Cryptic pregnancy: scam version

It was a cold and rainy morning sometime in April, when one of the OPD nurses on duty knocked on the consulting room door.

Nurse KC:   Doc, are you free? There’s a new patient that will like to see you.

Me: Okay, Please send her in.

Me: Good morning Ma’am, how may I help you?

Patient: Good morning Doc, I am about 3 months pregnant but still seeing my menses monthly and I am worried.

Me: It is not normal to be pregnant and still be bleeding or seeing your menses.

Me: How was this pregnancy confirmed? 

PT? 

Ultrasound Scan? 

Any pregnancy symptoms?

Patient: They said I should not go to any hospital for antenatal or pregnancy tests,

because the baby won’t show in scan and pregnancy test would be negative.

Me: Who are these “They” that told you these? 

It is strange that a woman will be pregnant for 3 months, yet PT test can’t detect hCG level or ultrasound scan show the fetus.

Patient: Ha! Doc, you’ve not heard about cryptic pregnancy that most women are going for in this town?

Me: (Dumbfounded) Cryptic Pregnancy? 

You mean the MTV’s series “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant”? I don’t understand ma’am

Patient: No, Doc there’s a woman that 

*gets women pregnant via cryptic pregnancy*

n they even have a WhatsApp group where some ladies share their testimonies.

At that moment I had to adjust the temperature of the air conditioning system, because the interaction was becoming interesting when I heard “WhatsApp group” and “There’s a woman that gets women pregnant via cryptic pregnancy”.

Me: Ma’am, from your biodata I can see you’re a Barrister, when you heard the word cryptic, weren’t you skeptical about the whole process? 

Cryptic is something obscure/not clear or mysterious. 

Why allow someone help make you pregnant and it’s now cryptic/hidden or suspicious?

Patient: (Head down and feeling bad probably)

Me: Okay, let’s Google what cryptic pregnancy is all about together.

“Cryptic pregnancy, or stealth or delayed pregnancy, is a lack of subjective awareness of pregnancy until the end of gestation in pregnant women. 

They aren’t common, but they’re not unheard of, either. 

It has an incidence of 1:475. Causes are not clear.

There is no medical literature to support the fact that someone can make you pregnant in a cryptic way.

Me: Ma’am, so you see that cryptic pregnancy is an abnormal finding and not a normal one. 

Please tell me more about it.

Patient: On my 1st visit to the clinic after confirmation of payment, something was inserted into my vagina...

..and I was asked to have regular vaginal sexual intercourse with my husband and return in 4 weeks time - I did, and was told am pregnant in a cryptic way and that I should not bother going to any hospital for antenatal or for pregnancy tests,  because the baby won’t show in scan.

Me: Did you ask them what was inserted into your vagina?

Patient: No

Me: Why not? 

Beside being a Lawyer don’t you know it is your right to know what drug is being given to you, why it’s being given and possible side effects/reactions?

Patient: (Awkward silence)

Me: Please go on...

Patient: Was told to only visit their clinic,

 and come regularly for an injection until the completion of 9 months,

after which I will deliver via c/s because the baby is a special one. 

And that I will continue seeing my menses but should not be bothered.

Me: Wow!!!

How many of such injections have you received?

Patient: Three

Me: Okay, now before we continue,  let’s do an “Abdominopelvic ultrasound scan” with our 3D ultrasound machine and have our experienced Radiologist & Sonographer search for that hidden baby in your body.

About an hour later, after a thorough scan and a repeat PT test, no baby was found and PT was negative. 

Only findings were:

an enlarged liver, 

left ureteric stone, 

right ovarian cyst and 

multiple leiomyoma.

In summary, 

after thorough investigation and interviews of other women that have fallen victim of this scheme, 

by me and my colleagues, these are our findings/conclusions...

What these scam centres actually do is that 

they keep injecting these women with high level of oestrogen 

and sometimes progesterone hormones 

that cause the abdomen to bloat/enlarge, 

form cysts and 

give the appearance of being pregnant.

These frauds aren’t concerned about the implications of high doses of such hormones on these women, like 

breast cancer, 

ovarian cancer and 

stroke.

By the 9th month, these victims are booked for fraudulent elective c/s 

and general anaesthesia is used to put them to sleep and 

upon recovery or waking up from the effect of the anaesthesia she will find a baby or babies (Black Market Babies) by her side, depending on the amount paid.

We discovered that most of them can’t initiate breast feeding or don’t breastfeed at all. 

This elaborate scam brainwashes these women and they throw all sense of reasoning away no matter how educated they are. 

Their desperation for a child makes them easy prey.

The so called WhatsApp group of women sharing testimonies is another scam to keep these women believing.

Cryptic Pregnancy cannot be forced or created.