The other day I was reading an article about a woman who was pregnant with 12 babies. In shock, I worried about the lives at stake and wondered why yet another doctor would implant that many embryos in a woman’s uterus. It’s reckless! The next day I saw another article about this same woman stating she was not pregnant. So what is the deal: is she pregnant or not? It turns out she was experiencing a condition known as “phantom pregnancy.” In other words, it was all in her head. As soon as doctors performed a medical examination, they discovered she was never pregnant, even though she claimed to be carrying 6 boys and 6 girls. I’m not surprised, since there would be no way for a woman to know the gender of each baby unless she had already undergone a gender ultrasound, which cannot be performed until around 18 weeks. If she were 18 weeks pregnant with 12 babies, they wouldn’t need to perform a medical examination to see if she was pregnant, it would be pretty obvious to anyone looking at her!
I can understand thinking you are pregnant, if you missed your period for example, but this is a step beyond that. The condition is actually called pseudocyesis. With pseudocyesis, the mind tricks the body into “feeling pregnant,” often as a result of a strong desire to be pregnant. Stress may cause the woman to stop menstruating and her stomach may become distended. In return, the body tricks the brain as well. The pituitary gland begins secreting hormones, such as prolactin, to prepare the body for pregnancy. The hormone changes cause the woman to gain weight around the midsection. Her breasts swell and she might even lactate. What is even more surprising is that many “phantom” pregnancies end when the woman goes into labor and delivers nothing. I’m curious about whether the woman who thought she was pregnant with 12 babies believed the doctors when they told her she wasn’t pregnant. Perhaps she even felt loss, as though suffering a miscarriage!
What is your take on “phantom” pregnancy?