in the bathroom!!!

This blows my mind unbelievably, it's absolutely bizzare! I have so many questions.

What really is a cryptic pregnancy? Is it not knowing your pregnancy until 3rd trimester or is it being pregnant but still having period / no bump / no symptoms?

Someone fill me in , what is a cryptic pregnancy, have you had one? Do you know someone who had one? I have soooo many questions!!!

I read online also that someone woman get negative pregnancy tests throughout their whole pregnancy & blood tests that show negative pregnancy, even ultrasounds that won't show! Absolutely bizzare, it interests me so much 🤣

I'm amazes by it too. A friend didn't realise she was pregnant for 4 months I think, it's a long time ago. She was on the pill and got bleeds as normal.

I know someone who's mum had a cryptic pregnancy when she (Mum) was early 50s. She assumed it was the menopause, until she was about 7 months pregnant. My friend was about 24 when her baby brother was born. He's now in his 20s himself.

At the time I thought it was understandable. Then when I had my dc I couldn't believe that she hadn't realised the baby was kicking.

I was very sceptical until a friend of mine found out she was pregnant at 25 weeks. She already had three kids, so knew what it felt like to be pregnant. Actually thought she might be perimenopausal as her periods were patchy and she developed reflux, so she went to the GP, he treated her for reflux. Eventually when the reflux became severe she was referred for an ultrasound and that's when she found out she was 25 weeks pregnant and it was a boy. The phone call to her DH was quite something, as you can imagine.

The daughter of a woman I work with didn't feel well one day - had stomach cramps etc.
they took her to A&E as the cramps were getting so bad. She gave birth a few hours later.

Had no idea she was pregnant. She'd been out on the lash the night before. And they'd been teasing her a few days previously because she'd put on a bit of weight.

There was a lady on this site a couple of years ago who only found out she was pregnant at a very advanced stage of pregnancy (perhaps 35+ weeks); I cant remember the details but she posted all about it at the time so you may be able to find the thread - or someone else might remember her name!

Regarding your second comment about tests etc showing negative - there is a something called the Hook Phenomenon where a urine pregnancy test shows negative once you reach a certain level of hCG because the tests simply aren’t designed to detect such high levels of the hormones so come back blank. In that situation the recommendation is to dilute the urine with water and retest which usually produces the positive test result.

Blood tests would be very unusual for them not to show hCG levels once you are more than about 7-10 days since conception (this is one reason why, if you have IVF, you have a confirmation blood test 10 days or more post embryo transfer but not sooner - as the levels need time to build up); although, in cryptic pregnancy those levels may be lower than is expected for the number of weeks gestation which could also explain other symptoms being less obvious. It would be very unusual for a beta hCG blood test to come back negative. Similarly, it would be unusual for an abdominal US not to show a pregnancy if that was being looked for unless the woman had large amounts of abdominal fat or was actually in the early stages of pregnancy when it was conducted; if the US was for something else, they still identify the “gross anatomy” of the abdominal cavity by checking for all major organs so a sonographer would do a perfunctory check to locate and identify they uterus but not necessarily see the early stages of pregnancy - it would be very strange to miss a heartbeat from around 6-7 weeks or the obvious signs of an embryo from around 8 weeks onwards unless the embryo had implanted outside the uterus.

It’s something that I’m fascinated by when I hear about it in newspapers/online and really must look into in greater detail so I’m probably going to go off down a rabbit hole today!

My best friend didn’t know she was pregnant with her 3rd until past 5 months- no bump and still having periods. She found out because she went to the doctor because she had had a stomach bug and just didn’t seem to be getting better months later- bad stomach, fatigue etc… but nothing that made her think she could be pregnant again.

I know one girl who had one at 16, she had an eating disorder so had never had periods to miss them, the baby was apparently hidden up under her rib cage so she just suddenly got a bump and realised when she was about 8 months pregnant, and another who was convinced she was pregnant but the tests were negative and the blood tests were negative and the doctors told her for months she wasn’t pregnant and they finally confirmed it again at about 8 months.

my friend had one. She had the implant in so didn’t get frequent periods and no bump grew. She also had a placenta that grew at the front (I can’t remember the official name for that) so she couldn’t feel any movements at all. She went in for something completely unrelated at 39 weeks and gave birth a week later!

