"Anne"

 

     So Here is my story. This all stared back in January 2014 when I first began to suspect I was pregnant. I decided to take a HPT but it came back negative so I put out of my head and just kept ignoring that nagging feeling of being pregnant. In March 2014 I was 10 days overdue for my period so I took another HPT this also came back negative, so once again I thought I am not pregnant and just ignored what I began to suspect what was happening to me. April and May came and still no period, so in May 2014 I went to see my local Dr about pain I was having, It was a sharp pain located around my left Ovary, I told her I had not had a period since March, she was not concerned at all, she told me I was Perimenopausal and not to worry about is, I was 50 years old at the time, and just ignored the pain I was experiencing. By June 2014 I started to feel fetal movements, I have 2 children so I know what fetal movement feel like, by July 2014 I could see baby move. By the end of July 2014 my period decided to turn up. I remember it was very painful, very heavy, all movement I was feeling stopped. My period lasted for 5 days, I thought to myself I must have imagined everything and it was all in my head. By the time my period had finished I felt foetal movements again. By this time I told my husband what I began to suspect, I’m not sure if he believed me at this point, he had seen my belly move but I don’t remember Him making any comments. He kept telling me to go see a doctor; I told him I had seen a doctor. I told him that if anything were seriously wrong with me, I would know. I told him I know my body better than any doctor and there was nothing wrong with me except I thought I was pregnant. In the September of 2014 we shifted houses, I struggled during this move, cleaning the house and handing it over to the owner. I still had not told my two adult children yet that I suspected I was pregnant. By late October 2014 I gave into him asking me to go see another doctor, I woke up one Sunday morning and panicked, I was in a lot of pain so I agreed to go see a Doctor. I was 28 weeks into this pregnancy by this sage, I remember this day so well, My husband was with me in the room, I told the doctor what had been happening, I told him I didn’t like doctors, He asked me if I could do a pee test, I told him I had just emptied my bladder, so he got me to lay down on the examination table, he was pressing into my abdomen when he said he felt something, He left the room and came back with a fetal Doppler. He began to listen with the Doppler and there it was loud and clear, it sounded like a galloping horse, my husband heard it as well, it was so strong it was my baby’s heartbeat. The Doctor said to both of us congratulations you’re pregnant. He ordered blood tests and an ultrasound to be done asap. We were so excited to be told that I was pregnant at 50 years. The next day I managed to get my blood work done, and book an ultrasound for the same day. Excitement was short lived when nothing showed up on the ultrasound. I couldn’t understand how that was even possible, I had felt my baby moving just before the scan was done, I was devastated, I remember ringing my husband who was waiting for the results and I remember telling him they cannot find the baby, he couldn’t believe what I was telling him. It took me 2 days before my husband and I went back to see the doctor. We walked into his office and I told him that there was no baby, he then looked up the results of the blood test and they showed that I was not pregnant. He then said he had made a mistake in his diagnoses and told us he should not have told us that I was pregnant; he told us that I could speak to someone who could help me. I told him no thank you and then left his office. I remember all too well that feeling of being totally helpless and lost at what was happening to me. I could not believe what was happening, I