Finding out pregnancy at almost full term.

[Username193755]

I would be interested in hearing about experiences of ladies finding out their pregnant at a very late week.

I'm really not sure how to make that sound less of a magazine article or something but I promise it's not 😆

I have just read on a Facebook page somebody literally finding out they were pregnant the day they gave birth. It blows my mind!

Has anybody or anybody they know gone through this? I honestly don't think I do. I found out at about 4 weeks pregnant and I feel like I had the longest most drawn out pregnancy ever I have friends who found out in month 2/3 but I don't think anyone in 7/8/9!?

It happened to a girl I knew when we were 18, 19 perhaps. She was fucking awful so we weren’t friends but we had mutual friends who reliably informed me she had literally no idea, went to a&e thinking appendicitis and ta-dah, baby! I believe it to be honest, she stayed slim as you like with a completely flat belly, was out every weekend drinking, and more, as you do at that age, had been on a couple of 18-30 type holidays in that time etc etc. Must have been a terrible shock. I know they said she was terrified she’d damaged her baby unknowingly, and I think it was probably the making of her, in a way. She was certainly a lot nicer afterwards anyway.

I met someone who this happened to. She was older so assumed her lack of periods was menopause. She had had three other children but felt totally different with this pregnancy that she didn’t know about. She also worked in the field of human biology.

She found out somewhere around 30-35 weeks.

My mother

Couldn't have kids (3 stillbirths) so bought a lot of animals and caught on with me

Had my brother,booked my father in for the snip and gave her best mate some spare condoms

5 months later,she was sat in the school canteen and saw her tummy move

5 months pregnant with twins (she was a rather large lady)

Gave birth-the pair weighed 16lb between them (born slightly early)

They are now 43 years old

Me-i had dd and ds (at the time they where 1 and 2 years old)

Had the worst morning sickness with both of them-i was chucking up 24/7 until I gave birth,had sore boob's,a weird taste in my mouth,I looked grey and ill (all the way through with both) but had never had a craving in both pregnancies

One day I was chatting on the phone and felt really sick

Laid down and about an hour later felt much better

Went out on day trips to theme parks,did every roller coaster going,smoked/drank in nightclubs (about 3 times) and had a thing for tuna-i went through tins and tins of it

About 5 months later,I couldn't walk/sit down/lay down-the pain was awful

It was in my back and pelvis-I've never felt pain like it

Went to the doctors and they gave me painkillers but it got worse

Went back and they told me it was all in my head

Really thought I was dying and finally managed to see another doctor on the Monday

He told me I was about 9 months pregnant and due anyday

I laughed and said there was no way I was pregnant-i think I went into some sort of denial and refused to believe it-until then,I hadn't had a clue,everything had been normal apart from the back pain

Gave birth 6 days later,(at 5:10am) stood up on my landing-if id been another few inches closer to the stairs,he would have fallen down them

As it was,id had the carpet taken up as was due to have one fitted that day,so he was born on bare floorboards (my father had agreed to wait at mine to let the carpet fitter in if anything happened in the meantime)

I was a size 14,periods had been normal and regular,no weight gain at all and apart from feeling really sick/the pain,id had no other symptoms

That baby is now 26 and has just made me a granny

Hes had people ask (as a joke) 'where you born on your head?' And takes great delight in saying 'well,yes actually!'

Have you not watched “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant“? Lots of incredible stories!

@MaggieBsBoat that’s awful. How dare they manipulate you like that 😡.

My youngest sister was born when my mum was 37. She always said she felt old at ante natal clinic with all the young women in their 20s. Until she went to the maternity home for the birth. There were women in there in their 40s who thought they were on the menopause but turned out to be pregnant at late stages and had no idea at all 😆

I think it's possible.

With my DS I knew from early on because I missed a period and took a test, but I had an anterior placenta and he was my first, so I didn't feel movement until around 20 weeks. I didn't look properly pregnant until 8-9 months either, just more barrel shaped. He was average sized and moved a lot inside me so once he was moving, there was no way I couldn't tell.

My DD was smaller. I felt movement earlier because I knew what to expect, but she was much less wriggly and had daily long stretches of sleep. I also didn't look particularly pregnant until maybe 7 months.

I think if I had had a combination of the two pregnancies - a smaller, less active baby and an anterior placenta in a first pregnancy - it would have been possible to not realise I was pregnant until very late on.

I don't have a high BMI either, just a long tummy and quite strong abs.

A friend I know had this with her only experience of pregnancy. But her periods never ceased, she had an NHS operation under anaesthetic (with pregnancy test first of course), she didn’t show and when a doctor saw her for tummy cramps, they suggested she had food poisoning or maybe IBS.
Then the next morning, she gave birth, at home, alone. It must have been utterly terrifying, but what a kick ass woman she is for coping with it all.

I do t understand it either. Two of mine were anterior placenta and it does mean you feel a lot less, certainly in the first half. But by the third trimester it makes little difference at that point. Some of mine have been more wriggly than others but I can't understand how you cannot know. I have heard some people carry more 'internally'. I don't know how that works.

Disordered eating can really throw periods, and presumably ovulation, for a loop. I have known 2 people with surprise pregnancies due to this.
The 3rd was my mum, who was a long way along before investigating what she considered more sinister symptoms. I was very early (but never knew exactly how early), and eventually the birth was induced due to something health-threatening that was probably pre-eclampsia, but that was either not explained or mum was too stressed to take in what had been described to her.

