Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The other side.

They can't all be as good as yesterday. If they were, I am pretty sure there would be reality TV cameras hanging out somewhere. Yesterday I covered "thinking you are pregnant when you aren't" so let's try the opposite: Women that get through 8-9 months not knowing they are pregnant. I think it takes a fairly freakish ammount of denial to make it through an entire prenancy without knowing it. It happens more than you think.

Last week a woman came in to the ER with stabbing abdominal pain that started around 2 AM the night before. She showed up around 10 that morning and was taken right back to be worked up. Now, the ER doesn't like to have anything to do with pregnant woman and they send them straight to L&D the moment they find out they are pregnant whether they are there in labor or have a broken toe. Seeing as how they actually gave her a bed her means they didn't even suspect.

She was worked up for this "abdominal pain" for nearly four hours. Labs were drawn, exams were done etc. and it wasn't until her shrill "I am dying" screams at about a quarter to 2 that pregnancy crossed anyone's mind. Of course, they wheeled her stretcher straight to L&D where she proceeded to deliver a full term baby a whole 2 minutes after arriving.

So, how did she not know she was pregnant? The answer is usually "I have irregular periods" and a whopping side of crazy denial.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Aside from total denial, how large does a woman have to be for it not to be somewhat noticeable that they might be carrying a little something extra?

OBRNinNE said...

I had this when I was a newbie...grossly overweight and AN MD (you get three guesses what specialty...the first two don't count LOL)!!!!!

Morterae said...

My friend's a radiology tech, and one night a very obese woman came in to the ER with severe abdominal pain. They'd done a bunch labs on her, and everything was coming back normal, so they sent her to my friend for an X-ray. 'Lo and behold, there's a baby in there.

So, the woman is rushed up to an LDR where she delivers a healthy baby girl.

When asked if she didn't notice the baby kicking or moving at any point, the woman responded that she had felt something, but she thought it was gas. Crazy.

ALYN said...

I know a very thin woman that this happened to. How did she not feel the baby moving?