Those in the medical field undoubtedly have some insane stories about patients, whether they're strung out or are just plain crazy. There have been countless stories about pregnant women and the wild stories surrounding them and their pregnancies. Here are some wild stories from medical professionals about pregnant women. Some stories have been edited for clarification purposes.
The Nurse Couldn’t Believe The Patient’s Odd Request
“My mother is a nurse practitioner. She had a patient who wanted a pregnancy test done in the lab. She had taken multiple home tests, all of which came back negative, but she was very convinced she’d gotten pregnant after having unprotected relations while visiting her family in El Salvador six months earlier.
My mother tried to convince her that a test given at the clinic wasn’t needed and that she was most certainly not pregnant because the bed rocking had occurred so long ago and she was clearly not six months pregnant along with pointing out the lab fees would be expensive. But the woman still persisted. So my mother collected some saliva and pretended to send it to the lab. The woman was very relieved when my mother called the next day to tell her she wasn’t pregnant.
The woman was 90 years old.”
A Pack A Day Keeps A Healthy Baby Away
“Asked a patient to fill out her medical history and asked her to just tick alongside the company set medical history (not that intrusive, just medical stuff we as dentists/nurses need to know) and as she stated she was pregnant, I ticked the non-smoker and non-drinker box for her. Plus her previous forms all said she had never smoked or drank. No lie this woman literally flipped telling me I had no right to do this — I mean you’re pregnant so you shouldn’t smoke or drink, right? So I just get her a new form and she ticks that she has roughly 10 drinks and a pack of smokes a day.
I asked her if she does this while pregnant and she said that she has smoked and drank through all her pregnancies (three kids under 5 years old, pregnant with another) and they were all healthy. She stated there was NO scientific/medical information on the dangers of it. I literally didn’t know what to say, as a dental nurse all I was able to say was it’s really bad for your gums and teeth and general health. Not to mention the fact that you’re freaking damaging your children.
Asked for the children’s medical history… all three had birth defects. She was adamant this was untrue and that the doctors ALL lied about this.
Concerned, I phoned her doctor and explained the situation and said we won’t be providing her dental care and we feel the children are in serious danger and what advice do they have. The doctor took our statement and reported it on our behalf.
Found out the one year old had serious bottle caries, the 3 year old had holes in all his teeth and the 4 year old was missing teeth as they were that rotted and there was already damage to his underlying adult teeth. So sad.”
“That’s Not My Baby”
“I work in a big, busy hospital. We had an obese woman in her early 20s come in complaining of severe abdominal pain. Before she was even examined, it became clear that she was about to give birth. My hospital does not have labor and delivery, that is at our other campus a couple of miles away. This woman proceeded to give birth to a full term 8-pound healthy boy in our ER and denied that she was pregnant and denied that the baby was hers (the placenta was still in her and her umbilical cord not cut). The doctor said ‘It’s a boy!’ and she said ‘THAT’S NOT MY BABY!’ mmmmmmmkay lady.
Needless to say, the psych ward was called along with a team from the other hospital to take the baby over to their campus. I often wonder about that baby, and hope he is doing ok… Hopefully the mom put him up for adoption and he ended up with some great parents.”
That Dad Had More Muscles Than Brains
“A doctor was delivering the baby via ventouse, a vacuum extraction. He was pulling, and you do honestly have to put some muscle into it, those babies are stuck pretty fast in there sometimes. Anyway, the suction cap came off the baby’s head, this happens a lot. The father of the baby thought that the doctor had pulled so hard that he had pulled the baby’s head off, so naturally punched the doctor in the jaw, who went straight down to the ground like a felled tree. Much yelling ensued, people holding the father back, him realizing that the baby was fine once we pointed out that the head was still inside, unconscious doctor being pulled into a chair, another doctor coming in to do the delivery, the mother crying hysterically.
We had to have a quick and frantic conversation at the midwives’ station about whether to allow the father to remain in the room. We decided that from his vantage point it may have appeared that the baby’s head had been, uh, removed and that he had a momentary loss of reason. He was also hugely apologetic and took responsibility for his actions. The doctor who got punched took every opportunity afterwards to tell that story as often as possible and we all laughed.”
