Cryptic pregnancy: Can I be pregnant without knowing?

What if there aren’t any symptoms to hint you might be pregnant?

I’m officially at the age where I’m surrounded by talk of pregnancies. If it’s not coming from friends and family members, then my own internal monologue is screaming about my ticking biological clock. Right now, I’m hyper-aware of the symptoms because I’m vigilant about not falling pregnant yet myself. But what if you don’t present any symptoms at all?

If you’ve not heard the term ‘cryptic pregnancy’, I’m here to break down exactly what it entails and how common they are. A cryptic pregnancy can also be referred to as a ‘stealth pregnancy’. Basically, it’s when the person giving birth doesn’t know that they’re pregnant.

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Most of the time, pregnancy follows a similar pattern. There will be a missed period and the symptoms of early pregnancy – like swollen breasts, mood swings, fatigue or even nausea. From there, the person will usually take a pregnancy test, and then book in with their GP to confirm the positive result.

But what if you never have the swollen boobs or nausea? What if there aren’t any symptoms to hint you might be pregnant? According to research from 2021, cryptic pregnancies are more common for young people who might have a limited understanding of how pregnancy works, people who have recently given birth and whose period hasn’t returned yet, those who have irregular periods, those who take birth control pills or people in perimenopause.

Across these groups, there is a shared belief that they’re unable to fall pregnant. They feel they’re protected from pregnancy and are unlikely to give a second thought to a skipped period. When we aren’t consciously thinking pregnancy is even an option, it’s easy to dismiss any symptoms as gastrointestinal upset or even the flu.

@aliyahlewisxx #fyp #pregnancy #symptoms ♬ Keep Dat Nigga – iCandy

People who have cryptic pregnancies reason away weight gain as bloating, and mistake light bleeding – which is common in pregnancies – as their actual period. When it comes to the foetal movement itself, most people don’t feel the foetus move until halfway through the pregnancy. Additionally, if you have an anterior placenta, the placenta is at the front of your belly and this makes it even harder to feel any movement from the foetus.

All this means it can be reasonable for people to live their lives completely unaware they’re pregnant. It’s important to note that cryptic pregnancy will still produce a positive test, as long as the test is conducted correctly – although instances of false negatives are what can lead to cryptic pregnancies in the first place.

Any tests done by a GP to detect a cryptic pregnancy will still work. The ‘stealth’ part of the term ‘stealth pregnancy’ doesn’t mean it avoids even medical detection. But how common are cryptic pregnancies?

Consider the news stories you’ve read about someone giving birth on the toilet, unaware that they were even pregnant to begin with. Or the entire 2008 MTV show dedicated to cryptic pregnancy called I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant (points for simplicity I guess). Five seasons over five years – it definitely makes you think this is something that happens every single day.

However, studies suggest only one in 475 pregnancies goes unnoticed until about 20 weeks gestation. And when it comes to pregnancies that go unnoticed until delivery, the numbers are even lower – it’s about one in 2,500 in that instance.

So don’t worry – a cryptic pregnancy doesn’t have to be added to your list of things to concern yourself with. However, as always, when it comes to anything to do with our bodies, it’s always good to be aware of the possibilities.

For more on cryptic pregnancies, head here.