Mad Men Forum

Okay...how in the hell did Peggy not realize she was pregnant?! I mean... seriously! Is this talked about in Season two or am I just supposed to accept it because right now it's hard to.

As I remember they don't really talk about how she didn't realize it

From what I remember, the character was very naive and just thought she was ill.

She wouldn't suspect it? I'm not really sure either. 

She thought she was just sick or gaining weight.  Several times she looked at her reflection in the mirror to see her figure (especially in the episode about the weight loss vibrator thing).  I admit it's a bit of a stretch.

@Linkyshinks said:

" It happens more often than you'd think, sometimes underlying illness or conditions can mask pregnancy until the latter stages. The fact is there are many women who give birth having never known they were pregnant.. "

This. 
 
There's a whole modern day show about it:  http://health.discovery.com/tv/i-didnt-know-i-was-pregnant/ 
 
Also, the first home pregnancy test wasn't introduced until the mid '70s so it wasn't that easy to find out, as well as very embarrassing if a woman wasn't married. The general populace wasn't nearly as educated about that sort of thing as today as well it wasn't a topic that was really talked about, especially for a single woman like Peggy. Having a child out of marriage in the early '60s was very taboo. Pregnancy outside of marriage in general was considered shameful so I don't think it's hard to believe a naive girl who's new to the city and "modern life" like Peggy is wouldn't have even considered the possibility until the late stages of the pregnancy. 

It was mainly denial, I'd say.

@JokerSmilez: @Linkyshinks:  Thanks for the info. The more you know!

@Daniel:  I'd agree that denial played a big part, she also might have written it off as gaining weight and the education at the time probably didn't cover it well.
 Then again, for a girl with such a sleight frame I think she would have appeared more pregnant than fat. I think the show used a bit of artifice there for the sake of the story.