I went to an all girls Catholic school and left in 1981. 2 girls in my year suddenly had babies having allegedly not known they were pregnant! I remember 17 year old me seeing one of the babies and just being terrified!

One of mine was smaller and had long naps every day. I was anxious as anything about it because I wasn't feeling her moving, but it was her pattern. She was the same when she was born - huge long naps lying completely still, maybe twitching a finger. I couldn't believe it. If I hadn't been anxiously checking for movements I could have missed a lot of them.

I think I maybe carry more "internally" too - I didn't get a proper bump with either child until well after 7 months. That means that, depending on the position of the baby, more of the kicks are on the soft inside bits - intestines etc, so they are more cushioned and you don't feel as much.

My partner used to work on the doors at a nightclub when he was at uni. He remembers a huge commotion kicking off and having to get everyone out- someone was giving birth in the toilets. Apparently the woman had no idea she was pregnant and was on a night out like normal. All the staff and paramedics that arrived were stunned.

I know two cases - one good friend who found out with her first child around 22 weeks. She had PCOS, hadn’t had a period for 18 months and assumed she’d need assistance to conceive. Started leaking colostrum, freaked out, did a pregnancy test and was shocked to realise she was pregnant. GP examined her and referred her for a dating scan but estimated she was around ten weeks, sonographer started the scan, turned pale and said ‘I better get a supervisor.’

She met us to let us know and with absolute certainty you wouldn’t have known. No bump at that point through her bump really popped a few weeks later so I do wonder if there was something subconscious that let her body relax. She did tons of yoga, cycles everywhere, was really slim. I also had an anterior placenta on my first and hardly felt her.

The other one I know of was a menopause baby- periods had stopped for six months before child was obviously conceived, mother was 47 with late teen children, started running and training for a marathon as she was putting on weight around her stomach. Only realised at 7 months.

I found out with my youngest at 12 weeks.

A friend found out at 6 months - i’ve seen pictures of her at that stage and she absolutely did not look pregnant at all.

Yes. As a mother I would have said impossible not to know but one of my mother’s carers, who though not a nurse her mother is and they live together - felt unwell when she arrived to take over from her mother (also a carer). Her mother said she’d hang around a bit and her DD went to the toilet - needless to say her baby was born a few hours later. She didn’t look pregnant (was perhaps 20lbs overweight anyway but tall), had bled monthly throughout. No partner it was a casual thing. Her daughter is now a teenager!

I once worked with a lady who had no idea she was pregnant and actually gave birth at work in the toilet! It was before I worked there so I can’t comment on how obvious it may or may not have been but I always struggle with the concept too! I was huge with my two!

Same. I honestly find these stories almost impossible to believe. I can understand not realising you’re pregnant in the early stages, but carrying a baby to full term without having any idea? That’s a whole different story.

Every time I was pregnant, in the third trimester, the kicks were so strong that my entire belly would move, and even people standing next to me could see it. So I find it extremely difficult to believe that someone could go through the final stages of pregnancy without noticing anything at all.

I think denial plays a much bigger role in these cases than people want to admit. You don’t just magically skip nine months of physical changes. The growing belly, the movements, and all the other changes don’t just disappear because you don’t want to acknowledge them. I can understand people being in denial, but I struggle to believe that there were absolutely no signs.

To me, it’s more a question of how someone could ignore or explain away so many obvious changes than how they could genuinely have no idea they were pregnant.

I can imagine a woman with IBS mistaking kicks for cramps.

My first was an anterior placenta and I hardly felt her move at all, even through to the end. I had to be sitting or lying still, and even then it was generally fairly faint, easily missed. I’m only a size 6 and she never kicked to the extent it could be felt externally by my hand on my stomach.

With my second I couldn’t believe that I could just feel her moving while I was wandering around!

But surely you’d think something was wrong if you were feeling kicks or cramps every day, all day? I also think they’re two very different ensations.

Honestly, I suspect some people do know they’re pregnant but choose to hide it, especially if they’ve just started a new job. Saying “Oh, I didn’t know I was pregnant” is a lot easier than admitting, “I knew, but I didn’t mention it during the interview because I didn’t want it to affect my chances of getting the job.”

I’m 15 weeks pregnant now, and based on my previous pregnancies, I know I probably won’t look pregnant until around six or seven months. I’ve actually wondered, since I would like to change my job, how easy it would be to simply not mention the pregnancy. I would get an interview, start to work and a few months later I could pretend I "didn’t know". I'm not going to do it, but the thought has crossed my mind, and I’m sure I’m not the only woman who’s ever considered it.

totally missed the first trimester with my second... no clue.

My friend ran a marathon at 4 months not knowing she was pregnant. I think it seems to happen in younger women from what I’ve read and my friend was young, 21.

My mum found out six weeks before I was born. She was 46 and she and my dad had been trying for 14 yeas without success, so when her periods stopped, the doctor told her I was the menopause and she just blamed everything on that. When she finally went back with an undeniable bump, he said 'I think it's a babby, Mrs. W.'

An ex colleague of DH’s went into labour at work. She was full term and had absolutely no idea she was pregnant.

She was extremely overweight, though, so I don’t understand how a slim woman doesn’t notice the bump and movement