Line #131 Main/LongestPregnancyEver


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8	->''"Okay, first of all, Bonnie, you've been pregnant for like six years, all right, either have the baby or don't."''
9	-->-- '''Peter Griffin''', ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
10
11	In RealLife, a human pregnancy lasts approximately nine months, give or take a couple weeks. The body's endocrine system has an incredible ability to regulate it and (with few exceptions) the duration of gestation is remarkably consistent.
12
13	In media, this is not necessarily so. The process of pregnancy and birth can be abbreviated or skipped entirely. The pregnancy can also be drawn-out longer than the standard nine months. There are two reasons for this:
14
15	* '''Decompressed Storytelling:''' In some media, the events of one day may take months or years to unfold. Pregnancies that ostensibly last the standard nine months instead seem like they extend much longer. ComicBookTime and WebcomicTime can make a pregnancy last years in real time; even the creators (let alone the readers) may be unsure how far along a woman is supposed to be in her pregnancy. A ScheduleSlip can aggravate things further. This trope can sometimes lead to OffscreenInertia if we never see the woman deliver [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome or see her again]]. It can be {{Lampshaded}} or used as a RunningGag: the pregnant character may [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Lean on the Fourth Wall]] by complaining that she feels like she has carried this baby too long.
16
17	* '''Abnormally Long Pregnancy:''' The pregnancy explicitly lasts longer than the normal nine months. Obviously, this is [[PregnancyDoesNotWorkThatWay not how it works]] in RealLife, but in fiction there may be reasons for it: a MysticalPregnancy, BizarreAlienBiology, a HalfHumanHybrid, FunctionalMagic, the [[TimeyWimeyBall flow of time turning weird]], or other extraordinary circumstances. If this is framed as unnatural, hideous, or dangerous, it probably overlaps with WombHorror or FetusTerrible. If it is safe and natural within the setting, it is not terrifying, though it may be tedious for the expectant mother.
18
19	SubTrope of PregnancyDoesNotWorkThatWay. Contrast ExpressDelivery. Compare and contrast WringEveryLastDropOutOfHim, when a character is on the brink of death, but takes a long while to actually die.
20	----
21	!!Examples of Decompressed Storytelling:
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Comic Books]]
25	* During ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', Mary Jane was pregnant for about two years in real time, which matches up with Marvel's time scale, three years in real time equals one year in the comics.
26	* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': The pre-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint\|DCComics}}'' Jesse Quick was revealed to be pregnant shortly before her timeline was rebooted. ''[[ComicBook/{{Convergence}} Convergence: Justice League #1]]'' opens with Supergirl bringing her to the hospital and Jesse giving birth to a healthy baby. Keep in mind, the reveal that she was pregnant was ''four years ago'' although this is somewhat subverted since she'd originally been erased from the DC Universe.
27	* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Hippolyta Hall stays pregnant for about two years while trapped in a dream/nightmare with her dead husband Hector, and only gives birth once Dream releases her. The {{Meta}} element to this is that Hippolyta and Hector were C-list DC heroes from the '80s comic ''ComicBook/InfinityInc'', and she was pregnant at the point that the series was canceled in 1988. If Creator/NeilGaiman hadn't appropriated the characters, she could conceivably have been pregnant indefinitely while not being featured in any comic.
28	* ''ComicBook/StarTrekDebtOfHonor'': The stardate given puts the main action in 2289, but it also seems to take place in the same year as the Gillian Taylor scenes, during which Gracie the whale births the first humpback whale calf to be born on Earth in two centuries. ''Film/{{Star Trek IV\|TheVoyageHome}}'' takes place in 2284, but a humpback whale's gestation period is only 11 months, so somebody done goofed.[[note]]In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' stardates were inconsistent ''at best'', but by ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' (which had completed its fifth season when this comic was published) they had been nailed down significantly more.[[/note]]
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
32	* ''ComicStrip/NineChickweedLane'': Diane had been pregnant since June 2009 - a total padded out by the six-month WholeEpisodeFlashback that immediately succeeded that reveal. She finally gave birth in October 2011... after going into labor in August and having '''that''' padded out with another character's JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind.
33	* ''ComicStrip/BabyBlues'': Wanda, [[ParodySue Bunny]], and Yolanda were pregnant with Wren, [[TooManyBabies Wendell John and Wendell Jon]], and Dziko. Wanda's pregnancy with Hammie also lasted long, mostly due to ComicBookTime.
