The Scary Case of Unknown Pregnancy

While scrolling through the internet to catch up on the things happening on social media, I saw a video from a girl who claimed not to know about her pregnant state until it was time for delivery.

According to her, she was still seeing her period and didn't even suspect pregnancy in any way and on that faithful day, she was feeling stomach pain and went to the hospital for a checkup, only for her to come back home with a baby. That's one hilarious story, and I wish I didn't have to also go through all the drama of vomiting, feeling nauseous, and having consistent headaches, it must feel good.

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The comment section was however filled with people calling her a liar and being untrue with her claims. I have heard stories of women who didn't know they were pregnant until after four to five months, but until the time of delivery was something strange to me. So, as usual, I decided to read up on the topic as I am no expert in these things and consistent learning is essential.

While some women usually go through the pain. Some women experience cryptic pregnancy, and this means they are unaware of their pregnant state sometimes up until labor starts. Pregnancy usually lasts for 40 weeks and there could be a total unawareness Al through which the person will only feel pelvic pain and discover they are in labor.

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Doctors classify most cases of cryptic pregnancies into three categories, we have psychotic, pervasive, and affective.
The affective case describes those who live in denial of being pregnant, while they are aware of being pregnant, they fail to prepare either physically or emotionally for either childbirth or the parenting phase in general.

Those categorized under the psychotic section are those who live in denial of the pregnancy due to the presence of a mental illness, probably the presence of bipolar disorder. While they may experience pregnancy symptoms, they could just link it to a delusional cause.

The pervasive category is those people who are not aware of being pregnant in any way like the story I shared at the beginning, they may become aware of the pregnancy at a later stage and get appropriate treatment.

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While it may sound like fun not to go through the usual pregnancy symptoms and all the associated drama, it could also be a risky experience producing, psychological distress, unassisted delivery, and neonaticide, putting both mother and the baby at risk.

Imagine not being aware that you are an expectant mother, you wouldn't make some lifestyle adjustments that are necessary. If you used to consume alcohol and cigarettes normally, you would keep up with it, including supplements and medications that are not safe as well, therefore posing risks to the unborn child.

Not receiving the needed care or tests or other forms of evaluations before birthing the child may also create birth disorders. Studios have shown that most children from cryptic pregnancy are likely to be born prematurely, therefore putting them at risk of experiencing poor growth or respiratory problems.

Cryptic pregnancies are not common, only about 1 out of 475 pregnancies would go unnoticed until it's about 20 weeks old. While cryptic pregnancy can affect anyone, it can specifically affect certain people due to some reasons.

The first category is those who recently just gave birth, it takes some women several months before their period returns and because of that, it is possible to get pregnant without even knowing.

‌A medical condition like PCOS would make them experience unpredictable periods, and since the periods are not regular, it could make them unaware of the pregnant state
‌Those who use birth control may feel super protected, but there could be a slim chance of failure, even after being used correctly.
‌Pregnancy symptoms could be mistaken for menopause symptoms in some d people, they could also think they are too old to get pregnant and ignore the signs of pregnancy.
‌ Those who are getting pregnant for the first time May not know the symptoms to expect until a baby's numbness begins to show.

Cases of cryptic pregnancies would still be visible on a pregnancy test strip, so the best thing is not to ignore signs if you are sexually active, take the test even when you feel the slightest symptoms.

For Further Studies

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10334309/

https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/cryptic-pregnancy

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24428-cryptic-pregnancy

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/cryptic-pregnancy#risk-factors

https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-a-Cryptic-Pregnancy.aspx

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/cryptic-pregnancy#what-is-it

Hi, I am Tobi, a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. If you want to hear me speak on relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.