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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

So has anyone on here not found out they were pg until they were in labour?

39 replies

GiganticusBottomus · 05/09/2011 20:51

it's the kind of thing you read about in 'take a break' but has it happened to anyone you know or anyone get really far in their pg without knowing?
It wouldn't happen to me because I looked like a weeble from very early on in my pregnancies but after reading about a few late finders-out on the other thread about feeling baby flutters but not being pg thought I would ask.

So...share!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

MrsRhettButler · 05/09/2011 21:04

My friend found out at nearly 7 months! I always feel jealous in a way, imagine a 2 month pregnancy!
Of course there's always the risk that you'll have done things you shouldn't have done while pg though which is scary.

elah11 · 05/09/2011 21:12

A friend of mine found out at 32 wks and gave birth at 36 wks so she only knew she was pregnant for 4 wks!

Original poster

GiganticusBottomus · 05/09/2011 21:16

Were these friends (if you excuse me asking) rather overweight beforehand? Did their bumps not show?

OP posts:

melliebobs · 05/09/2011 21:20

Ok I don't KNOW her. But Sonia from eastenders?!

Onlyaphase · 05/09/2011 21:22

A school friend of mine didn't know she was pregnant until she actually had a full term baby.

She was 18, had been told a couple of years previously by her doctor that she couldn't have children and had no idea she was pregnant.

She had stomach pains one night when staying with her boyfriend and called her parents who came to collect her and take her home. On the way home she was in incredible pain, and her parents decided to go to the hospital instead, turned round in the car to tell her, and realised there was a baby emerging at that very second on the back seat.

I cannot imagine going through this. It was enough of a shock having a very much wanted baby in hospital.

ShowOfHands · 05/09/2011 21:23

Happened to a size 10 friend of mine.

There is a MNer it happened to.

Onlymydogunderstandsme · 05/09/2011 21:26

Someone I know went to the doctors with a bad tummy ache...didn't even get to hospital had the baby right there in the doctors surgery!! She had her periods all the way through and was a larger girl so that probably hid it but none of us could believe it had happened, she was a really sensible girl who would have picked up on it had there been any kind of sign!

Mum2be79 · 05/09/2011 21:47

My mum found out 30 minutes before she had my older brother in 1975. She was 16 at the time (we think in denial) and looking back at photos, you wouldn't even tell she was pregnant despite looking like she was a size 10. My brother was 5lbs 15oz ,dry, and they think quite late.
In 1979, doctors couldn't even pinpoint my due date (ranged from mid December to mid March!) because my mum wasn't showing until the 8th month and I didn't really grow much until then.
Quite a habit in my family ... women finding out much later on that they are pregnant. Had it not been for me having suspected DVT, going to the doctors for a sick note, taking norethisterone to stop my period on a holiday, I would have gone longer before realising I was pregnant (we were TTC though!?) if it hadn't been for an insistent doctor on doing a test ... this despite a negative test on holiday BEFORE I took the norethisterone!!!!

somethingkindaoooh · 05/09/2011 22:39

How does this happen?!? How do people not feel the baby moving round in there????

Fluter · 06/09/2011 01:37

Yup - a woman I used to go on the train with. She wasn't particularly slim or overweight, had periods throughout (and smoked like a chimney), and the first she knew was her partner insisted on taking her to A&E one Sunday because she had incredible backache that came on from nowhere. Late that evening.... baby! Still see her about town occasionally, and she's had another since, but I don't know if that one was planned!

The funny bit about it all was that her partner then had to call her work the next morning to explain why she wasn't going to be in for a bit. Which was bad enough to start with, but given that it was also April 1st

LDNmummy · 06/09/2011 02:58

My DM didn't know with my eldest sibling till she was 5 months in as she was very thin when she was younger. She was actually a size six to eight at her largest till after having her third child. It was only after 5 months that she started to show and feel ill enough to think she may be pregnant. She also had her periods up until this time though they were lighter than usual.

It has happened to other women in my family and I also read the thread by a MN who told her story about giving birth in her boyfriends uni dorm room (if I remember correctly).

Sewmuchtodo · 06/09/2011 04:50

I was 7mths before I realised with DC2. I was a size 12 (5'6") and had periods throughout. Had internal exam at 5.5mths to rule out gyno condition and no baby mentioned

When found out pg assumed 3-5wks as period just stopped. Went for '12'wk scan and was told to pack a bag as baby was due in 3-4wks (ish). Baby was lying back to back and although strong heart very little movement so kept in to monitor LO, I delivered a 7lb girl 3 days later!

I was like a small island with DC1 (6lb) and I am again now with DC3 (due tomorrow).

LoveBeingIgnoredByMardyBra · 06/09/2011 07:10

Someone that used to work for me, his wife was 5/6 months and they were due to go to oz a few months later for their honeymoon!

Finallygotaroundtoit · 06/09/2011 07:28

See I just don't believe the 'not knowing' stories.

But what I do believe is that the mind is very powerful and women (esp young girls) who can't cope mentally with being pregnant can block out the physical signs.

nannyl · 06/09/2011 08:00

A very good friend of mine had no idea when was pg.

she went to dr at 30weeks, with what are classic pg symptons but dr didnt even suggest it either.
So a week later she went back to dr with no improvement.... was asked if she could be pg, she didnt think so, but dr had a feel of her stomach and realised she was pg . she went for an emergance scan which dated her as 31+a bit

she is about a size 10 too

Bunbaker · 06/09/2011 08:18

I admit that I find it difficult to understand why some women have no idea they are pregnant. What about the weight gain and baby movements? Or are these women really ignorant about the symptoms of pregnancy?