34	* ''ComicStrip/RexMorganMD'': June Morgan announces her pregnancy in December 2012. She gives birth in December 2015.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Fan Works]]
38	* Due to WebcomicTime and the occasional [[WallOfText Walls of]] PurpleProse, pregnancies in fanfiction can feel like this. When a fanfic is read after it is completed ([[DeadFic if ever]]), the pregnancy will speed by much quicker, though.
39	* In ''Webcomic/NaruHinaChronicles'', Tenten became pregnant as a result of her and Neji celebrating the latter having his seal removed. It happened in Chapter 42, which was published in December 2008. She would later confirm to Neji that she is pregnant in Chapter 60, which was published in July 2009. As of April 2023, she ''still'' hasn't given birth to their child.
40	* [[WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution Nightcrawler/Kurt]]'s [[MisterSeahorse pregnancy]] in ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1471639/1/Nightcrawler-s-Burden Nightcrawler's Burden]]'' is supposed to last for the usual nine months, yet each month takes up at least six chapters on average. Add to the fact that the last posted chapter was sometime in the second trimester, and that it hasn't been updated for '''[[DeadFic over 10 years]]''', makes it one of the slowest fanfiction pregnancies.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
44	* Averted in ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' when Flynn tells Amos that no one will believe Roxie's child is his because a jury "can count to nine. Can you count to nine?"
45	* In ''Film/CoalMinersDaughter'', Loretta Lynn announces her pregnancy to her best friend, Patsy Cline, shortly before Cline dies in a plane crash. Trouble is, the crash took place on March 5, 1963. The twins Lynn turns out to be expecting (one of whom was [[DeadGuyJunior named in Cline's honor]]) were born August 6, 1964. That's at least a 17-month pregnancy.
46	* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'': If you measure the passage of time by historic UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar battles, it turns out that Melanie is pregnant [[WritersCannotDoMath for about 21 months]]. (This error does not happen in the book.)
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Literature]]
50	* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' features Elain, [[WritersCannotDoMath who may be anywhere from seven to fourteen months pregnant]] at the end of the third book. She was pregnant in the first book, and more than a year passed between then and the third book, in which someone mentions that Elain's kid is overdue. She finally gives birth to a daughter in book four.
51	* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', feline pregnancies tend to last much longer than the normal 60 - 70 days.
52	* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', [[spoiler:Elayne]] gets pregnant in the ninth novel, ''Winter's Heart'', published in 2000. She immediately finds out about the pregnancy due to [[{{Seers}} Min's]] viewings of the future, leading to a bunch of maids and midwives fawning over her when she's barely showing. When the final novel is published in 2013, she's still pregnant, only six months along. This also happens with Melaine, whose pregancy was first revealed in ''Lord of Chaos'' in 1994, and she never gave birth by the final novel after almost two decades of real time had passed.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
56	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In Season 9, we see that Amy's birthday is December 17, as it is the day before the release of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens''.[[note]]It is stated in-episode that Amy's birthday is on a Thursday (the day before the film's Friday release), and Leonard, Howard, and Raj likely saw the midnight premiere.[[/note]] Season 10 focuses on Bernadette's pregnancy, where she first announces to the audience that she is pregnant on Valentine's Day (February 14), and gives birth on Amy's birthday (December 17), more than 10 months later.
57	* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Rachel is pregnant for at least fifteen months, being already pregnant at Chandler and Monica's wedding (May 15, 2001) and going on maternity leave in August 2002. On the flipside, both Carol and Phoebe were pregnant for about 20 weeks, or about half of what a normal pregnancy is. Phoebe's could be partially justified in that multiple births tend to have shorter gestation periods than single births, but the triplets were explicitly shown to be healthy when they were born, so this was more of a math error than anything, and because of how the show was shot (with most of the new seasons coming in right when the old ones left off) this was hardly the first example of the timeline being off. No wonder Rachel was in such a bad mood at the end of her pregnancy.
58	* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Explicitly {{Defied}}. Although Lily becomes pregnant in "Challenge Accepted", the sixth season finale (which aired in May 2011), that episode was actually set in September 2011, a couple weeks before Punchy's wedding (which took place in the seventh season premiere, aired September 2011) and she conceived the night of Hurricane Irene (August 27, 2011). Instead of just implying it, the writers take pains to make sure this timing is mentioned in canon: Ted breaks up with Zoey in "Landmarks", the second-to-last episode of season six, and in "Challenge Accepted", mentions that he and Zoey had been broken up for a few months, not the week or so that had elapsed between the two episodes. Lily actually gives birth in the Season 7 finale, which takes place nine months after the season premiere.
