Barbara Bienvenue, A 37-year-old Canadian woman convinced not only her boyfriend, but also her entire town that she was pregnant with quintuplets, for 34 weeks! CTV reports the boyfriend, 35-year-old Paul Servat, is devastated. The Toronto Sun reports that Paul Servat was expecting his girlfriend to deliver quintuplets. Barbara Bienvenue’s stomach grew and she began lactating.
According to ABC News, “Doctors say this is a phantom pregnancy. It’s rare.” “There’s a process whereby you can convince your body that you’re pregnant.” According to the Huffington Post, a nurse told Paul Servat that there was no record of any pregnancy and that his partner was not carrying any children.
WebMD explains false pregnancies can have all the signs of a real pregnancy, only without the fetus. This includes a swollen stomach, missed periods and possible milk production. In rare cases, even men can have a false pregnancy.
An obstetrician and gynecologist at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital, Dr. Haim Abenhaim, told CTV that Servat’s girlfriend may have had pseudocyesis, a condition in which physical signs of pregnancy manifest, but there’s no actual pregnancy.
Paul Servat said, “Even my parents, they were so looking forward to having grandchildren. I lost my whole life.” WPXI News reported that, Barbara Bienvenue had told Paul Servat she was pregnant about a month after they met on an online dating site. At first, she had said she was expecting twins. Then it changed to triplets and then quadruplets. Barbara Bienvenue is reportedly undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
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