Althouse: "Chilean Olympic weightlifter Elizabeth Poblete has given birth to a baby boy during a training session, without having known she was pregnant."

December 15, 2009

"Chilean Olympic weightlifter Elizabeth Poblete has given birth to a baby boy during a training session, without having known she was pregnant."

She did notice that she wasn't feeling too well.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...: Please tell me it was NOT when she was practicing squats.; 12/15/09, 1:24 PM
Michael Haz said...: How can a woman not know that she is pregnant?; 12/15/09, 1:28 PM
Bissage said...: She would have never had this problem had she perfected the clean and jerk before moving on to the snatch.; 12/15/09, 1:30 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Oh yeah, I'd hit that.; 12/15/09, 1:31 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I doubt she was having a period. Really athletic women don't. And the weight gain might not have been significant.

What effect do birth control pills have on muscle mass? At that level of competition is it significant?; 12/15/09, 1:33 PM
bearbee said...: YouTube; 12/15/09, 1:34 PM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Wonder if her muscles surrounding her lower torso were so strong the baby couldn't grow beyond a certain size.

Not to mention the pressure weightlifting causes.; 12/15/09, 1:36 PM
Adele Mundy said...: See garage, I told you so.

It happens all the time.; 12/15/09, 1:47 PM
Ron said...: She done gone Peggy Olsen on us!; 12/15/09, 1:48 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Oh yeah, I'd hit that.

Is that you, Tiger?; 12/15/09, 1:48 PM
traditionalguy said...: I blame the York Bar Bells which act as aphrodesiacs.; 12/15/09, 1:52 PM
Moose said...: I'm trying to figure out where "reproductive freedom" comes into play here. Must be an angle somewhere...; 12/15/09, 1:57 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Is that you, Tiger?

No. Mrs. Hoosier does call me Panda sometimes.; 12/15/09, 1:57 PM
Unknown said...: LarsPorsena said...

Please tell me it was NOT when she was practicing squats.

According to the Old Testament, that's the best time.

Bissage said...

She would have never had this problem had she perfected the clean and jerk before moving on to the snatch.

Don't let Mrs. hear you say that.; 12/15/09, 2:05 PM
Wince said...: Actually, I was more surprised to I learn Russian weightlifter Alexiev wasn't pregnant.; 12/15/09, 2:13 PM
Skyler said...: The only appropriate comments to make are, Congratulations! and -- I hope the baby and mother are doing well.; 12/15/09, 2:16 PM
careen said...: @Michael

Heavy exercise can cause your cycle to stop, so she might actually have an excuse.; 12/15/09, 2:38 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Her Chilean doctor advised her to stay off the Mexican chiles.; 12/15/09, 2:48 PM
AllenS said...: I've lifted really heavy objects before, and shit my pants. So, it can happen.; 12/15/09, 3:11 PM
Pete the Streak said...: Sigh.

Does no one insulate anymore?; 12/15/09, 3:27 PM
MochaLite said...: Yes, female athletes can stop having periods, but still ... talk about being out of touch with your own body!!; 12/15/09, 3:32 PM
Eric said...: Yes, female athletes can stop having periods, but still ... talk about being out of touch with your own body!!

Yeah. From the picture she doesn't look like one of those 500 pound gals who wouldn't notice the extra weight. Plus, what about morning sickness, kicks to the bladder, and just, you know, the shape of her abdomen?

Is it really that she didn't know or that she refused to face it?; 12/15/09, 3:43 PM
themightypuck said...: Well done Bissage. Very well done.; 12/15/09, 3:46 PM
DADvocate said...: Bet that's one strong baby.

How can a woman not know that she is pregnant?

I've known of several cases. Usually large and/or heavy women. A friend of mine was a receptionist at a doctor's office and a girl, who didn't know she was pregant, gave birth in the waiting room.; 12/15/09, 3:53 PM
Simon Kenton said...: We had a receptionist with a doctorate somewhere in the liberal arts, equipped initially with a husband and mother-in-law who stayed at home supervising the soaps all day. She was obese. In fact, pretty close to OBESE. In addition to husband and mother-in-law she filled their tiny apartment with a surprise baby which presented as gastric distress until the very last moment. Or at least, so she averred. You hear a lot about these female oddities - virgin births, pregnancies circling about in the astral plane and alighting on singularly unhappy women who have no idea whatever that anything is up - and some of these tales seem to contravene the laws of nature. Speaking as a male, while a good deal of this is so facially improbable it makes one wonder about hysterically-induced self-delusion, I fall back on the quasi-Latin quasi-sanskit dictum I have taught my sons:

De yonibus nil nisi bonum.; 12/15/09, 3:57 PM
david7134 said...: As a doc I have seen a number of women who delivered yet did not know they were pregnant. Almost every time they were extremely obese. In this case you would assume the woman in thin or at least in good shape. Thus I can not understand how she did not have a protuberant abdomen. That is unless she had an underweight child secondary to her diet. As to periods, most women who are very thin or very fat do not have regular periods.; 12/15/09, 4:05 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I read of a woman that not only didn't she know she had been pregnant she carried the dead baby in her womb for years.

btw I just heard Oral Roberts got the come "home" call he dreaded ;); 12/15/09, 4:06 PM
Anonymous said...: She could be the star of the crazy show, I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant.; 12/15/09, 4:18 PM
Eric said...: That is unless she had an underweight child secondary to her diet. As to periods, most women who are very thin or very fat do not have regular periods.

According to the article the baby was three months premature and weighed just 2 1/2 pounds. So I guess that makes it a bit more believable.; 12/15/09, 4:55 PM
Penny said...: PatCA, I saw that show a few times. Obviously this happens way more than we think or they wouldn't commit to a cable series about it.; 12/15/09, 5:01 PM
Fred4Pres said...: The wild part was the little guy then got up and spotted her.

Her "vitamins" were very powerful!; 12/15/09, 7:34 PM
JC said...: Guys can be stoopid and not know. This woman is evidently too oblivious to own her own body.; 12/15/09, 7:46 PM
Mary said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/15/09, 8:30 PM
Wince said...: Paging Andrew Sullivan.

Paging Andrew Sullivan.; 12/15/09, 9:40 PM
vnjagvet said...: I guess she will never have to worry about the gender test.; 12/16/09, 1:06 AM
Albatross said...: Obviously this happens way more than we think or they wouldn't commit to a cable series about it.

Doesn't mean it's always real. I kind of liked the show "Operation Repo" until I found out it was fake.; 12/16/09, 8:37 AM
J Lee said...: Wonder if this helped her drop into a lower weight class?; 12/16/09, 9:28 AM