59	* In ''Series/{{Insecure}}'', Tiffany first is revealed to be pregnant in season 2, has a baby shower halfway through season 3, and doesn't actually give birth until season 4. The show isn't exact on times, but it's implied at least a month or multiple months pass between seasons (not to mention the months that pass during the season itself).
60	* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': While most characters on the show announced their pregnancy and gave birth in the same episode, Laura's pregnancy lasted almost a year in real time. In "I Do Again", which aired in March 1981, she announces she's pregnant. She doesn't have her baby until a February 1982 episode. Worse, during the time between her discovering her pregnancy and her daughter's birth, the Ingalls adopt a couple of siblings, James and Cassandra Cooper, and later when their great-uncle comes to try and get their custody, it's said it's been almost a year since they were adopted, and Laura is ''still'' pregnant (and that's not counting the time they spent trying to find a family to adopt the Coopers and the period they spent with the Thompkins family before they found that the patriarch was abusive).
61	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': The cast and crew of {{Lampshaded}} this with Claire's pregnancy. The pregnancy itself is actually more of an aversion since she was eight months pregnant at the beginning of the series and gave birth late in the first season, which covered only about a month and a half of story time. However, in real life, about seven months passed until the birth episode finally aired. In an earlier-season-one question-and-answer session (which is viewable on the DVD set), someone in the audience asks if she is "ever" going to have the baby, to which they jokingly reply, "In season 3 -- she actually gives birth to an adult!"
62	* ''Series/MadAboutYou'': Jamie was pregnant for at least a full year, from the end of one season to the end of another.
63	* In ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', Daya became pregnant in the middle of the first season and gave birth in the third season, which was released two years later. However, the in-series timespan is only a few months.
64	* In ''Series/{{Rome}}'', [[spoiler:Eirene]] tells [[spoiler:Pullo]] of her pregnancy during historical events that occur around [[AncientRome 42 B.C.]] Judging by other historical events, like the betrothal of Octavian and Livia, she is still pregnant in 39 or 38 B.C. This is reportedly due to the show's {{Cancellation}} and the [[ExecutiveMeddling necessary rewriting]] of the last few scripts which stuff about 15 years of history into eight episodes.
65	* ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' gave birth to her fourth child on Halloween 1995, despite having already been pregnant in the previous season's HalloweenEpisode (and for more than a month before that, as she found out about it in that season's premiere).
66	* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': This is lampshaded in a ''Weekend Update'' skit. When Tina Fey mentions that Kate Hudson gave birth to her son, she did so after 15 months of pregnancy (Hudson's pregnancy wasn't exceptionally long, but she was in the middle of promoting a couple of movies, so the large number of photos and interviews of her very happily pregnant made it seem longer than it was.)
67	* In ''Series/{{Tinsel}}'', Amaka Okoh's pregnancy lasts 12 months.
68	* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Dana Scully's pregnancy in the eighth season seems to have lasted about a year, going by the dates.
69	* ''Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless'': Ashley was also pregnant for a full calendar year -- and this was far more noticeable since unlike primetime shows, soaps don't take summer breaks. The writers feebly tried to downplay this JustForFun/{{Egregious}} error, claiming that due to soaps frequently wonky time frames (One SoapOpera day can last as long as a RealLife week, etc), not only was the time inaccurate but that Ashley probably wasn't pregnant long ''enough''.
70	* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': Mandy's pregnancy starts in March or April 1992. In January 1993, she is still pregnant, and based on the size of her baby bump, she still has three more months before giving birth. An explanation of these dates is given on the [[Timeline/YoungSheldon Timeline]] page.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Video Games]]
74	* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'': The game skips many years between chapters, but [[OffscreenInertia pregnant cows follow the in-game calendar]]. If a cow is impregnated near the end of a chapter, this can lead to a situation where your kid grows from a child to a teenager, which takes years, but the cow is still pregnant as ever.
75	* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', one of the side quests has you help a pregnant woman who was thrown out on the street by the man's wife. If you do not complete the mission until after the TimeSkip (which is about 3 years) and talk with her, she is still pregnant.
