False pregnancy False pregnancy False pregnancy, also known as phantom, hysterical pregnancy, pregnancy scares or pseudocyesis, is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy when the person is not actually pregnant. False pregnancy may sometimes be purely psychological. It is generally believed that false pregnancy is caused by changes in the endocrine system of the body, leading to the secretion of hormones that cause physical changes similar to those during pregnancy. Some men experience the same illnesses as a woman would experience while pregnant when their partner is pregnant (see Couvade syndrome), possibly caused by pheromones that
Male pregnancy varying by author. The most common rules followed are Omegaverse, which was first established in fanfiction. Male pregnancy Male pregnancy is the incubation of one or more embryos or fetuses by male members of some species. Most species that reproduce by sexual reproduction are heterogamous—females producing larger gametes (ova) and males producing smaller gametes (sperm). In nearly all animal species, offspring are carried by the female until birth, but in fish of the Syngnathidae family (pipefish, seahorses and the leafy seadragon), males perform this function. Human males incubating fetuses are a subject of popular imagination and a recurring theme in