I think that it’s such an overwhelming thing for some people that the brain blocks it out. Sometimes similar happens when people experience severe trauma. There is no way a person would not be able to tell they are pregnant. The brain protects itself. Especially if they think they would be forced/encouraged to have an abortion. Evolutionary it makes sense for the brain to develop to protect the foetus and pass on the genes.

I was one. DM found out she was pregnant 17 days before my birth. I have four older siblings, so she would have known the signs. Her mum died around the time she became pregnant and her sister and sister in law lost babies (one a stillbirth) too. She still had periods and didn't suspect a thing. It was another concern that took her to see the family GP.
Even when told she was pregnant DM was told she was around 6 and a half months (that was a surprise) but to deliver a full term baby a fortnight later was real shock. She had no scan and no anti-natal care.
My dad and aunt had to rush out and buy everything.
DM did not gain any weight or show and neither did I when pregnant, although I knew very early on with each of mine.

I'm always amazed at stories of women who don't need to wear maternity clothes, never mind cryptic pregnancies 😂 (I had a huge bump with each of mine!)

I have experience of this, I didn't find out I was pregnant until almost 5 months. I hadn't had a period but this wasn't unusual but I felt terribly ill, I had many pregnancy tests at the doctors and I was undergoing tests to find out what was wrong with me. I'd had many blood tests but it was eventually discovered through a blood test, I can't say I ever felt well, all through the pregnancy.

I never had another baby, several miscarriages after that, I guess it wasn't my strong point.

My DHs much older cousin and his wife couldn't have children. Until one day when she was 52 and feeling "a bit unwell" and he got a bit of a shock when she screamed to come into the bathroom. Turns out it wasn't an upset stomach. She had only missed 2 periods so assumed it was "the change" and had no other symptoms or weight gain. I bloody loved that woman she was about an inch under 5ft tall and went on to have another (non cryptic) pregnancy the following year. She was a warrior with a huge pain tolerance who suffered from many issues and fought like a tiger to stay alive and as healthy as possible for the children and grandchildren she had always wanted. It was a mixed marriage in NI so frowned upon and her MIL was vindicated by the fact that she couldn't even give her grandchildren so she also stood up for any of us in the family that were not liked or welcomed, I am the same age as her son and DH is older so I wasn't exactly welcome by the older generation at first but she was amazing. She also loved every child and animal she ever met like her own and accordingly always was surrounded.

Happened to my mate’s sister when she was a teenager. Because she was so young, it’s unclear whether she was genuinely unaware that she was pregnant or whether she was in denial. But she was doing backflips in her gymnastics classes, in a leotard, literally right up until she went into labour, and had a washboard stomach. Nobody looking at her would have had any idea whatsoever that she was pregnant. She hadn’t seen a doctor at any point. Apparently my friend heard her throwing up a couple of times, but his concern was that she could be bulimic, not pregnant. Anyway. The first anyone knew was when she said “I think I might be going to have a baby” and her parents went “Oh god, how far along are you, have you thought about a termination, what about your GCSES?” and she said “No I mean I think I’m having it NOW”.

One of my friends from school didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labour in the bathroom. She'd been at a music festival and had just returned to her dorm at university. She woke up in the night with stomach pains and figured it was probably food poisoning from the festival. She couldn't get back to sleep so decided to go sit on the toilet and wait for the shit-attack to start.😬

I think a lot of it depends on body type and menstrual cycle. My friend was not slim. She wasn't fat either. Just wide-hipped, soft around the middle, and tall. She had/has PCOS so never had a regular cycle and did actually have occasional spotting during the pregnancy which she just put down to her PCOS. Same with any movements she might have felt. If you don't think you are pregnant, it's very easy to think the symptoms are because of something else.