76	* ''VideoGame/SimSeries'':
77	** In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', if you save and exit a household while a Sim is pregnant, she will remain at the stage of pregnancy she was at when you did so. So if you go into another household and have another male (or female) kid "grow" to be an adult while being there, they might meet ''the same'' woman, who was always pregnant ''since'' he (or she) was a child... RealityBreakingParadox!
78	** Notably averted in ''VideoGame/TheSims3'', however: there's an option to have the world continue around you while you play, so characters will grow up, grow old, get married, have kids, and die, and you might never know (unless you read the newspaper).
79	** Back in ''VideoGame/TheSims4'' - if you leave your house and go on vacation, the baby will continue to grow inside, but it will remain firmly lodged in your baby-maker even up until you go into labour, until you get home, when it will drop out within minutes.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Webcomics]]
83	* ''Webcomic/AndersLovesMaria'': Maria was pregnant for nearly all of the comic's three-and-a-half-year run. Though this was padded out by the comic's liberal use of {{flashback}}s.
84	* In ''Webcomic/DocRat'', Daniella was pregnant with Ben's children for over four years. Her former roommate, Melanie, a rhino who got pregnant around the same time, gave birth shortly after Danni did.
85	* ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'':
86	** WordOfGod says that Nei'kalsa Tion Sarghress is pregnant during [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=4498 this scene]], which was published during December 2007. While only a few months passed in story until a 15-year timeskip in October 2011, this means she was pregnant for almost four years of real time. Even knowing that drow are Fae and therefore have HumanOutsideAlienInside, that's still pushing it.
87	** [[spoiler:Mel'arnach]] also has a bit of this, since she's shown as heavily pregnant in a chapter published in March 2012 and was shown to have given birth a few days prior in July 2013. Though only a few days passed in story this means she was pregnant for 16 months of real time.
88	* In ''Webcomic/GeneCatlow'', Tatavania has been pregnant with Michelle since 2003 ([[ItMakesSenseInContext last seen in-comic: July 2011]]). Due to one of the more JustForFun/{{egregious}} abuses of WebcomicTime ever, that time span has only been a few months, in-story. Given the ScheduleSlip generated by the [[DiedDuringProduction death of creator Albert Temple]], it may be years to go before Tatavania ''finally'' gives birth.
89	* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', this is discussed: the (now dead) son of Lucrezia and Bill is named Klaus, after Bill's best friend who disappeared, who was also Lucrezia's lover before she married Bill. As Carson von Mekkhan takes pains to point out, he was born two years and three months after Klaus Wulfenbach's disappearance. Apparently half of Europa is still of the belief that he was Klaus and Lucrezia's child.
90	--> '''Carson:''' You'd be ''amazed'' how many people ''ignore'' the ''math!''
91	* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', although they generally work in ComicBookTime, pregnancies tend to last on-par with real time:
92	** Kell was already heavily pregnant with Coney when the strip began in September 1995 and gave birth right before Halloween 1995.
93	** Danielle found out she was pregnant with Francis in late February 2006 and gave birth in early November 2006.
94	** Lindesfarne found out she was pregnant with Turvy in New Year's 2017 and gave birth slightly early in mid-August 2017. [[spoiler:Granted, the stress of being the target of a terrorist group and the events of being rescued likely induced labor.]]
95	* ''Webcomic/{{Magellan}}'': Hoodoo conceived a child with [[Webcomic/BadGuyHigh Captain Perfect]] during the ''Webcomic/{{Crossoverkill}}'' event in 2013. Their child, Lilly, was born in December 2017.
96	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Kazumi Kato has been pregnant since [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0501.html strip 500]] (published in 2007) and was still pregnant as of [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0672.html strip 672]] (published in 2009). She shows up again in the print-only book ''Good Deeds Gone Unpunished'' (published 2018)... still pregnant. In-story, it's been an unknown number of months, but probably between 6 and 8.
97	* ''Webcomic/SabrinaOnline'':
98	** Amy was pregnant with her son Timmy from February 1997 to January 2000.
99	** Sabrina's pregnancy was roughly half as long: September 2016 to March 2018. In this case, this is Justified, as Danielle's conception was the end of the series proper, and stories about Sabrina's pregnancy and Danielle's birth were few and far between in that time.
100	* ''Webcomic/SisterClaire'': Claire's been pregnant for the whole comic, starting in 2008; stretched out via {{Schedule Slip}}s combined with WebcomicTime.[[note]]Then came the WhamEpisode in late 2015 that revealed that she was never actually pregnant at all.[[/note]]
101	* In ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'', Flora has been pregnant since 2006 (Flora, herself, has only been aware since 2010). As of 2023, she's showing in earnest and has come clean with Trace (the father). This is another case of chronic WebcomicTime, since only a few weeks have passed in-universe.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Western Animation]]
105	* ''WesternAnimation/BobbysWorld'': Martha Generic is pregnant through two seasons.
