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Fathers suffer phantom pregnancies
Filed under: Your Pregnancy
At least after all the months of morning sickness, cramps, back pain, and that exceptionally swollen stomach, you get to have a baby -- unless you're a guy. Normally, pregnancy "symptoms" were reserved for expectant mothers, but new UK research shows that a number of fathers-to-be feel just as pregnant as their partners.
While it's old news that some men sympathize with their partners to the point of suffering morning sickness or having weird food cravings, this research was the first attempt at proving that this is an involuntary medical condition -- not just dads-to-be trying to get attention.
And researchers discovered some very odd cases. For instance, some guys' stomachs will swell to give the appearance of a "baby bump," and one man in the study insisted that his pregnancy pains were worse than his spouse's.
This phenomenon, known as Couvade Syndrome, is still largely unrecognized by doctors, but researchers hope this latest study will shed some light on the subject.
Guys -- did this ever happen to you? I can thankfully say that I didn't experience any pregnancy symptoms before my daughter was born, as it would've totally freaked me out if I started growing round "with child." Maybe I'm just not sympathetic enough?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-15-2007 @ 3:06PM
CLM said...My brother went through this with all 3 of his wife's pregnancies. It completely freaked him out at first because he had never heard of Couvade. Once he figured out what was going on, he thought it was pretty funny.
BTW - the guy who insisted his pregnancy pains were worse than his wife's definitely falls into the trying to get attention category.
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6-15-2007 @ 5:24PM
Sabrina said...My hubby gained more weight than I did when I was pregnant with my second...it was sort of funny until he managed to lose it faster than I lost my 21lbs.
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6-15-2007 @ 4:56PM
Courtney said...My husband, before we knew we were pregnant with our first, was really tired and sick all the time. He finally went to a doctor, we thought he had mono or something, to only find nothing wrong with him. A week later, he suggested I take a pregnancy test and I was. I was never tired with our first child, however I did have violent morning/noon/night sickness. At least he saved me from the fatigue. He never really had anything with our second child, except the mood swings.....thanks babe.
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