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The term cryptic pregnancy is used by medical professionals to describe a pregnancy that is not recognized by the woman who is pregnant until she is in labor or has given birth. [1] The term is also used online for a special form of false pregnancy (pseudocyesis), or delusion of pregnancy, in which a woman who has no medical verification of pregnancy believes that she is pregnant.
The television series I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant [2] shared the stories of women who had experienced medically cryptic pregnancies. They did not realize they were pregnant until they were in labor or had given birth. Nearly all the featured stories involved women who had intermittent bleeding throughout pregnancy that they misinterpreted as menstruation, while some cited not having regular periods due to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), or other conditions that are associated with infertility. The women involved often did not gain weight or experience other major symptoms of pregnancy, such as morning sickness or breast sensitivity. Those who did experience some symptoms of pregnancy either claimed to attribute the symptoms to an existing condition, claimed to have taken a home pregnancy test and gotten a negative result, or both.
A few of the stories involved women who had known they were pregnant and experienced an early miscarriage, only to realize they were still pregnant when the baby was being born. It is common that after the birth the new mother looks back and realizes that there were some signs of pregnancy she had ignored. For women who have had a typical pregnancy, the assumption is that there is no way to not "feel" a pregnancy. However, obstetricians on the show explained that, depending on the position of the placenta, the sensations of a baby moving can be minimal. In 2015, the show's spin off, I Still Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, featured women who had experienced multiple medically cryptic pregnancies. [3]
The causes of medically cryptic pregnancies are either physiological, that is, there were no recognizable symptoms of pregnancy, or can be due to psychological problems. For example, denied pregnancy is a condition in which a woman is mentally unable to accept that she is pregnant and so may go part way or all the way through a pregnancy unconscious of her pregnancy. This phenomenon is sometimes linked to other mental health diagnostic labels. [4] However, denied pregnancy makes up only a proportion of all unknown pregnancies.
According to a 2023 study, 1 in 475 pregnancies can classify as a cryptic pregnancy where pregnancy is not discovered until at least 20 weeks. [5]
One in 7,225 pregnancies are unknown at the time the mother gives birth. [6]
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgical field.
Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million human births globally. In developed countries, most deliveries occur in hospitals, while in developing countries most are home births.
Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a mood disorder experienced after childbirth, which can affect men and women. Symptoms may include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and changes in sleeping or eating patterns. PPD can also negatively affect the newborn child.
Asymptomatic is an adjective categorising the medical conditions that patients carry but without experiencing their symptoms, despite an explicit diagnosis.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person who is exposed to alcohol during gestation. FASD affects 1 in 20 Americans, but is highly mis- and under-diagnosed.
False pregnancy is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy although the individual is not physically carrying a fetus. The mistaken impression that one is pregnant includes signs and symptoms such as tender breasts with secretions, abdominal growth, delayed menstrual periods, and subjective feelings of a moving fetus. Examination, ultrasound, and pregnancy tests can be used to rule out false pregnancy.
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy discrimination is a type of employment discrimination that occurs when expectant women are fired, not hired, or otherwise discriminated against due to their pregnancy or intention to become pregnant. Common forms of pregnancy discrimination include not being hired due to visible pregnancy or likelihood of becoming pregnant, being fired after informing an employer of one's pregnancy, being fired after maternity leave, and receiving a pay dock due to pregnancy. Pregnancy discrimination may also take the form of denying reasonable accommodations to workers based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. Pregnancy discrimination has also been examined to have an indirect relationship with the decline of a mother's physical and mental health. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women prohibits dismissal on the grounds of maternity or pregnancy and ensures right to maternity leave or comparable social benefits. The Maternity Protection Convention C 183 proclaims adequate protection for pregnancy as well. Though women have some protection in the United States because of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, it has not completely curbed the incidence of pregnancy discrimination. The Equal Rights Amendment could ensure more robust sex equality ensuring that women and men could both work and have children at the same time.
Tokophobia is a significant fear of childbirth. It is a common reason why some women request an elective cesarean section. Factors often include a fear of pain, death, unexpected problems, injury to the baby, sexual problems and a lack of self-belief of the capacity to birth a child. Treatment may occur via counselling.
Pruritic folliculitis of pregnancy is a skin condition that occurs in one in 3000 people, about 0.2% of cases, who are in their second to third trimester of pregnancy where the hair follicle becomes inflamed or infected, resulting in a pus filled bump. Some dermatologic conditions aside from pruritic folliculitis during pregnancy include "pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy, atopic eruption of pregnancy, pemphigoid gestationis, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, and pustular psoriasis of pregnancy". This pruritic folliculitis of pregnancy differs from typical pruritic folliculitis; in pregnancy, it is characterized by sterile hair follicles becoming inflamed mainly involving the trunk, contrasting how typical pruritic folliculitis is mainly localized on "the upper back, shoulders, and chest." This condition was first observed after some pregnant individuals showed signs of folliculitis that were different than seen before. The inflammation was thought to be caused by hormonal imbalance, infection from bacteria, fungi, viruses or even an ingrown hair. However, there is no known definitive cause as of yet. These bumps usually begin on the belly and then spread to upper regions of the body as well as the thighs.
I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant is an American documentary television series that aired on Discovery Fit & Health and TLC. The series debuted on May 26, 2009 on Discovery Fit & Health. Each episode features two or more women who were unaware that they were pregnant until they went into labor.