106	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Bonnie is pregnant for the show's first six seasons. Even though the show runs on ComicBookTime, since none of the other kids have aged at all, it's frequently {{Lampshaded}} by other characters, since it took ten years of real time for her to give birth in the episode "Ocean's Three and a Half".
107	-->'''Quagmire:''' It's hard to believe she's already 18.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/FIsForFamily'': Sue Murphy is pregnant for at least two seasons, starting at the end of Season 2. She does not give birth until the Season 4 finale.
109	* ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks'': Mr. Baldwin, a [[MisterSeahorse seahorse]]. As revealed by Randy Pincherson in the episode "Spoiler Alert", he's going to have four girls, to which he eventually gives birth (along with eight other siblings) shortly before the episode "Assignment: Babies".
110	* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Luanne Platter is pregnant for almost three years. Strangely enough, she shows no signs at all until the episode where she gives birth.
111	* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'': Ms. Gloria Duwong is pregnant through the entire four seasons of the show.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	!!Examples of Abnormally Long Pregnancy:
115	[[foldercontrol]]
116
117	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
118	* ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'' has a horrific example. [[spoiler: Hisoka Kurosaki's mother Rui was forcibly impregnated by the same demon that constantly rapes her husband Nagare, and said pregnancy with Gods-know-what kind of hellspawn has lasted for '' at least two years''.]]
119	* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', when [[spoiler:Irene Belserion]] was turned into a dragon, she was pregnant with her child, [[spoiler:Erza Scarlet]], and didn't give birth until she turned back into a human 400 years later, [[AWizardDidIt having used magic to delay giving birth]].
120	* In ''Manga/MermaidSaga'', Isago is after mermaid flesh for the unborn child of her previous husband. [[spoiler:[[LampshadeHanging This confuses the chief, as her husband's been dead for quite a while.]] She's actually been pregnant for three years, [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent due to her being a mermaid]]]].
121	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The father of [[spoiler:the protagonist's older brother, Portgas D. Ace]], is an extremely notorious criminal ([[spoiler:none other than Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates]]). He's so notorious that TheGovernment is out for blood on all his descendants. The man's girlfriend/baby's mother, [[spoiler:Portgas D.]] Rouge, delays her child's birth for ''at least 20 months'' through [[PluckyGirl sheer willpower]] [[MamaBear alone]]. When the baby is born the birth father, having been executed, has been dead for a year and 3 months, making it pretty much impossible to establish their connection. This spares the child's life, but [[DeathByChildbirth costs their mother hers]], [[spoiler: and she barely manages to entrust the baby to Luffy's grandfather Garp, who also was Roger's WorthyOpponent.]] The world at large doesn't find out until the child is in their 20s -- and has been located and captured by the Marines, who reveal it openly while "exhibiting" the now-grown child as a prisoner.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Comic Books]]
125	* In ''ComicBook/{{Kaijumax}}'', Go-Go Space Baby is heavily pregnant when first seen, but she later remarks she hasn't seen the father in around three years. That being said, she's SiliconBasedLife from space and a giant monster at that.
126	* In ''ComicBook/{{Lanfeust}}'', the Queen of Darshan has been pregnant for 15 months when first seen. Discovering the reason for the unusual length is a minor plot point. [[spoiler:The culprit is the darshanide Goddess of Pleasure, who wanted to punish the King for not giving the Queen an orgasm when conceiving the baby. The moment the heroes confront the goddess and mention that the Queen is the one truly suffering, she lifts the curse and [[InstantBirthJustAddLabor the Queen instantly gives birth to a son]].]]
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
130	* ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'' involves a woman who has been pregnant for 13 years, aided by “Portlock Root”. The really disturbing part? The fetus is seemingly fully formed and can talk. It is not a pretty sight.
131	* ''Film/BasketCase 2'':
132	-->'''Susan:''' I'm pregnant... and have been for the last six years.
