I was wondering how you first had the idea you might be pregnant. What did you feel? When did the baby first move and what did it feel like? How did the doctor tell you etc... ?


I am trying to delay the revelation by Lois as long as believably possible and I need help.

TLAT

I think the most common sign that you might be pregnant is a missed period. Also, many women experience breast tenderness and this odd fatigue - a feeling of being exhausted for no explicable reason. That being said, a lot of women think they have the flu or something, especially if there is nausea. You could probably get away with Lois being a good two to three months along before she thinks that she could actually be pregnant, blaming her symptoms on a strange illness. She'd have to have fairly eradict periods, though, so she wouldn't be surprised that a couple had just never shown up <g>.

As for the feeling the baby move, that doesn't occur until well into the pregnancy, even after a woman begins to show. By the time you would feel the baby move, you would most definitely know that you were pregnant.

Hope that helps.
Lynn

But...there have been cases where the woman didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labour. Don't ask me how, but it's absolutely true! The daughter of ex-colleague of mine went through this - she was on holiday in Australia when she started getting these awful pains. A few hours later she had a baby. I *think* he said her periods never stopped, but still...she was a bit flabby, but you'd still think she'd notice this strange, hard bump at the front, wouldn't you? <g>

Yvonne

My first sign was that I'd spent a few days feeling absolutely lousy, but couldn't figure out why. No running nose, sneezing, coughing, or other flu symptoms, I just felt totally awful. Could this be morning sickness? One quick trip to the doctor, and we knew.

However... this was after years of *trying* to get pregnant, so that was where my mind went first. Someone who doesn't expect to get pregnant would be more likely to attribute the sickness/symptoms to other causes.

Oh, and I didn't feel the baby move until two months later.

PJ

My mother didn't know she was pregnant until early January, and I was born on April 2. But the thing is, she was 42 and the change in her cycles didn't make her think of pregnancy at first... Anyway, believe it or not, she started to really increase only once she knew she was pregnant - shows how important the psychological factor is in such matters!

Kaethel

I first suspected about 7 wks into it when I woke up after a very rare evening of drinking beer and scotch. I was REALLY sick. I even went to a 1.5 hour long step aerobics class, chugging water like there was no tomorrow, and then, got home, collapsed in bed, where I begged my body to not throw up.

The next day. Really sick.

The next day. Really sick.

At that point, got nervous. I had been trying to have a baby for 2 mos, but I *thought* I had ovulated only 2 wks earlier. (travel had messed up my cycle, and I was wrong. I didn't yet really know the in depth details of the physical signs of fertility).

I also, at this point, had sore breasts (so badly, that it made me cry at times), and intense fatigue.

So I took a preg test (my spouse suggested it). Positive.

With my second child, I was trying for a year, and obsessively following my signs. So I knew at 12 days past ovulation that I was pregnatn, because I took the test.

A few weeks after I knew, I got sick again (for the rest of the trimester)

One more thing... felt like a fish was swimming inside me at time, at about 16 wks? I think?

I didn't really show a lot. In the first trimester, I was still flat-bellied, but I was very sick, fatigued and so it was obvious.

Ewww. I'm afraid that I won't like that part.

I always thought that part was really cool And then when you're further along, you can watch your bare belly and see this lump sliding along as baby moves a foot or turns over.

My husband was kinda creeped out by it, but I think he'd seen Aliens too many times

The whole process was amazing to me. Usually, we like to think our minds are in control of our bodies, but in pregnancy it was more like my body was in control and I was just along for the ride.

Fascinating experience, I'm glad I've done it. But I think I'm done now; don't need to do that ever again...

Err, that got somewhat off topic, sorry...

PJ

The first time, the initial clue that I might be pregnant was the missed period. I'd gone off birth control four months before and knew to the day when it was due, and it didn't show up. I remember working that night and running into the restroom to check something like ten times. That was 31 years ago, and the memory is still pretty clear <g>.

