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See also: [[But We Used a Condom]], [[Law of Inverse Fertility]], [[Surprise Pregnancy]].
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In the last issue of the [[Hentai]] ''[[Boys Empire]]'', {{spoiler|Hitomi}} finds out she's pregnant. {{spoiler|She's all of [[Squick|twelve]], and this is her first ovulation. She had no way of knowing until it was too late. (Note that this is possible in real life as well, although the odds of miscarriage are higher.)}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''The Great Ten'', this is part of Mother of Champions' backstory. She was incredulous when she discovered she was pregnant, for a number of reasons - one, because her husband had recently left her due to her inability to conceive, and two, because she was visibly pregnant the day after her drunken one-night stand. As it turns out, she'd developed a special, ahem, [[Explosive Breeder|gift]], giving birth to twenty five boys days later.
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Starman (Film)|Starman]]'': After he and Jenny made love on the train Starman proclaims "I gave you a baby tonight." Jenny says that this is impossible because she is incapable of having a child. Starman explains that he used his powers to alleviate this.▼
* In ''[[Hellboy (Film)|Hellboy]] 2: The Golden Army'', {{spoiler|Abe finds out that Liz is pregnant with Hellboy's children. Later, Liz is seen going through about four or five pregnancy tests, on account of the pregnancy}} being physically impossible for several reasons.▼
* ''[[Baby Mama]]'': {{spoiler|at the end of the film, Kate, who was supposed to be infertile or close to, discovers that she is pregnant}}.
* ''[[Village of the Damned (Film)|Village of the Damned]]'' (from the sci-fi novel ''[[The Midwich Cuckoos (Literature)|The Midwich Cuckoos]]'' by [[John Wyndham]]). Aliens impregnate every woman of child-bearing age in a small English town. Initial reactions range from joy (from a previously childless couple) to suspicion (from a husband who's been away at sea) to the above incredulous reaction from a teenage virgin.▼
* ''[[Dogma]]''. Despite having been infertile for apparently years, at the end of the movie Bethany is told by Metatron that she's [[Double Standard Rape Divine On Mortal|miraculously]] pregnant (necessary because she's the Last Scion - need to keep that bloodline going). It's heavily implied that because she's a descendant of the Virgin Mary her pregnancy is similar to Mary's conception of Jesus.▼
* The Czech films ''[[Divided We Fall]]'' and ''[[Little Otik]]'' both in a sense follow this trope and subvert it. Both couples in both films are infertile (in both cases {{spoiler|it seems it is HIS fault, not hers}}), and both couples get around nature to create a child, either a real one - {{spoiler|by using someone else to impregnate the wife}} (''Divided We Fall'') or a monstrous one, {{spoiler|by using a piece of wood carved into the rough shape of a child as a doll, which then comes to life and starts to devour the household}} (''Little Otik''). In each case, it is the neighbours who are forced to suspend their disbelief at the "fact" the wife is pregnant, rather than the couple themselves, who collude in trying to bring a child into the world.
▲* ''[[Dogma]]''. Despite having been infertile for apparently years, at the end of the movie Bethany is told by Metatron that she's [[Double Standard Rape (Divine
* ''[[Extant]]'': The story revolves around astronaut Molly Woods, who returns home to her family inexplicably pregnant after 13 months in outer space during her mission.
* A really interesting example in the French-Canadian film ''Familia'': teenage Marguerite learns she is pregnant, ''but she's never had sex.'' Though not really religious, she begins to wonder if this is a second virgin birth. {{spoiler|She eventually learns that someone slipped her a date-rape drug at a party; she thought she had just been really drunk.}}▼
▲* In ''[[Hellboy (
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Starman (
* Once Bella becomes pregnant in ''[[The Twilight Saga]]: Breaking Dawn'' Edward asks if it's even possible as he is a vampire and Bella is a human.
▲* ''[[
* In the film ''Women in Trouble'', porn starlet Elektra Luxx is informed by her doctor that she is now gravid, and she responds by quoting this trope's name almost verbatim:
{{quote|
'''Doctor''': Are you a virgin?
