Fertility Phenomenons: "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant"

"Jon and Kate Plus 8" isn't the only suspenseful show on TLC. I am a fan of the program "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant". It's both educational and entertaining. Each episode of the show tells stories of women who never knew they were pregnant until they were either in their last days of pregnancy or giving birth! Fertility is not an issue for the stars of this show!

For women who have experienced a full term pregnancy, it's hard to believe that some women float through those nine months without realizing that a baby is growing inside. On a recent episode, one woman was taking birth control pills and was definitely not planning to conceive.

She was also taking antibiotics to cure a case of strep throat. According to the show, if you are taking birth control and antibiotics at the same time, the birth control pills can lose their effectiveness. This woman became pregnant during this timeframe and eventually gave birth to her baby in a restroom while on a camping trip. She had no idea she was pregnant.

Another mother featured on the show was overweight. Obesity can cause a woman to stop menstruating. The show's doctor stated that if a woman loses a large amount of weight quickly, it can trigger periods again and conception can occur at this time, even if it is a small window.

So this woman who was previously overweight didn't realize that she was pregnant because she wasn't used to getting her monthly cycle. This woman also gave birth in a bathroom, but she was already at the hospital, in the emergency room.

The third woman featured on "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" wasn't on antibiotics and wasn't obese. She had a tilted uterus. The resident doctor on TLC's show advised that a tilted uterus can prevent the sensation of the baby's kicking. The baby kicks into the bladder instead of into the skin.

Another episode centered on a woman who got pregnant while going through menopause. Even if you are experiencing peri-menopause, if you get your period only sporadically, you can still get pregnant.

Physiologically, all that is needed to conceive is a sperm, a chromosomically sufficient egg and a healthy uterus. An OB-GYN on the show stated that pregnancy is still possible with the above stated requirements.

A quiz question asked before a commercial break was, "True or False: If you ovulate three days after having unprotected sex, you can't get pregnant." The answer is False. Sperm can live for two to three days, waiting to fertilize.

I look forward to new episodes of this show and hope to learn more interesting facts about fertility and pregnancy.