Psychiatric disorders of childbirth, as opposed to those of pregnancy or the postpartum period, are psychiatric complications that develop during or immediately following childbirth. Despite modern obstetrics and pain control, these disorders are still observed. Most often, psychiatric disorders of childbirth present as delirium, stupor, rage, acts of desperation, or neonaticide. These psychiatric complications are rarely seen in patients under modern medical supervision. However, care disparities between Europe, North America, Australia, Japan, and other countries with advanced medical care and the rest of the world persist. The wealthiest nations represent 10 million births each year out of the world's total of 135 million. These nations have a maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 6–20/100,000. Poorer nations with high birth rates can have an MMR more than 100 times higher. In Africa, India & South East Asia, as well as Latin America, these complications of parturition may still be as prevalent as they have been throughout human history.
This article deals with childbirth in Japan, and the specific details of childbirth exclusive to Japan in relation to beliefs, attitudes and healthcare.
Forced abortion is a form of reproductive coercion that refers to the act of compelling a woman to undergo termination of a pregnancy against her will or without explicit consent. Forced abortion may also be defined as coerced abortion, and may occur due to a variety of outside forces such as societal pressure, or due to intervention by perpetrators such as an intimate partner, parental guardian, medical practitioners, or others who may cause abortion by force, threat or coercion. It may also occur by taking advantage of a situation where a pregnant individual is unable to give consent, or when valid consent is in question due to duress. This may also include the instances when the conduct was neither justified by medical or hospital treatment, which does not include instances in which the pregnant individual is at risk of life-threatening injury due to unsustainable pregnancy. Similar to other forms of reproductive coercion such as forced sterilization, forced abortion may include a physical invasion of female reproductive organs, therefore creating the possibly of causing long term threat or injury preventing viable future pregnancies. Forced abortion is considered a human rights violation by the United Nations due to its failure to comply with the human right to reproductive choice and control without coercion, discrimination, and violence.
Pregnancy is a potential result of rape. It has been studied in the context of war, particularly as a tool for genocide, as well as in other unrelated contexts, such as rape by a stranger, statutory rape, incest, and underage pregnancy. The scientific consensus is that rape is at least as likely to lead to pregnancy as consensual sexual intercourse, with some studies suggesting rape may actually result in higher rates of pregnancy than consensual intercourse.
Antenatal depression, also known as prenatal or perinatal depression, is a form of clinical depression that can affect a woman during pregnancy, and can be a precursor to postpartum depression if not properly treated. It is estimated that 7% to 20% of pregnant women are affected by this condition. Any form of prenatal stress felt by the mother can have negative effects on various aspects of fetal development, which can cause harm to the mother and child. Even after birth, a child born from a depressed or stressed mother feels the affects. The child is less active and can also experience emotional distress. Antenatal depression can be caused by the stress and worry that pregnancy can bring, but at a more severe level. Other triggers include unplanned pregnancy, difficulty becoming pregnant, history of abuse, and economic or family situations.
The incarceration of women in the United States refers to the imprisonment of women in both prisons and jails in the United States. There are approximately 219,000 incarcerated women in the US according to a November 2018 report by the Prison Policy Initiative, and the rate of incarceration of women in the United States is at a historic and global high, with 133 women in correctional facilities per every 100,000 female citizens. The United States is home to just 4% of the world's female population, yet the US is responsible for 33% of the entire world's incarcerated female population. The steep rise in the population of incarcerated women in the US is linked to the complex history of the war on drugs and the US's prison–industrial complex, which lead to mass incarceration among many demographics, but had particularly dramatic impacts on women and especially women of color. However, women made up only 10.4% of the US prison and jail population, as of 2015.
Obstetric medicine, similar to maternal medicine, is a sub-specialty of general internal medicine and obstetrics that specializes in process of prevention, diagnosing, and treating medical disorders in with pregnant humans. It is closely related to the specialty of maternal-fetal medicine, although obstetric medicine does not directly care for the fetus. The practice of obstetric medicine, or previously known as "obstetric intervention," primarily consisted of the extraction of the baby during instances of duress, such as obstructed labor or if the baby was positioned in breech.
HIV in pregnancy is the presence of an HIV/AIDS infection in a woman while she is pregnant. There is a risk of HIV transmission from mother to child in three primary situations: pregnancy, childbirth, and while breastfeeding. This topic is important because the risk of viral transmission can be significantly reduced with appropriate medical intervention, and without treatment HIV/AIDS can cause significant illness and death in both the mother and child. This is exemplified by data from The Centers for Disease Control (CDC): In the United States and Puerto Rico between the years of 2014–2017, where prenatal care is generally accessible, there were 10,257 infants in the United States and Puerto Rico who were exposed to a maternal HIV infection in utero who did not become infected and 244 exposed infants who did become infected.
Pain management during childbirth is the partial treatment and a way of reducing any pain that a woman may experience during labor and delivery. The amount of pain a woman feels during labor depends partly on the size and position of her baby, the size of her pelvis, her emotions, the strength of the contractions, and her outlook. Tension increases pain during labor. Virtually all women worry about how they will cope with the pain of labor and delivery. Childbirth is different for each woman and predicting the amount of pain experienced during birth and delivery can not be certain.