'''Elektra Luxx''': [[Captain Obvious|No]].
'''Doctor''': Then you can be pregnant. }}
▲* A really interesting example in the French-Canadian film ''Familia'': teenage Marguerite learns she is pregnant, ''but she's never had sex.'' Though not really religious, she begins to wonder if this is a second virgin birth. {{spoiler|She eventually learns that someone slipped her a date-rape drug at a party; she thought she had just been really drunk.}}
▲* ''[[Prometheus (Film)|Prometheus]]'' uses this in the most horrifying way imaginable: {{spoiler|Even though she is unable to bear children, Elizabeth finds out that she is indeed pregnant, but with an alien abomination. And so she performs an emergency surgery on herself whilst conscious in order to remove the creature from her womb}}.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Examples from [[
* Janette Oke's ''Prairie Romance'' series, starting with ''Love Comes Softly'', develops a huge clan of children under the care and guidance of main character Marty and her husband (Davis?). Several books down the line, after Oke had "officially" finished the series, the series starts back up with Marty realizing that she is again pregnant... and thinking it beyond embarrassing that her daughter will be younger than several of her grandchildren.
* In the ''[[The Time
* In ''Monsieur Malaussène'' by Daniel Pennac, a nun whose chastity is beyond doubt becomes pregnant. There are a number of pregnancies in this novel; this being Pennac, they're not straightforward.
* In Heinrich von Kleist's 1808 novella, ''The Marquise of O'', the titular Marquise finds herself mysteriously pregnant and places an announcement in the newspaper demanding the unknown father of her child identify himself so she can marry him. It turns out {{spoiler|the father is a Russian count who ravished her while she was unconscious. They do indeed marry and eventually come to have a happy marriage.}}
* In the ''[[Alien Nation (TV series)|Alien Nation]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] novel ''Cross of Blood'', Tectonese Cathy Frankel turned out to be pregnant. This came as a shock to her human boyfriend Detective Matt Sikes, because among the Tectonese, pregnancy can only occur when the female is inseminated by a "third" gender or "catalyst." It is later discovered that, due to their genetic adaptability, a Human/Tectonese pairing can result in pregnancy. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, [[Tear Jerker|Matt and Cathy's child was unable to survive after being born, due to her mixed genetics]].}}
* In [[John Varley]]'s ''[[Gaea Trilogy|Titan]]'', the female members of the spaceship crew all turn out to be pregnant after they're released into Gaea's interior. This trope especially applies to April Polo, a lesbian who's never had sex with a man.
** Arguably subverted by the fact that, unlikely as these conceptions might be, none of the characters propose any alternative explanation for their failure to menstruate (e.g. wondering if they'd been sterilized rather than impregnated). There's little actual denial, just dismay.
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* In Jacqueline Carrey's ''Santa Olivia'', a genetically modified man overhears scientists discussing his apparent sterility. After he escapes, he meets a woman and they have sex. Lo and behold...she gets pregnant with his daughter.
* In the [[Deverry]] novels, Rhys' first wife is cast aside for being barren. Her mother-in-law arranges for her to remarry to a widower with several children from a previous marriage (and as such would not need to care as to whether or not his new wife could provide an heir). Shortly afterwords, she surprises everyone by getting pregnant, and later gives birth to a healthy boy. It seems that ''she'' wasn't the sterile one in her previous marriage...
* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Friday (
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Charlotte Ross' [[Reality Subtext|real life pregnancy]] was written into the 11th season of ''[[NYPD Blue]]'', despite her character's being established as infertile due to complications from a teen pregnancy. This was a rather mild retcon, revealed as her doctors telling her it would be ''almost'' impossible for her to get pregnant.
* Delenn's pregnancy in ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', where Blanche's suspected pregnancy turns out to be menopause.
** So did Kitty from ''[[That '70s Show]]''.
** Same with Helen Rosenthal on ''[[St
** This version was inverted on ''[[Dharma and Greg]]'', when Abby (mother of an adult daughter) thought she was entering menopause, and turned out to be pregnant.