The West Virginia Baby Diet
“My sister is a nurse and she was telling me that this lady came in that had a newborn. The baby was having problems with its weight so my sister said it needed to get more calories and to feed it more (implying more milk, baby food, etc.) Not too long afterwards, the lady brought her baby back in with complaints about some stomach problems. My sister found out the lady was giving the baby soda to sip on instead of milk because, and I quote, ‘It has more calories right?’
She works in West Virginia and stuff like this happens all the time. She also had to explain to guards that were guarding someone in custody that they couldn’t vape in the hospital and they argued with her about it. Some weird stuff happens down there.”
A Wild Lunch Break
“I used to work for a small town’s internal medicine/pediatrics office as a receptionist, and we closed for ‘lunch’ for two hours, which in actuality was for our two doctors to get to the hospital and check on their patients (rounds). One day, one of the doctors didn’t have any patients to check on, so he took a sales rep up on his offer for lunch and invited him in. I was working on a reorganization project for the files and decided to work through my lunch, so we were the only ones there.
A guy came to the door that wasn’t anyone I recognized, and knocked and asked me to let him in. I said ‘Sorry, we open again 1:30.’ He started crying, and I ran to the door and asked what was wrong. He said ‘I don’t know’ and pointed at the car. A woman was crying and hunched over in the front seat. I told him to keep her calm and ran back inside to grab my doctor.
He grabbed a wheelchair and ran out to get her. The rep asked if I knew where the nurses kept supplies, and I got the key to their cabinet. When the doctor came in, he was visibly upset but asked me to get our minor surgery bed ready immediately and asked for the nurse’s key. Our rep said, ‘I’m in, what do you need, Doctor? I’m a current licensed RN.’ He said some stuff, and had me assist with getting the lady on the table. The rep started IV and had me hold the saline bag while he gave a dose of painkillers. Once he finished, my doctor told me to help undress the woman, and I asked her if she wanted the man in the room. She said yes, and I undressed her bottom half. As I did, I noticed her jeans were wet. My doctor noticed me and the liquid at the same time, and said ‘Use gloves!’ As I pulled off her jeans, we could tell there was a lot of blood. The doctor grabbed the saline bag and asked the rep to call an ambulance.
As I finished pulling off her jeans, I noticed a protrusion from her underwear. The doctor noticed at the same time, and said ‘You talk to dispatch’ and called for the rep. I explained the situation, and they said ‘Did he say live birth or abortion?’ I yelled ‘Birth or abortion?’ Wow. I was stupid at 20. She freaked out, her husband started crying, and the doctor said ‘Possible spontaneous or birth. Likely spontaneous.’ I told them and started to hear the sirens. The rep met them at the door to explain, and it turned out she had her tubes tied ten years prior in Mexico that didn’t take.
It turned out it was a stillborn at 28 weeks. She had no idea she was pregnant, and had four kids already. They were devastated. She was already mostly there (the protrusion I saw was the head), so they had her deliver in our office before taking her to the hospital.
As our staff came back from lunch, I met them outside to explain why an ambulance and fire truck were there, and that they could go home because we were closed for the day. I called our afternoon patients and rescheduled. The other doctor made house calls to anyone that he or they felt couldn’t wait. It was awful but it happens, and I hate it when people think that people are just so stupid for not knowing.”
Taking One For The Team
“I’m a pharmacist and I have a couple of good stories off of the top of my head.
The first one: I had a patient come in and she’s upset – she’s pregnant, and she doesn’t understand why. She’s on the pill. Upon talking to her at great length, I find out that she only takes the pills on the days that she is active – no other time. None whatsoever. Apparently, she firmly believed that birth control was the equivalent of the the morning after pill.
