When you have had children and you find out that a woman has discovered that she was going to be a mother just before giving birth, it sounds like an invention. It seems impossible not to notice the symptoms of pregnancy, not to feel the baby, in addition to seeing how the gut grows!
But it is a real possibility. Although most women know they are waiting for a baby between weeks five and twelve of gestation, It is possible not to discover that they will be mothers until they go into labor. It is called cryptic pregnancy (from the Greek kryptos, 'hidden') and occurs when the usual diagnostic methods fail.
This is explained by Dr. Alicia Esparza, gynecologist at the Vithas Medimar International Hospital. But we want to know more: how is it possible that the mother does not realize her pregnancy, what risks it implies or how likely it is to have it.
How is a cryptic pregnancy gestated?
The chain of normal events would be that, in the absence of menstruation, the woman had a pregnancy test in urine or blood. If it were positive, he would go to his gynecologist to have the first ultrasound and confirm the pregnancy.
In Babies and more First symptoms of pregnancy: how to know if I am pregnant"When we are facing a cryptic pregnancy something in this chain fails", explains the gynecologist. "It may be that the pregnancy test is negative and we confuse the typical symptoms of pregnancy with other conditions such as indigestion, constipation or fatigue."
This pregnancy is associated with women who have irregular periods, (caused for example by Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), early menopause or practice high impact sports.
This is detailed by the doctor, who ensures that "In these cases it is common that the rules may disappear for months". And it adds other associated causes, such as the failure of contraceptive methods and pregnancy during breastfeeding.
The risks involved
The greatest danger of cryptic pregnancy is the lack of control, to perform the necessary medical check-ups during pregnancy. It is the conclusion of Dr. Alicia Esparza, who talks about the usual follow-ups of a normal pregnancy:
Supplementation with folic acid to reduce the risk of neural tube defects.
Chromosome abnormalities and fetal malformations are screened by ultrasound and analytical.
In Babies and more Pregnancy tests: the measurement of the nuchal fold- Control of gestational diabetes and other serious diseases in pregnancy such as preeclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome, which could occur from a delay in fetal growth to a maternal or fetal death.
Uncommon, but not impossible
Cryptic pregnancies are not common, but also unknown. The gynecologist at the Vithas Medimar Hospital in Alicante points out that although "its incidence is not known, the studies speak of one of every 2,500 gestations".
"It is very infrequent that a woman in an advanced state of pregnancy does not realize her situation, but there are cases described and professionals should keep this possibility in mind."
In Babies and more The importance of having pregnancy checks: give birth to five girls thinking they expected a Although he points out that there is no particular group of women at greater risk of presenting this type of pregnancy, it can happen that:
A teenager fears his family's reaction and does not follow up on his pregnancy until the delivery arrives.
An overweight person does not notice the baby's movements.
Bleeds in the first trimester of pregnancy are confused with menstruation.
The personal or work situation of an adult woman causes a denial of her own pregnancy.
The denial of pregnancy
Denial of pregnancy is called the situation in which the woman is not aware of being pregnant and remains ignorant of it.
We may think that this only happens to very young girls or to those who already had a mental disorder or retardation. But it is not true. It turns out that half of the women who suffer from it had previously had children, and it is also a problem that is not related to cases of social exclusion or marginalization, but can occur in all social, economic and all levels educationally distributed.
Similarly, the environment, friends, family and colleagues they often remain ignorant of pregnancy and, afterwards, they claim not to have noticed anything strange. Even the couples they live with don't realize it.
And it is usual in these cases of denial of pregnancy that, the body, ignorant of its state, does not change as in the rest of the pregnant women. The baby is placed along and the belly barely protrudes. There is no nausea or dizziness, and if they occur, the woman discards them as a product of some mild problem. The baby does not move much or, when she does, the woman thinks they are gases. Some even continue to have the rule.
In those cases the danger is evident. The later the understanding of the staff happens the trauma will be. Although even when the baby is born in most women, a reconciliation with what happened is possible and they can raise their child, there are usually risks if the child arrives without knowing anything.
When the denial is total and reaches the point of presenting the birth there will be great anguish to realize that he did not recognize the signs of his body and did not take care of the fetus properly. The mother continues in some cases without being able to realize that the pains she suffers are from childbirth and what happens until the baby is born. The trauma is huge and then it can increase your disconnection with reality. Most of them manage to recover and become linked to their child, especially if the delivery happens in good circumstances and accompanied or in a medical center to which they are transferred.
But there are some cases in which the mother, and that makes her especially vulnerable, gives birth alone and fails to recognize that she is giving birth. The child is born and does not know that he is a child, he completely loses the understanding of reality. In some cases the baby dies from lack of care, from abandonment or from the same hand of the upset mother.
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