could still feel and see this baby move and so could my husband. I remember saying to him this is a cruel joke. We did not say very much on the way home. I remember arriving home from the doctors and going into my room and just crying out to God saying over and over what a cruel joke this is and why. After some time I came out of my room and my daughter asked me what had happened, I remember saying to her that the doctor had detected a fetal heartbeat of 140 beats per minute and that my husband had heard it as well but when the blood test and ultrasound had come back negative she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, She couldn’t wrap her head around me being pregnant, Many years ago I had silicon clamps placed on both fallopian tubes to stop me getting pregnant. Several years later, I lost to fallopian tubes and my right ovary. My husband and I tried IVF but it failed. So by the time I was 35 years old I had stopped trying to conceive and become pregnant. I lost 2 sets of triplets and a set of twins with the help of IVF. It wasn’t until she witnessed herself my baby moving, that she believed that I was pregnant. It was a few days later that my husband was researching and trying to work out what was going on and he came across a group called cryptic pregnancy support group, it was here that we both learn t about these pregnancies. I joined a secret group on Facebook and realized I was not alone. In December of 2015 my period was very heavy; I experienced a lot of contractions and lost a lot of blood clots, this period lasted for 8 days. During these 8 days I felt no movement, I honestly believed that I had miscarried, none of the clots where that of a baby. Which I was relieved. By the time this period had ended, I started to feel baby moving and kicking. Up to this time I always felt baby moving on my left side and more to my back. It was around this time that I noticed a second set of movement, this time on my right side more towards my front. In 2015 I only had 2 periods for the entire year. In December of 2015 I did go see another Doctor, she was able to see baby moving, she admitted that the only time she has seen a belly make movement like she was seeing was in a pregnant lady.. All the tests have come back clear of anything nasty and fatal, I have been given a full clean bill of health, she has no idea what is going on. In 2016, I learn t that stress will place baby into a sleep mode it’s almost like hibernation; no movement can be felt, any twists and turns. This year was a very stressful year for me, I have learn t to let go of friends and family members that cause me stress. I stopped trying to prove that these pregnancies are real and exist. I believe I am pregnant with two babies but only time will tell. I feel my babies are growing and getting stronger as time passes. I am looking after myself as if I have been confirmed pregnant. Taking prenatal vitamins, trying to eat a balanced healthy diet and trying to exercise daily. Some days are more successful than others. It’s now been 41 weeks since my last period. Babies are moving every day, I can feel them at all times, every day I feel their kicking and squirming So far since this I have been pregnant I have told that it is Gas, It’s my intestines moving, IBS. I know when my body is sick; I have always been able to tell before any doctor that something was medically wrong .My belly slowly continues to grow, babies continue to grow. They respond to a flashlight being placed on my belly and I feel the babies kick the crap out of me. They respond to voices, they respond to music, they respond to my husband touch when he places his hand on my belly.in 2016 I have been called delusional, crazy, I have been told it is a phantom pregnancy. I have lost friends over this. I have the support of my immediate family and a select group of friends who have watched my babies moving and I am truly grateful

