by Lisa Irving

Created on: September 29, 2010

The general response to a story or claim of a woman giving birth without having known she was pregnant ranges from incredulity to outright insult. People assume that the woman is lacking in intelligence, is morbidly obese, or is lying. Up until recently, without having given the possibility much thought, I, sadly, admit to having been equally small minded, having assumed the only way it was possible would be in extremely large women who might not feel the movements due to their size, and perhaps had irregular cycles as many women do.

Discovery Health has begun airing a show that focuses on these cases, women who did not realize they were pregnant until they give birth, and it is an eye opening show! Admittedly, some of the women did face many symptoms and I have watched a few episodes wondering how they didn’t put two and two together, but there are also many that are wildly plausible.

If a woman has had a tubal ligation, or her partner has had a vasectomy, chances are that pregnancy would be the farthest thing from her mind, especially if the pregnancy is asymptomatic or if the symptoms can easily be explained away to diet, stress, other known health issues or changes in lifestyle.

Likewise, if a woman has been told that she is infertile or would have extreme difficulty getting pregnant, unless she was attempting fertility therapy, few women would jump to the conclusion that they have defied the odds and become pregnant unassisted, when more likely explanations are available.

So, how do these women explain away or not notice their symptoms?

Weight gain is a noticeable symptom of pregnancy. However, the amount gained varies in all pregnancies, and in some of these cases no weight was gained, occasionally some was even lost. Many women do struggle with their weight and fluctuations are easily explained away if the diet is poor, stress is high, and exercise routines are not followed.

Morning sickness makes many women miserable whether for a week or the whole nine months, but some women are blessed not to have it. If a woman is not expecting to be pregnant, doesn’t believe that pregnancy is a possibility, a week of morning sickness could easily be explained away as a stomach bug.

The baby bump seems to be the hardest sign for people to accept not occurring, but there are a rare bunch of women who just never look pregnant, or the other set who always look pregnant, they just happen to carry their weight in their tummy. If their weight doesn’t

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