133	* A 2005 Japanese film whose title translates as either ''Three Year Pregnant'' or ''Three Year Delivery'' revolves around a pregnant YamatoNadeshiko protagonist who refuses to give birth whilst her family is still locked in turmoil and strife. It's not until they resolve everything, three years later, that she finally gives birth.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Literature]]
137	* "Appropriate Love" by Creator/GregEgan has a variant. A woman has to carry her husband's (unconscious) brain in her belly while his new clone body is grown. The insurance company will only pay for the cheapest life-support system, and she's it. This takes years, during which she appears pregnant. Entirely humiliated by the process and the inevitable misunderstandings, she ends up a friendless hermit.
138	* ''Literature/CruelIllusions'': The pregnancy of Ava's mother lasts centuries, as she was pregnant with Ava before becoming immortal. Becoming immortal in the series causes biological functions to freeze, hence she became trapped like that for centuries. She was only able to give birth to Ava in the present day after becoming mortal once more.
139	* In the ''Literature/DarkNestTrilogy'', Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo is pregnant by Jacen Solo (son of Leia and Han) and, to avoid any rumours that he is the father, she uses the Force to artificially lengthen out the pregnancy to one year.
140	* ''Literature/DemonSeed'': The supercomputer Proteus informs the mother of his child that her pregnancy will proceed more slowly than a normal pregnancy, not more quickly as she had hoped. She's not pleased, especially since Proteus didn't bother asking first before impregnating her.
141	* In ''Literature/{{Excession}}'', a character delays her baby's birth due to feeling conflicted about the father; she is heavily pregnant for 40 years.
142	* ''Literature/FengshenYanyi'' has the birth of Nezha, who according to the story spends 3 years and 9 months in his mother's womb, due to his magical nature.
143	* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', a side effect of the early [[LongevityTreatment anti-aging treatment]] is extended pregnancies, typically about 11 months. Later versions of the treatment have normal term pregnancies.
144	* In the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' novels, Alex's pet vulture Agatha was pregnant for 20 months and counting. Justified in-universe, as nobody's sure exactly what she mated ''with''... By book 12, she has finally laid an egg. It's quite bigger than it should be, deep black in color and full of stars.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
148	* ''Series/The100'': Diyoza is a strange example. The pregnancy is originally because [[RealLifeWritesThePlot the actress was pregnant while filming]], and she comes on to the show in season 5 already about 5 months into her pregnancy. In the season 6 finale, we finally meet Hope, [[spoiler: [[PlotRelevantAgeUp now an adult thanks to being in the anomaly]].]] What makes this a particularly strange example is that, thanks to being [[HumanPopsicle in cryosleep]], she's actually been pregnant for 234 years before finally giving birth.
149	* An ''Series/{{Absolutely\|1989}}'' sketch involving recurring characters Denzil and Gwynedd had Gwynedd revealing she was ''17 years'' pregnant.
150	-->'''Denzil:''' Seventeen years?! Gwynedd, if you have been pregnant for 17 years, surely you should have experienced symptoms, like morning sickness?\
151	'''Gwynedd:''' I did. But I put that down to waking up in the same bed as you.
152	* ''Alfresco'' has a ParodyCommercial for private healthcare: one woman had a normal pregnancy under private care, but another had to wait so long on the National Health Service that her baby was born as an adult.
153	* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': George Sr. mentions that Lucille was pregnant with Buster for eleven months and that doctors had to play a more active role in removing him than usual since he fought it.
154	* ''Series/AustraliaYoureStandingInIt'': "The Average Family" sketch features a character who is 23 months pregnant.
155	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Lilith claims to have had a fifteen-month pregnancy -- as resident EmotionlessGirl, it's impossible to tell whether she's being sarcastic or not.
156	* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]]. Aeryn's species, Sebaceans, have the ability to effectively put a pregnancy into suspended animation early on. Since they're a [[spoiler:genetically engineered from proto-humans]] {{Proud Warrior Race\|Guy}}, this comes in handy as a female can get pregnant on-mission, hit the biological pause button, finish the mission, return home and gestate normally. The pregnancy can be held in stasis for up to seven years. However, once it's fully going it [[ExpressDelivery only takes days]].
157	* In ''Series/ICarly'', Freddie reveals during an argument with [[MyBelovedSmother his mom]] that she was pregnant with him for 11 months.
158	-->'''Mrs. Benson:''' I wanted to make sure you were done!
159	* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Invoked by the Evil Queen's Dark Curse, which prevents everyone in Storybrooke from aging. It stalls Cinderella's pregnancy at nine months for twenty-eight years. Once Emma enters town and time resumes properly, Ashley is finally able to give birth.