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"Ashley"

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Ashley's story doesn't begin with her, but with her Nana.  Cryptic pregnancy runs in her family.  Her Nana was pregnant with Ashley's mom for about 3 years.  Ashley's mom had two cryptic pregnancies.  She carried Ashley for two and a half years, and Ashley's brother for 13 months. She is now carrying a cryptic pregnancy of her own.  Her journey began in May 2014.  She lost her menstrual cycle for about 6 months before spotting for a day.  During that year she had a very heavy bleed with no clots and no pain.  Ashley thought that she might have miscarried, but things stayed just as they had been.  Blood and urine tests were negative.  Ashley may have gotten pregnant with a second cryptic pregnancy (superfetation) in October 2015.  Her first ultrasound was in November 2015.   The doctor declared it to be negative, but there were two possible pregnancies on the ultrasound photos.  She continues to feel fetal movement, hears fetal heartbeats on a doppler, is leaking colostrum, and has had a couple episodes of prodromal labor. Ashley is around 139 weeks (updated 1-15-17).

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"Joy"

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My cryptic journey started in August 2016.  That was the last day of my "normal" menstrual cycle. My husband and I had been using donor sperm for a couple of years without much success.  But we decided to try again in September 2016.  That time in my life was a very stressful time.  My husband was deployed with the military, that was the first week of school (I home school my two children), and I broke the computer (major headache).  I believe that the major stresses in my life at the time messed with my hormones and caused an imbalance.  I got a faint positive from First Response about a week after ovulation followed by some negatives from various brands.  I have had 3 chemical pregnancies in the past, so I was resigned to the fact that this was going to be number 4.  My menstrual cycle came but it only lasted for 3 days instead of 7.  I had a "heaviness" in my uterus that didn't go away after my cycle ended, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was different.  Around week 6 I took another First Response test.  It was faint positive.  I went in to the doctors office to take a test.  Theirs came back not only negative but "very negative" as the delightful RN explained to me (oozing sarcasm).  She told me to come back in a week because I might have taken the test too early.  I continued to test every day with First Response, and every day it was a faint positive.  I had my blood drawn before my doctors appointment the following week.  It showed that my HCG was at 1.  The doctor was nice.  He listened to my concerns, though he couldn't explain the full bag of faint positive tests that I brought with me.  He did no kind of physical examination, but when I started to cry from the frustration of it all, he offered me an ultrasound.  I thought "finally I will get some answers", but it wasn't meant to be.  The ultrasound was negative.  No cysts, no fibroids, no baby, no answers.  I left that appointment disappointed, not so much that I wasn't pregnant, but that there was just no explanation to what I was going through.  It was after that appointment that I found out about cryptic pregnancy.  I continued to test with First Response and got a faint positive every time.  My second 3 day period came and went.  Around week 12 I started to feel a few little pops. I felt movement with my other two around 13-14 weeks, but because my body was acting strangely, I was focused on every little thing going on with my body. Could it be gas, muscle spasms, etc.  Well, yes, but that was a feeling that I have only had twice before in my life, and they both have names.  I went in for a second urine and blood test, both were negative, so they referred me to an OBGYN.  Turns out that it was the doctor that I saw before.  I felt that it was a good thing because he listened to me last time and since these symptoms didn't go away,maybe he would be willing to help me figure out what it could be.  Oh, how wrong I was.  He wasn't so nice this time.  He seemed annoyed that I would come back with the same symptoms as if everything had been explained on our last visit.  He refused to give me a physical exam to look for other signs of pregnancy because my tests were all negative so it was "pointless".  I showed him some research that I had done on cryptic pregnancies, and well, he wasn't impressed, but he did order another ultrasound.  It lasted for a fraction of the time of the last one.  They did a transvaginal ultrasound which I was lead to believe that they didn't do that after the 1st trimester.  I was 14 and a half weeks at the time.  I was so angry and I didn't want to hear the doctor gloating about how he was right and I was wrong, but that is exactly what it was.  I have had 3 negative urine tests, 2 negative blood tests and 2 negative ultrasounds.  I found out when I requested my ultrasound records that both of them stated that I have a retroflexed uterus and it was "suboptimally visualized".  In other words, they couldn't see all of it.  I continue to have movements and 3 day menstrual cycles.  I have breast tenderness that comes and goes and my abdomen is slowly growing, though my weight has remained pretty much the same.  My movements and times of "quiet" are centered around my times of ovulation.  When I ovulate, movements go quiet for about a week.  Then they slowly increase in frequency and strength until they go silent at ovulation again.  I am currently at 20 weeks into my cryptic pregnancy journey.

        At 29 weeks, I was able to get an MRI done.  It showed an empty uterus with a clean abdomen, meaning no cancer, tumors, etc.  I know now that what I had experienced was a phantom pregnancy.  It has been a few months since the MRI, and I continue to have phantom kicks, though my cycle has seemingly returned to normal.  I gave permission to keep my story on this site so that my experience through this last year may help someone who is going through the same thing.  What I went through was not a psychological issue.  I believe that in September 2016, I had a chemical pregnancy.  That means that an egg was fertilized and temporarily implanted, but I miscarried very early on.  My body however didn't receive the correct signals.  It kept on as if I was still pregnant. It was not anything that I tricked my body into doing.  There is nothing else that I could have done differently, but what the important thing about the experience to me was that I learned that I was healthy and that my symptoms were not caused by a life threatening cancer.  I encourage those of you who may be going through cryptic pregnancy symptoms to check for other causes, just to rule out cancer and such.  Good luck on your journey, whatever the end may bring you.  -------Joy------