I am very slim and didn't start showing until I was about 20 weeks, and by 24 weeks I could definitley feel the extra weight around my middle. I also had Braxton Hicks contractions from 21 weeks and DD wriggled and fidgeted a lot, so there is no way that I wouldn't have realised.

ShowOfHands · 06/09/2011 10:19

I think it's one of those things that you can't appreciate if you haven't been through it yourself. And we probably won't as it's extremely rare. Yes we all turn into buffalos and have acrobatic babies in there. The same is not true for everybody.

My friend was happily married, working, studying and a size 10. I played tennis with her on the Monday. 4 days later she gave birth to a fully formed, healthy 6lber after being rushed to hospital with 'severe food poisoning'. She did NOT know. Believe me, she was in a terrible and quite debilitating shock for some time.

MummyGemx · 06/09/2011 11:15

It happened to me. I was 31 weeks and 6 days. i had not had periods butthis was not unusual for me as for the prvious 2 years I had had 2 periods, probably due to the stress of my Dad's illness and death. I did not feel my son move and I had not put much weight on but I have to admit my shape had changed - I must have lost some weight of my own but gained baby weight but I by no means looked pregnant! My husband and I were using contraception and I had been to the doctor about my lack of periods , had a blood test to test my hormone levels, but apparently everything was normal - I would have been about 3/4 months pregnant at the time and doctor told me not to worry and it was put down to stress. At no point was I told I was pregnant or it even discussed.

Now I have had 2 pregnancies since and knew almost instantly but I was trying to get pregnant. I dont have many symptoms. The tireness I put down to starting out teachiing and pretty much living and breathing my job everyday. I was told it was normal!!! However, this would not happen to me twice as there are some things I just did not think about which may have given it away but as I had never been pregnant and did not think I was I just did not think about it. Especially as I had had a blood test so as far as I was concerned that had been ruled out anyway.

I think this is more common than people think. I know loads of people think I must have been really stupid to miss it but I think in my situation many people may have had the same thing happen to them. I think until it happens to you, you cant fully appreciate it! x

MmeLindor. · 06/09/2011 11:19

Sewmuchtodo
How could you have an internal and the doc did not notice you were pregnant? Was the doc half asleep?

MrsRhettButler · 06/09/2011 11:20

Oh sorry op, my friend is a tiny size 6 she was back to a size 6 5 days after the birth

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 06/09/2011 11:34

Apparently a friend of a friend did not know until she gave birth - after a hen night. I don't know her though so not sure whether she really had no inkling or whether there was a bit of denial. It must be a huuuuge shock though.

My mum has known of a few cases and she says babies that are either not wanted/being "kept quiet", or not known about are often smaller than average, don't know whether that is actually true though.

There was an article in a magazine I read a few years ago with an 18(?)-year-old model who suddenly had a baby, there were photos of her modelling shortly before and absolutely no sign of baby bump

MissusTulip · 06/09/2011 11:44

I hate writing these 'it happened to someone I heard about second hand', as these usually turn out to be mostly or complete rubbish... but this did happen to a close friend of my youngest sister. She is a vet in her mid-20s, so not lacking in medical knowledge (albeit of the animal kind) but showed no signs of being pregnant until she went in to hospital with suspected appendicitis and they spotted she was in labour.

According to my sis (also a vet), her friend is quite tall and slim - so she may well have been carrying into her back / retroverted uterus - and was out horse riding the day before she went into labour!

SHe and her boyfriend were completely shocked but have just got married a year on.

EmmaLouisLou · 06/09/2011 11:50

The mum of a friend of mine at school suddenly had a baby at work one day, apparently she hadn't known she was pregnant. She worked as a life guard at the local swimming pool and was always in a swimming costume but there was no bump. We were about 13 at the time and my friend was mortified that his parents were still 'doing it' lol. His parents were in shock for ages after, his mum had had to ring his dad and tell him to get straight to the hospital as she'd just had a baby!!

Also, my sis is a midwife and she delivered a baby that wasn't expected, girl had been to dr's that morning with stomach pains and dr had told her she was 8 months and in labour. She came in in an ambulance with her mum (was only young) baby girl was full term, my sis said her bump measured right and didn't stick out much but you could see she was preg.

aliciaflorrick · 06/09/2011 11:59

This happened to my friend, she was a larger girl, in her mid 20's and working but even when she was in labour she was insisting she couldn't possibly be pregnant.

On the day her labour began she blamed it on period pains and went on a bike ride to see if exercise would help. When labour got really bad, an ambulance was called and she told the paramedics that she wasn't pregnant so apparently they gave her something for the pain which they wouldn't have given had they known she was in labour and it wasn't until she got to hospital and was properly checked over and popped out a baby 30 minutes later.

She was in massive shock for a long time after. But chatting to her now, years and years later, she says that there probably were signs but that the mind is very powerful and she chose to ignore them all.

redexpat · 06/09/2011 12:35

I read an article on the guardian website (I think) about how it's possible to get to such a late stage of pregnancy without realising. The argument was basically this: if you don't think there is a possibility that you are pregnant (because you are using the pill, or still having regular periods), you tend not to attribute the symptoms to pregnancy, but to other things. Stress, work etc. See above posts for details!

The article also said that some babies don't move very much, and if you haven't been pregnant before movements can feel like trapped wind, or the onset of diarrhea.

My mum was a midwife years ago in a british colony (!) and told me about a 12 year old who was raped before her first period. Extreme example, but feasible.

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