160	* ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'':
161	** Due to a combination of factors, [[spoiler:Henry]]'s pregnant girlfriend can't give birth without a huge risk to herself. Magnus figures out a way to reduce this risk by slowing the development of the fetus, but it also means she will be pregnant for a little under two years.
162	** Played with in the case of [[spoiler:Magnus herself]]. Thanks to what essentially amounts to immortality, [[spoiler: she discovers a way to remove her fetus and keep it "on ice" until she's ready to have the child in modern times. Ashley is understandably freaked out to learn that not only was she conceived almost a century ago, but that her father is also the man who became Jack the Ripper.]]
163	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Ensign Samantha Wildman is pregnant before the events of the pilot episode. She doesn't give birth to Naomi until midway through Season 2. Since her husband (who's still in the Alpha Quadrant) is a Ktarian and the baby is a HalfHumanHybrid, this gets explained by the BizarreAlienBiology. Ironically, once born, her daughter grows up [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome really fast]].
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:Manhua]]
167	* ''Manhua/FengShenJi'': The gods of the series age slowly. Kong Que, leader of the rebel gods, was pregnant for 18 months before having her son. Sir Li Jing, a human aristocrat, says his mysterious wife had been pregnant for two years before his son was born. Strangely, Li's wife was presumably human, too.
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
171	* In classical Chinese literature, it is said that multiple ancient kings' mothers were pregnant for two to three years before the kings were born. Obviously this is made up to make people believe these kings have divine power.
172	* UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} founder Laozi is said to have been born after ''seventy or eighty years'' in his mother's womb, hence his name (it literally means "old child").
173	* This was in a myth put about in England as part of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade of Richard III; he was allegedly in the womb for two years according to some (and was born with a full set of teeth).
174	* According to Buddhist tradition, Buddha's wife Yashodara stayed pregnant with his son Rahula for six years. After he left her for his spiritual quest, Yashodara was accused of adultery when her pregnancy was only visible years after her husband's departure. Fortunately, Buddha came back to confirm the filiation.
175	* In the Icelandic Volsunga Saga, Volsung's unnamed mother bore him for six years, until finally deciding to just cut the baby out of her. As she bleeds out, the six-year-old hero holds his dying mother and swears he will never run from fire or steel.
176	* Väinämöinen, the Finnish hero-god, was carried in his sky-goddess mother's womb for ''centuries'' before she finally gave birth [[note]]In Finnish mythology, she was pregnant for at least 700 years before she created the land, sun, moon, and stars, and then continued to be pregnant for several centuries more until she finally gave birth, whilst in ''Literature/TheKalevala'', it's stated he was trapped inside her womb for a 730-year pregnancy[[/note]]. Because of his prolonged gestation, he was born a fully mature adult with a long, flowing WizardBeard and hair, all of it stark white.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
180	* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' fan sourcebook ''The Book of Erotic Fantasy'' gives details on the subject of reproduction for all the major player races, noting that elves have a gestation period of fully two years. It takes its inspiration from the long lifespans accorded to elves, dwarves, and gnomes, particularly how elves are said to be considered children for the first sixty years of their life in 2nd edition. It's a non-canon sourcebook, however, and there is no concrete answer given for how long such races actually carry for.
181	* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the [[SpaceElves Eldar]] are described in some sources (such as the Dark Eldar codex) as having a gestation period of several years.
182	[[/folder]]
183
184	[[folder:Theatre]]
185	* Serbian comedy ''Radovan the Third'' has Radovan's daughter pregnant for ''five years'' because her father won't let her give birth until she gets married.
186	[[/folder]]
187
188	[[folder:Video Games]]
189	* In ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'', dwarves have ''much'' longer pregnancies by nature; one dwarf remarks that you probably couldn't tell she's expecting because she's "only" in her fourteenth month.
190	* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': At the end, [[spoiler:it is noted that Ena gives birth to Rajaion's child, despite no pregnancy being mentioned before]]. The father in question had died ''three years prior'', and the mother had presumably been kept away from him for at least an additional year besides. She also mentions that he had left their homeland 19 years before the climax of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'', and the condition he was in when she was near him after that left her getting pregnant then... unlikely, to say the least. A slight twist in that [[spoiler:both Ena and Rajaion are Dragon Laguz]], and while this isn't explicitly shown to happen with any other [[spoiler:dragon laguz]] they are notoriously long-lived (the paternal grandfather, [[spoiler:Dheginsea]], is known to be at the very least in his ninth ''century'' of life and doesn't look particularly ancient), so it's possible, although this does raise questions about the pregnancy of the child's paternal aunt [[spoiler:Almedha]], which was by all accounts not nearly as long. (To be fair, said paternal aunt [[spoiler:consorted with a human and not with a Dragon, so their child was a HalfHumanHybrid]].)
