Puneet Varma (Editor)

Cryptic pregnancy

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Cryptic pregnancy is a condition in which a pregnant woman is unaware of her pregnancy until reaching labour. Reasons the woman may be unaware of the pregnancy may include the woman being on weight-affecting medication, having regular menstrual bleeding, a lack of symptoms of pregnancy, negative urine and blood tests, and the fetus being unusually small.

Cryptic pregnancy is in contrast to denial of pregnancy, where the woman is subconsciously aware of her pregnancy, but denies its existence. It is estimated that "1 in 450 doesn't know her [pregnancy] status until week 20 or later (more than halfway through the pregnancy), and 1 in 2,500 is oblivious until she actually goes into labor."

References

Cryptic pregnancy Wikipedia