The other story is a related one: the same scenario except patient comes in with her boyfriend. They are indignant, as if somehow I could’ve prevented the pregnancy. The problem this time? Well, the pills were bothering the girl’s stomach, so, being the gallant boyfriend he was, he decided to start taking them instead. Yes. He took the birth control so that she wouldn’t have to and so they wouldn’t have to worry about an accidental pregnancy.
These are all true. Sometimes the things you see while working in a pharmacy make you fearful for the future of the human race, and I’m not exaggerating. I promise you, these stories are just the tip of the iceberg.”
One Bad Visit At The Witch Doctor Almost Killed Her
“My mom works with nurses who have crazy stories and this one left me speechless. There was an old woman who came into the ER with a high fever, abdominal pain, and dizziness. She was showing signs of toxic shock syndrome (like when you leave a tampon in too long) so the doctor decided to check the woman to make sure nothing got stuck up there.
Sure enough, she looked up there and half crapped her pants when she saw two beady little eyes staring back at her! The doctor started to pull it out to which the old woman responded, ‘Put it back!’ Turns out the old woman (well past menopause) had gone to a bad witch doctor to help her get pregnant. Her recommendation: put a (now dead) turtle up there for a few days and she’d regain the ability to get pregnant.”
Someone Has Some Explaining To Do
“I’m a CT tech and I needed to scan a woman’s abdomen for belly pain. She and her girlfriend were there. I had to give a pregnancy test. I have to have one done because I can’t radiate a fetus. I even ask nuns, so no there are literally no exceptions. She denies up and down that she’s pregnant, and then, after the test I did, it said she was. She denied it and demanded a blood test, since she was a lesbian and never sleeps with men.
Well, the blood test came back positive. The argument that ensued was biblical. She was arguing with her girlfriend and the nurses and the doctor. I never ended up scanning her and they chalked up her pain to her being pregnant. The look on her girlfriend’s face when I said it came back positive was one I will never forget.”
“My Dad Threw Up On Me”
“When my dad is nervous he throws up. The bigger the stress the worse the vomiting. When my mom was pregnant with me, her doctor said she needed to be induced. My dad threw up in the office. My mom was admitted into hospital and, of course, my dad threw up driving her there AND while she was being checked in. The pushing starts, my dad’s in scrubs, mask and a hat, throwing up in the background.
I get stuck, two doctors and a team of staff are trying to get me out. My dad alternates vomiting aggressively in a bucket and stroking my mom’s hair. I admire the commitment, but JEEZ Dad.
I pop out, I’m alive and fine. I’m put in my dad’s arms as they work on my mom. My dad throws up on me.
My dad threw up on me at my birth.”
The Ole Switch-A-Roo
“We needed to do a mandatory substance screening on a patient who came in with his pregnant girlfriend. Guy goes into the bathroom. A few minutes later he comes back out with an empty cup. He goes back to his room to drink some water. A couple minutes later he hurries back over to the bathroom with a noticeable bulge in his pants pocket.
Then he comes back out with an adequate sample so we run the test. It comes back negative. We then run a pregnancy test on the sample. That comes back positive.
Dude denied his pregnant girlfriend provided the sample even after being told there can be possibility he has prostate cancer if his urine turns positive on a pregnancy test. It was unbelievable.”
What Do They Teach In Schools These Days?
“My significant other’s cousin had a baby at 19 and she and I got into a little spat because I was talking about how everyone at my job was getting pregnant and how hard it was to be surrounded by so many pregnant people and babies when you don’t really like babies. She said something like ‘Well, it’s different when you’re told you can’t get pregnant then you do!’
When I asked her who told her she couldn’t get pregnant, she said, ‘Well, no one, but I only smashed once! Since when can you get pregnant from doing it one time?’ Like some teenagers just straight up think they cannot get pregnant for whatever reason (too young, only one time, took a birth control pill three days ago). Some people are just stupid and it’s honestly scary. What are our schools teaching (or not teaching) these kids? Or are they just not listening?”
Peter Pan Syndrome
“My ex husband’s cousin got pregnant in college. The guy was in a fraternity, she was in a sorority. She ‘hid’ the pregnancy. Keep in mind this university is in the same town where she grew up and her parents and family live here too. She ends up being taken to the ER by her mother with extreme abdominal pain.
