In Rio de Janeiro, it was an average December day in 2013 when an extremely pregnant woman entered the hospital, convinced she was in labor. The doctors began to go through the normal procedures, including checking for a heartbeat. There was none. The woman was immediately rushed into the OR for an emergency C-section in the hopes that they could save the baby. However, they couldn’t, for one simple reason: the baby was never there.
This is known as a “phantom pregnancy,” as Vice explained in a fascinating report. A Phantom Pregnancy, or its medical term pseudocyesis, is when all the symptoms of pregnancy appear save an actual fetus. Those with the disease experience symptoms from “a distended belly, to swollen breasts, to cessation of menstruation.” According to WebMd, some women even present enlarged uteruses.
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