** The same inversion (what was thought to be menopause turns out to be pregnancy) appears in ''Father Of The Bride 2''.
** Murphy Brown does it both ways: she thinks her pregnancy is menopause, then when she does go through menopause she thinks she's pregnant.
** An episode of ''[[Sisters]]'' had oldest sister Alex thinking she was pregnant because her period was late and that "the last time that happened, we named her (her daughter) Reed!." Of course, it turned out to be menopause.
** On ''[[Life Goes On]]'', Libby believed she was experiencing symptoms of early menopause, only to find she was
* Season two of ''Too Close For Comfort'' focused on Muriel's pregnancy, Henry and Muriel having been established as in their late 40s/early 50s, with two adult children already.
* Soap opera example: ''[[All My Children]]'''s Opal Gardner (who'd already had three adult children) found herself pregnant (after, of course, thinking she was starting menopause) by new husband (and resident Scrooge) Palmer Cortlandt. Palmer immediately accused her of infidelity because he'd been rendered sterile years ago "by a polo accident." Medical tests later proved that his plumbing still worked.
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* In ''[[Days of Our Lives]]'' , the character Nicole was shot and told that she would never be able to have children due to internal scarring. Lo and behold, a few years later Nicole is impreginated by EJ. {{spoiler|Which then turned into a [[Convenient Miscarriage]]}}
* In the NBC show ''[[Scrubs]]'', Dr. Cox's ex-wife, Jordan, became pregnant (as she was pregnant in real life). Since Dr. Cox had previously gotten a vasectomy, they addressed this - Dr. Cox asked if Jordan cheated on him shortly after she tested pregnant, and later when they told the rest of the staff about her pregnancy, he does a rant where he mentions his vasectomy didn't take. He and Jordan later get [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|revenge on the doctor who performed it]].
{{quote|
'''Doctor''': Dear God. When do they say "ribs"?
'''Dr. Cox''': [[Nightmare Fuel|Never. They ''never'' say "ribs."]] }}
** ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' did the same thing with Sookie and Jackson when they wrote in Melissa McCarthy's pregnancy despite having an episode two seasons earlier where Jackson had a vasectomy that he didn't want. They retconned it by having Jackson say he lied about getting it since he hadn't wanted it in the first place, and that he thought Sookie would stay on her birth control pills to keep her skin looking fresh.
* A different take on it occurred in ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'', when Xena was rather shocked to be pregnant - she hadn't had sex ([[Les Yay|with a man]]) in ''ages''.
* The Korean couple (Jin and Sun) in ''[[Lost]]''. Jin was sterile before he came to the island, which causes Sun to believe the baby was conceived during her extramarital affair before the plane crash. However, Juliet explains that male sperm count is five times normal on the island, and a sonogram shows that the baby was indeed conceived on the island.
** A particularly heartbreaking example, as pregnant women tend not to survive their pregnancy on the
* Scully in ''[[The X
* Inverted in ''[[Friends]]'': Courteney Cox and her husband were trying for a baby, so her character Monica and her husband Chandler started trying for one too. When Cox and David Arquette started having fertility problems, Monica and Chandler started having them too. Ironically, Cox became pregnant in the final season, when Monica and Chandler had already agreed to adopt. Lots of baggy tops towards the end of season 10.
** Additionally, Ross was once described as a "medical marvel," as his parents' doctor had believed his mother was infertile prior to her pregnancy.
* On ''[[
* Sharon Watts in ''[[Eastenders]]'' believed herself to be infertile after a botched abortion for years until she conceived a baby with her adoptive brother/husband Dennis, [[Downer Ending|who was murdered]] a couple of episodes later.
* In ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'', Gabby has a miscarriage in the second season and her doctor says she is unable to bear children any longer. By the fifth season, however, thanks to the [[Time Skip]], she has two young daughters. (The "But I can't be pregnant" scene is later shown in a flashback, complete with Gabby slapping the doctor).
* In ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', House confronts a complainy teenage girl on an airplane:
{{quote|
'''Girl''': But I can't --
'''House''': Are you a virgin?
'''Girl''': No.
