On January 26, in Iowa, Amethyst Blumberg finished her shift around 8 a.m. Feeling a strong urge to go to the toilet, she has no idea that her life will be turned upside down in a few minutes. Yet, without knowing it, she is about to give birth to her child.
An express and unexpected “delivery”
As soon as his job is finished, a completely different one begins, in the company toilets. Very quickly, the pain becomes intense. “I couldn’t even get up“, she later confided to local channels. Then, in the space of a few moments, the situation became obvious: “I got up and said to myself: I feel his head”she remembers.
Emergency alerted, the firefighters arrived on site and assisted the young woman as best as possible. Only four minutes later, the child was born on the company floor. A little boy, named Onyx King Easterlie, weighing 2.9 kilos and 48 centimeters tall. Taken to hospital, the mother and newborn were doing well.
Denial of pregnancy without the slightest symptom
Already the mother of a first child, Amethyst Blumberg was nevertheless convinced that she knew the signs of pregnancy. But this time, nothing. She explains that she was the victim of a total denial of pregnancy.
“For my first child, I had all the symptoms. For this one, absolutely none. I even lost weight at work”she says.
The only signs that she could have interpreted as being related to pregnancy appeared very late. “I started to have back pain, but I thought it was from work. And when he came down, I felt him move,”
she explains.
Symptoms, causes and repercussions of denial of pregnancy
Denial of pregnancy is characterized in particular by the absence of a visible belly and, in certain cases, by the continuation of monthly periods. “It may seem implausible, but denial makes pregnancy truly invisible”explains Karine Denza, psychiatrist in our pages. “It is a denial in the psychoanalytic sense: the pregnancy is totally absent from the psychological reality of the mother.” According to the National College of Gynecologists, symptoms are “misidentified” in 38% of cases.
This phenomenon can affect all women, regardless of their age or situation. The symptoms do exist, but they are misleading: abdominal pain, fatigue, nausea or weight gain. “A woman in denial of pregnancy can experience all of these signs without ever associating them with pregnancy”specify the specialists.
Dr. Lucie Joly, psychiatrist, added in a previous article that “this phenomenon is explained by an alteration of communication between the body and the brain. External factors, in particular emotional shocks, play an important role.”
What are the consequences for mother and child?
The consequences of denying pregnancy vary depending on the situation. “There are no real studies on the long-term repercussions for the mother or the child“, explains Dr. Joly. “On the other hand, once denial is lifted, support is essential. As the maternity process could not be built during pregnancy, the mother needs increased support.”
Despite the fears, the specialists want to be reassuring. “There are no more children abandoned at birth among women who have experienced denial of pregnancy than among those who have experienced a classic pregnancy”she concludes.
Today, Amethyst Blumberg is the perfect illustration. She describes her son as “perfect” and calls him fondly: “Our baby FedEx”, completely satisfied with its delivery.