Hello,

How are you doing? I hope you are taking care of yourself.

Today we are talking about Cryptic Pregnancy, if you don’t know what that is, it is when a woman is pregnant and she does not know.

The girls on Twitter are always freaked by this any time someone speaks of their experience and you know their solution (insert that one Lois meme).

But for real, I am terrified by cryptic pregnancy and all it takes so I decided to write this post for women so they can know more.

Let’s get into it.

Let me paint you a scenario in case you haven’t seen that TikTok video. Let’s say you went to a hospital for a general checkup or maybe you have a stomach ache and they tell you that you are in labor or you have to get a scan and you see a baby on the screen without knowing you were even pregnant.

That is exactly how it feels like.

Did you know that 1 in 475 pregnancies go unnoticed until after 20 weeks and about 1 in 2,500 pregnancies go unnoticed until delivery? So there is a chance there are women out there walking around with a baby growing inside them.

WHAT IS CRYPTIC PREGNANCY?

Cryptic Pregnancy is a pregnancy when a woman does not know she is pregnant, she might not notice it or the pregnancy might go undetected when it is early.

WHO CAN HAVE CRYPTIC PREGNANCY AND HOW CAN YOU GET IT?

  1. Women with PCOS: I must admit, I do not know a lot about this condition and I would like to know more, perhaps the next post will be about it. Women with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) will have irregular and unpredictable periods and they might not notice if they are pregnant because they are used to periods skipping.
  2. First Pregnancy: If you have not been pregnant before, you will not know the symptoms and might even write them off as a mild fever and leave it to go unnoticed for longer.
  3. Using Birth Control: If you use birth control, you might think you are protected completely from pregnancy and not notice when you start to show. If you want to know more about contraception methods, read this post.
  4. New Mother: When you give birth, it will take months for your period to return. You might think you can’t be pregnant but you might actually be pregnant.

CAUSES OF CRYPTIC PREGNANCY

There are lots of reasons a woman might not realize she is pregnant and does not even know the symptoms of the pregnancy. Below are some of the causes and factors that can lead to cryptic pregnancy.

  1. Not showing symptoms of pregnancy
  2. A woman of a younger age
  3. A false result from an at-home pregnancy test or strip.
  4. A person does not recognize the symptoms of pregnancy
  5. While all these are factors, there is no clear indicator of cryptic pregnancy.*

SYMPTOMS OF CRYPTIC PREGNANCY

  1. Few pregnancy symptoms: Sometimes you can have nausea or even backaches and you might dismiss it as sickness and self-medicate without knowing you are actually pregnant.
  2. Spotting: Some women might experience light spotting during pregnancy which they make might take for a light period but nope, ma’am you are preggy.
  3. Missed Period: It is not unusual for some women to miss their period 2 or 3 months in a row but a pregnant woman with a missing period might not know she is pregnant until she starts seeing more symptoms or she goes for a pregnancy test.
  4. Missing Baby Bump: Some women do not show when they are pregnant. You won’t know they are preggy until they tell you. When a woman has cryptic pregnancy, she might think her swelling belly is due to weight gain but nope, it is pregnancy.

DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CRYPTIC PREGNANCY

Cryptic pregnancy can be diagnosed as normal pregnancies would, the standard pregnancy tests can be taken like the blood test, urine test, and ultrasound to see if there is a baby.

Just so you know, Cryptic Pregnancy is not a bad thing or a condition that is life-threatening (in most cases). You can get nutrition counseling or see a doctor if you have cryptic pregnancy.

Also, make sure to register at a good hospital for your pregnancy needs before you give birth.

COMPLICATIONS OF CRYPTIC PREGNANCY

As some women might find out about cryptic pregnancy too late and are about to go into labor or might even be in labor, they can have unassisted births because they haven’t had the time to prepare for their births.

Women need adequate care when pregnant and if they do not realize they are, they may not be able to know how to adjust to pregnancy and can keep putting their bodies under intense stress.

Some of these complications are as below

  1. Premature Birth
  2. Hospitalization
  3. Death

Today, I hope you learned something new about pregnancy and the female body, if you would like me to talk more about issues affecting women’s bodies, let me know in the comments.

*This post is purely educational, it was not pre-approved by medical personnel and if you want to know, make your research or talk to a doctor.

Also if you want to talk about your cryptic pregnancy experience do not hesitate to contact me here or send an email to sameerah@eroticsandwhatnot.com.

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See you next time.