The second time, I remember getting hot flashes (no kidding). Since I was 27 it didn't seem likely that it was menopause, so I called my doctor and he said hot flashes signal a hormonal change and to come in for a test. That was even before I could expect to miss a period. Sure enough, I was pregnant. (That was Tara, who just made me a grandmother for the fifth time).

With my fourth I didn't miss a period but it was really light, only a few hours or so. I took a test the next week and voila!

As a former OB/GYN nurse, I can tell you that some women (not many but a few) never miss a period the whole nine months. They just notice that the periods have gotten much lighter and never twig to the pregnancy until the big event. (Don't ask me why they don't figure it out, but it happens.)

Nan

Pam,

I also liked feeling the baby move. Enjoyed watching that part move against my skin underneath.

HATED being pregnant for the most part, had bad high risk ones, but in the end, ended up with 2 lovely offspring who make me laugh. My 3yo is one of the funniest silliest people around. And my 5yo is so sweet and nurturing.

Feeling the baby move in the late first trimester, through the second, and early third -- very cool.

Getting head-butted, kicked, and otherwise pummeled in the last couple months -- OUCH!

Lois is in trouble if her baby is part-super!
Ouchie!
--Wanda (sorry, no input, no babies here!)

Thank you so much guys.

My Daddy-dearest was the youngest of twenty, and he told me that his biological mother didn't even know she was pregnant until the last minute. She'd thought she was having stomache problems, so she went to the doctor, who told her she was pregnant. That very day she had my dad!

On the other end of the stick, when my Mom told me about her first miscarriage, she said she knew when she concieved! As in right when it happened! Is that wierd or what?

Yes. Also, some athletes experience that. High intense excercise often enough makes it not....'normal'.

Yes, stress can definitely be a factor. With the way Lois lives, dangling above the jaws of death each week, it's more than likely she has irregular periods.

Irregular periods often happen when you ask a lot of your body. Constant stress, lots of worries, diets, sports... it's all a reason. And it's been said that if you worry your period is late, it's really going to be late.

Saskia

Lois is in trouble if her baby is part-super!

Lois shouldn't have any trouble, even if the baby is part super. Clark didn't start getting his powers until he was somewhat older, remember?

Nan

When my roommate was pregnant a few years ago, she sucessfully hid her pregnancy for 8 months. She was an athlete who only had light periods, so she didn't even realize she was pregnant until she was about 4 months along, and then she didn't gain much weight, and she had a vested interest not to let anyone know, so she just kept it hidden until it became so obvious she had to tell people she was pregnant.

There are a lot of reasons women don't have regular periods. My roommate has PCOS -- poly cysic ovarian syndrome -- and se only has her period once every few months. Another friend of mine has a similar problem where she only gets her period once every year or so. Stress especially can cause you not to have it. I know that around midterms, finals, thesis defenses and other stressful times, several of my friends have thought they were pregnant -- and really the stress they were under caused them not to have their periods.

I think this is an area that one can really use artistic license with, as long as it is based on science. You could go with the fact that Clark didn't have his powers until he was older, so the baby wouldn't have superpowers, but you could also look at it from a genetic point of view. If CLark's genes were close enough to Lois's to allow an egg to be fertilized in the first place, who's to say that the baby will even have superpowers at all? Then again, who's to say the baby won't have superpowers and that Lois won't be somehow affected by them? I think it is all based on how you think the superpower genes are transferred -- are they dominant or recessive? Are they parts of other genes? Are they completely different chromosomes that a Kryptonian has? Are they mutations of a human gene?

I think this is a big question that does not have a definitive answer. I tend to believe that the baby won't be superpowered, but I also think it is up to the author's discression as long as you can come up with a scientifically plausible explanation.

- Laura

Well, personally, I like the way Nan set it up in her Home series -- some of Clark's descendants have the super powers, or the telepathy, or both, or neither, and it's basically a roll of the genetic dice each time.

PJ
who might as well admit she likes the way Nan writes, period

I will try and use some of your suggestions. Thank for all your wonderful answers. Here's hoping my muse, slow as it is, decides to cooperate.

Does anyone know what this is called?

TLAT

Amenorrhea

Thanks Rivka for the link it will help a lot.


TLAT