Yep, she was in labor. Gave birth. Was in complete denial. Rejected any idea that she gave birth. The family had her agree to name it after her father and brother. THANKFULLY she immediately put it up for adoption. The baby was adopted into a healthy loving family.
The ex husband’s cousin recovered, or so we thought. She’s almost 40 working as a waitress part time for fun. Her parents still pay for her condo, car, and bills. She’s got Peter Pan syndrome and refuses to grow up. Everything is now unicorns, pink, pink glitter, coloring books, etc.
I’m sad for her but thrilled for her baby.”
The Story That Keeps Getting Sadder
“This happened to a close friend. She didn’t know she was pregnant until she was giving birth in a bathroom. She still had her period every month. She was a bit bigger, but she’d been working out extensively and eating healthier (and still does) and was losing lots of weight the whole time. No one else noticed, either, and at the time, she lived at home — both of her parents are in the medical field.
A few weeks before, she had had some minor stomach pains, but thought she just had a cold or something.
While there were no other known complications, the baby didn’t survive long after. The whole thing was made worse by the fact that her parents are super conservative/xenophobic and didn’t know that she had been dating a Middle Eastern guy. Her parents act like the whole thing never happened, but now her mom grills her on everything when she goes out.”
How Many Signs Did She Ignore Before She Found Out?
“My man and I were trying to be careful in the bedroom. And I had a very irregular period. The first symptom I had was a missed period but since I only get my period after a month or two, I wasn’t too worried. The second was loss of appetite. I loved eating and always had cheat days when working out, but suddenly I stopped eating a lot and only ate cheese bagels and iced coffees everyday. I couldn’t get through the day without coffee. I love coffee but this was just too much. I thought I was just tired from teaching and handling kids everyday and coffee gave me the energy I needed.
Then I felt dead tired, I felt like I had the flu. My body was heavy and I felt really sick. I thought it was food poisoning because I ate street foods the day before I started to felt sick. Until one Monday morning I threw up everything. The only thing that I can drink without throwing up is brewed coffee. That’s when I told my boyfriend everything. And I said ‘Dang I think I have the flu.’ My boyfriend was quiet on the phone before saying ‘Babe, I think you’re pregnant.’
I laughed at first but then realized it was quite possible. He went to visit me and bought a generic pregnancy kit. Yep, positive.
Went to the doctor immediately and found out I was eight weeks pregnant. Eight weeks! Two months with a baby inside of me!
Apparently my baby loves coffee.”
She Had Him For A Second There
“I’m a lesbian and went in to the ER for abdominal pain and inability to process water. I’d take a sip and poop clear fluid 30 minutes later. I was getting delirious from dehydration and knew I needed fluids or I was probably at risk of dying (I was right; in about 4 hours I sucked up 2,700cc of intravenous saline).
At the time, I was also finally accepting my lesbianism and dove headfirst into looking like every butch lesbian stereotype.
So the nurse comes in, and he’s one of the types that like to joke around. He mentions that I need a pregnancy test and sort of rolls his eyes, making it clear that he thought it was a waste of time.
I play up the confusion, asking him what was so funny.
He laughs again, saying he has to ask for a pregnancy test to everyone ‘especially those who don’t seem like they need one!’
I put on my angriest face and ask him what he’s implying. I then got to see this grown man do a complete 180, stammering and trying to come up with a reason for his joke that isn’t ‘You look like a lesbian.’
I let it go on for no more than about 5 seconds before cracking up and patting his shoulder, telling him I’m definitely a lesbian and I’m just messing with him.
He unfroze and started laughing, saying it’s been a while since anyone got him that good. But he still had to do the pregnancy test.
Results were negative. He comes back joking about how disappointed he is that the next Mother Mary isn’t a Jewish lesbian (‘Could you imagine their faces???’) so I don’t feel too bad about it.
They never did actually find out what was wrong with me tho.”