'''House''': You're pregnant. }}
** Played with in the episode "Joy to the World," where a woman is pregnant even though she and her fiance are waiting till marriage, and she swears she hasn't cheated. A skeptical House runs a DNA test and returns dumbfounded to tell them that there actually is no father, and the woman is the first ever case of human parthogenesis, an incredible phenomenon... except she's not, she just cheated on her fiance, and he's lying so that they'll be bowled over with elation and gratitude and get him a Christmas present, which he bet Wilson he could get a patient to do.
** Another episode includes a woman who miscarried a baby, but claimed she couldn't have been pregnant as she hadn't had sex in over a year. Turns out {{spoiler|she'd unknowingly been sleepwalking and having sex with her ex who lived in the same apartment building}}.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. [[Half
* Maude in ''[[Maude]]'' became unexpectedly pregnant at 47 while taking birth control, and later had the very first sitcom abortion.
* Claudia Black, who played Vala Mal Doran on ''[[Stargate SG
* In ''[[
* ''[[Coupling]]'' had a pregnancy scare storyline at the end of season 3 - Sally is the one who believes she's at risk and asks the other girls to take a test as well as a control group. She then gets the tests mixed up, so when she finds out one of them is positive, she realises it can be any of them. While they're waiting to go back and buy more tests, {{spoiler|Susan}} reveals that she just found out she's infertile. Towards the end, {{spoiler|Jane}}'s test comes back negative, which results in {{spoiler|Sally}} assuming it's her, and becoming deeply unhappy since it probably wrecks her chances with {{spoiler|Patrick}}. And then {{spoiler|Susan}} walks in with a positive test.
* Parodied on ''[[The Young Ones]]'', where
{{quote|
'''Vyvyan''': Yeah, that's what ''she'' said! You just can't trust women, can you? }}
* Played with in ''[[Becker]]''. After performing a fertility test on a male patient, Becker tells his (female) employee that "Your sperm count is higher than his!" Said patient's wife ends up pregnant anyway.
{{quote|
'''Patient:''' ...it's a miracle!
'''Becker:''' [[Sure, Let's Go
* In ''[[Sugar Rush (TV)]]'', Kim's mother Stella becomes pregnant after getting back together with Nathan, even though in the first series she told her lover that he had {{spoiler|had a vasectomy}}.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Married...
* Comes up every now and again when ''[[Maury]]'' does paternity
** A ridiculous example was this teenage girl who brought this guy onto the [[Sally Jesse Raphael]] show because she was ''convinced'' he was the father, because apparently he was the only guy she'd slept with. He was relieved when it turned out not to be his child, but she was still really confused. Turns out that she'd been regularly sleeping with her step-brother, and she was under the impression that she couldn't get pregnant by him. He was the father, of course.▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In the ''[[
** The [[
** Normally, [[Promethean: The Created|Prometheans]] are infertile until they finally become human, but one very rare possibility is that they manage to have a baby of their own, whether with a human or another Promethean. The kids turn out both mortal and normal... except that they can sense Azoth and are completely immune to [[Hate Plague|Disquiet]].
** [[Changeling: The Lost
* Played with in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2|Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,]]'' when Rose tells Jack she's pregnant but {{spoiler|it's part of a surreal sequence of events where you can't trust anything that's happening}}. Also, it's possible she can't be pregnant because {{spoiler|she might not actually exist}}. It turns out she is, and, obviously, she does, but the whole of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2]]'' was such a [[Mind Screw]] that it takes until ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4|the fourth game]]'' for any of this to be clear.▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
▲* Played with in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty|Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,]]'' when Rose tells Jack she's pregnant but {{spoiler|it's part of a surreal sequence of events where you can't trust anything that's happening}}. Also, it's possible she can't be pregnant because {{spoiler|she might not actually exist}}. It turns out she is, and, obviously, she does, but the whole of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' was such a [[Mind Screw]] that it takes until ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|the fourth game]]'' for any of this to be clear.
==
* [http://twokindscomic.com/archive/?p=543 Finally confirmed] [[Longest Pregnancy Ever|after nearly four years of hints]]: In ''[[
* Hatsuki reacting thusly in ''[[Moon Over June]]'' is quite understandable [[Justified Trope|given that she does not have sex with men]] in either her personal or professional life. However when one's... costars... do not clean themselves up/off/out well enough between scenes then such things can happen.