191	* {{Exaggerated\|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/KingsRaid''. [[spoiler:TheHero Kasel is the illegitimate son of Kyle, the king of Orvelia, and his lover Arlette, except he was conceived ''roughly a hundred years'' before the start of the story; After freezing Arlette for a long time, [[AnIcePerson Pavel]] later teleported Kasel who was still inside Arlette's womb outside.]] All of this resulted in Kasel becoming another threat to the ambitions of the nobles who are already trying to kill Scarlet, the crown princess of Orvelia and the only other surviving descendant of king Kyle.
192	* ''VideoGame/RingRunnerFlightOfTheSages'' has something called "baking" babies when an expectant mother can choose to carry a baby for what could be years while the baby absorbs information and gets their genes fine-tuned.
193	* ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' has Sybil Pandemik. Her [[spoiler:[[HalfHumanHybrid half-golem]]]] baby isn't born until the end of the fifth episode of season 3, by which point she's a month into her fifth trimester. In other words, 15 months of being pregnant. When her water breaks, she "releases" pennies, to the confusion of the other characters.
194	[[/folder]]
195
196	[[folder:Webcomics]]
197	* One ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' strip highlights mortals tempting the gods into [[DivineParentage impregnating them]]. One of them is a woman who has carried the child of [[OddJobGods the god of procrastination]] for over four years.
198	* ''Webcomic/OlympicDames'', where the four girls became heavily pregnant overnight due to supernatural meddling, but are stuck there for what feels like forever due to the inexorable demands of plot and ComicBookTime.
199	[[/folder]]
200
201	[[folder:Web Original]]
202	* The National Partnership for Women and Families is an American advocacy group. To support paid family leave policies, they produced [[https://youtu.be/7GtFwdLpNTo?t=12 this]] short {{Mockumentary}}. Lauren is a successful professional, but cannot get time off to give birth, so she continues working despite being an absurd 260 weeks pregnant. While she attempts a normal day at the office, straining to maneuver and work around her impossibly gigantic belly, the narration presents its political message.
203	-->'''Narrator:''' Keeping a toddler in your uterus is a challenge, but she tries to think of it as extra bonding time. And since the U.S. is the ''only'' developed country that ''doesn't'' have paid maternity leave, Lauren just has to keep the kid in. Besides, what's a better option? America having a national paid leave policy? [[SarcasmMode That's crazy]].
204	* The web hoax [[http://malepregnancy.com malepregnancy.com]] dates at least to 1999 according to the Internet Archive. The subject, Mr. Lee Mingwei, is still described as pregnant.
205	* From the ShallowNewsSiteSatire ''Website/{{Reductress}}'':
206	** [[https://reductress.com/post/jennifer-aniston-enters-thirteenth-trimester-of-pregnancy/ Jennifer Aniston Enters Thirteenth Trimester of Pregnancy]] is exactly what it says on the tin.
207	** [[https://reductress.com/post/hometown-friend-somehow-still-pregnant/ Hometown Friend Somehow Still Pregnant]] focuses on Deena Lorento's high school friend Janet, who's been pregnant for almost five years.
208	[[/folder]]
209
210	[[folder:Western Animation]]
211	* ''WesternAnimation/TripTank'': Exaggerated in ''Ma & Frankie'', where Frankie stays inside his mother's womb even when he turns 34, and [[BasementDweller mooches off her as she carries him around.]]
212	* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': In Season 4, [[spoiler: The shadowy antagonist of the arc, Lor-Zod, the son of [[Characters/SupermanGeneralZod General Zod]] and Ursa, is revealed to have gone through this. When General Zod, Ursa and all of their followers were imprisoned in the PhantomZone for attempting a coup to overthrow the government of Krypton, Ursa was not aware that she was already pregnant with Zod's son. As no one ages in the Phantom Zone, Lor-Zod remained a fetus for over a thousand years until the 31st century, when all the Kryptonian prisoners were freed and paroled by the United Planets. Lor would be born a mere 8 months later after the prisoners had been settled on Daxam.]]
213	[[/folder]]
214

Context Main / LongestPregnancyEver