Psychological pregnancy is a little-known phenomenon that makes someone who is not pregnant feel and act like a pregnant woman. Abdominal swelling, food cravings, and even labor pains can arise—only no baby comes out at the end of the nine-month physical discomfort.

Pseudocyesis arises when a woman is desperate to become pregnant, or when she is around someone who is pregnant and feels a strong desire to connect with the baby. Increased estrogen and prolactin hormones in the body can lead to a swollen stomach and milk excretion. Her mind affects her hormones, which affect her body, which then affect her mind even more. My not-with-child sister recently suffered through a month of “morning sickness,” but I am still mystified as to why she would have been desperate to have a baby, since she recently extricated herself from a Wanker of the Week and is en route to live in a cold, expensive, and dangerous city far far away.

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