* ''[[Gene Catlow]]'': This is Cotton's reaction when Tatavania tells him she's pregnant. They had never [[Power Perversion Potential|(physically)]] made love. Cotton's shock lasts all of five seconds, since [[Hand Wave|they decide]] their bond via [[Applied Phlebotinum|Sight Of The Soul]] is so powerful, their spiritual humping [[A Wizard Did It|spilled over into the physical world.]]
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Paradise]]'': In "Reverberations," a story in this setting, a [[Gender Bending|gender-bent]] character's unexpected pregnancy causes the [[Masquerade]] concealing her new gender from friends and family members to fail.
* Happens a couple of times in [[Chakona Space]] due to meddlesome Rakshani fertility deities.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Inverted in ''[[South Park]]'', where Ms. Garrison assumes that not having a period after having a lot of random, unprotected sex with random men has made her pregnant ([[Dead Baby Comedy|she becomes excited because now she can have an abortion]]). The doctor informs her that as a transexual, she lacks both a uterus and eggs, and therefore is not physically capable of getting pregnant. Ms. Garrison claims the doctor is a bigot.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
▲* Comes up every now and again when ''[[Maury]]'' does paternity tests -- a man who has been declared infertile/had a vasectomy will demand a paternity test on his girlfriend/wife's child, for obvious reasons. A surprisingly large percentage turn out to be the child's father after all.
▲** A ridiculous example was this teenage girl who brought this guy onto the [[Sally Jesse Raphael]] show because she was ''convinced'' he was the father, because apparently he was the only guy she'd slept with. He was relieved when it turned out not to be his child, but she was still really confused. Turns out that she'd been regularly sleeping with her step-brother, and she was under the impression that she couldn't get pregnant by him. He was the father, of course.
* Subverted in the Strikeforce Mixed Martial Arts promotion before the highly-publicized August 2009 fight between Gina "Conviction" Carano and Christine "Cyborg" Santos to crown American MMA's first female 145-lb champion. Santos' management called Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker the day before the fight and told him that the California State Athletic Comission had just informed them that Santos was pregnant and wouldn't be allowed to fight. They called back a few minutes later and informed a panicking Coker that it was just a joke.
* [[Truth in Television]]. Infertility is not the same as sterility and a sufficiently fertile female partner can compensate for a low sperm count. There have been recorded incidences where men with vasectomies have fathered children. Same thing for females who have had an operation. And at least one particularly fertile couple where ''both'' had the operation, and a child was produced anyway.
** There are also cases where a couple fails to conceive despite fertility treatments, but end up pregnant soon after "giving up". It is said that stress can be a factor to infertility some times, and "trying" to conceive may make matters worse.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130916002823/http://notalwaysright.com/a-strong-case-for-reproductive-licensing/19 Denial] is a big issue for some featured on [[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130818081403/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007359,00.html Horrifying variation from France], where "at least five" women were in such a state of denial/trauma over their pregnancies that ''they killed the newborns and hid the bodies''
** There was a similar example in the summer of 1997 in New Jersey, where a young woman named Melissa Drexler, dubbed "The Prom Mom" slipped out of her prom, gave birth in the bathroom, strangled the baby and left his body in the garbage, then returned to the prom to eat and dance. No one ever remembered her even looking as though she were pregnant, not even a girlfriend who had been trying on dresses with her only weeks before. It's believed that fear of her parents' anger led her to be in denial over her pregnancy.
* There was a documentary on women having affairs on Discovery Health Channel which had an Asian couple who had trouble having children. Eventually, she got pregnant. Unfortunately, she neglected to tell her husband that it was another man's child. [[
* The TLC show ''I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant'' is dedicated to real life examples of this, usually either couples who thought they couldn't have kids, women who had their tubes tied, or party girls who didn't want to get pregnant.
** Or, in rare cases, where women menstruated throughout their whole pregnancy, didn't gain weight, and didn't feel the baby moving. It's one in a million, but it can happen.
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