Cryptic pregnancy is getting pregnant and not knowing that until late in the pregnancy or labor begins. Cryptic pregnancy symptoms are similar to normal pregnancy symptoms.
During normal pregnancy, you realize you are pregnant usually between 04 to 12 weeks of pregnancy due to symptoms of pregnancy or missed periods and a pregnancy test can confirm that you are pregnant.
But, symptoms of a cryptic pregnancy can be mild, or absent and mistaken with other conditions such as viral infection or wrong pregnancy test results.
Cryptic Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of cryptic pregnancy can be similar to symptoms of other diseases also. Therefore realizing these symptoms correctly is more challenging.
Here, are some cryptic pregnancy signs and symptoms that helps you to find out whether you have cryptic pregnancy or not.
Missed Period or Light Bleeding
Missed periods is a common sign of a normal pregnancy. Among cryptic pregnancy symptoms, periods is a key symptom that misleads you. You can be mistaken irregular periods as a normal sign of your missed periods.
Light bleeding is also a common sign during normal pregnancy due to implantation, hormonal changes, miscarriage and infections. But for cryptic pregnancy symptoms, you might mistake light bleeding for a period.
Nausea and Vomiting
During cryptic pregnancy, you may misunderstand nausea and vomiting as symptoms of food allergies and infections from the food you have taken.
Fatigue
You may be unusually tired even you do not have other pregnancy symptoms. This is due to hormonal changes and your body adapt to support your baby with better conditions.
During pregnancy, Progesterone levels increases resulting increased blood production, lower blood sugar and blood pressure levels and you may have a sedative effect.
Fatigue is one of signs and symptoms of cryptic pregnancy that you might mistake this is due to other lifestyle factors instead of a sign of pregnancy.
Mild Weight Gain or No weigh Gain
During normal pregnancy, you will gain weight due to hormonal changes and increased food intake. But, mild weight gain or no weight gain is among signs and symptoms of cryptic pregnancy that you might mistake for another lifestyle cause.
Mild Cramps, Back Pain or Abdominal Discomfort
Backache, mild cramps and abdominal discomfort are also cryptic pregnancy symptoms you may experience due to the growth of uterus and hormonal changes.
But, these pains and abdominal discomfort are not specific symptoms of normal pregnancy. Therefore, you might think these cryptic pregnancy signs and symptoms are due to digestive problems.
Increased Urination
Pregnant women experience urination frequently during early pregnancy due to increased blood production and additional fluids that your body secrete for the growth and development of the fetus.
Kidneys filter more blood to excrete waste products from the body and you may experience increased urination during the pregnancy. This is a common symptom of both normal and cryptic pregnancies.
But you may misunderstand frequent urination as a symptom related to another problem such as urinary tract infection (UTI) and vaginitis.
Causes of Cryptic Pregnancy
Cryptic pregnancy can occur due to several reasons such as irregular periods caused due to the conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), use of birth controls, you are in perimenopause, psychological factors such as stress and trauma, low levels of pregnancy hormones such as hCG and recent childbirths.
Cryptic Pregnancy Twins Symptoms
Twin pregnancy has similar symptoms of a singleton pregnancy with slight differences of the intensity. Such symptoms are severe nausea, excessive weight gain, abnormally higher levels of pregnancy hormones such as hCG and severe fatigue.
In early ultrasounds, a twin can go undetected and it is possible to have a hidden twin during early pregnancy. This can happen in a cryptic twin pregnancy where you may experience mild or absence of nausea, weight gain, and fatigue as cryptic pregnancy twins symptoms.
But, a detailed anatomy scan around 20 weeks confirm number of babies you are going to have with 99.99 percent confident either it is a normal or cryptic twin pregnancy.
Cryptic Pregnancy Labor Symptoms
Pregnant women normally experience contractions or tightening, back pain, vaginal discharge, urge to go to the toilet and water breaking. Women with cryptic pregnancies may not or only experience these typical labor symptoms days before giving birth.
Therefore, women with cryptic pregnancy may misunderstand these cryptic pregnancy labor symptoms for other problems and may not seek for medical consultation leading poor outcomes for the baby such as preterm birth, low birth weight and stillbirth.
Taking preventive actions is important to prevent cryptic pregnancies. You can be aware of your body and sexual health and taking a home pregnancy test, blood or urine test with the consultation of a doctor can be helpful to prevent cryptic pregnancies.