Pregnancies

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One of many pregnancies that occurred in Lost.

Many pregnancies have been featured in Lost. Conditions on the Island led to fertility problems among the Others and an immune system related condition that causes women who become pregnant on the Island to die. It has been heavily hinted that the cause of the pregnacy problems on the Island was the release of the Island's electromagnetic energy after the drilling done at the Swan site prior to the Incident. ("LaFleur") ("The Incident, Part 2")

Fertility and pregnancy issues on the Island

The Island: a dangerous place for a pregnant woman.

Electromagnetism on the island interferes with early stages of gestation. ("The New Man in Charge") As a result, a woman who conceives on the island suffers complications during her second trimester. Her immune system attacks the fetus, her white blood cell count plummets and she eventually slips into a coma. The woman and the fetus die near the 100th day of pregnancy. ("The Other Woman")  ("Ji Yeon")

The electromagnetism originally existed only in specific pockets, such as the Orchid. ("The New Man in Charge") Women on the island could safely conceive and deliver, though DHARMA Initiative members preferred to give birth off-island in hospitals. ("LaFleur") Then in 1977, a construction crew penetrated one of these pockets, unleashing electromagnetic energy on the island at large. ("The Incident, Part 2")

Several characters have discussed pregnancy complications incidental to the main phenomenon. Ethan Rom injected Claire with a vaccine, one eventually revealed as a placebo. ("Maternity Leave")  ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1") Danielle warned Claire about an unrelated sickness. ("Maternity Leave") Richard Alpert recruited Juliet Burke by discussing a different reproductive issue, one of severely degenerated reproductive organs. ("Not in Portland") No evidence proves this issue plagued island women. The island in fact exhibits significant healing properties, and island men's sperm counts exceed normal counts five times over. ("D.O.C.")

Juliet Burke

In the outside world, Juliet developed a drug in 2001 for degeneration-based infertility. She tested this treatment on her sister Rachel Carlson who was infertile from cancer treatment, and her sister was able to successfully become pregnant. Her sister later carried the child through to a successful birth. Her work attracted the attention of the Others, who recruited Juliet and brought her to the island to solve their infertility problems. It is unknown whether Juliet was able to solve the former problem of degeneration in reproductive capacity, or whether it was truly a problem and not a flippant example by Alpert, but Juliet did work on ensuring that pregnant mothers survived their pregnancies. However, Juliet's proved unsuccessful, with the mothers always dying during pregnancy, including Sabine and Henrietta. ("Not in Portland")  ("One of Us")  ("The Other Woman")

Juliet was unable to find a solution to the immune problem. She theorized that the problem occurred at conception and proposed to Ben a plan where she would take a subject off the island for conception to test the theory, but Ben rejected the idea of anyone leaving the island.

An ultrasound image of Aaron, taken before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.

When Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the island, however, Claire Littleton was 8 months pregnant. She provided the Others with the perfect control case, and having conceived off-island meant Juliet could test her theory about the immunity issue being related to something occurring at conception on the Island. Juliet has said that Ethan, who had infiltrated the mid-section passengers, took blood samples from Claire, but soon discovered that her results were consistent with other mothers who later died on the Island during their pregnancies (despite conceiving off-island). Juliet claimed Ethan began treating Claire and administering injections. These injections were said by Juliet to be her created drug. ("One of Us") Ethan was seen injecting Claire with a drug that had the same DHARMA Initiative label as the vaccine. ("Maternity Leave"). It seems unlikely, however, that the vaccine and Juliet's serum were one in the same as Desmond and other male staff members of the DHARMA Initiative were also given injections of the vaccine.

According to Juliet, when Ethan's identity was eventually discovered, he decided to kidnap Claire on his own initiative. Claire was kept at the Staff medical facility, where she was given more drug treatments, and her medical condition was closely observed. ("One of Us")

Claire escaped from the Staff with the help of Alex. As she was leaving, the medical team of the Others was seen preparing for a surgical procedure probably involving Claire. Alex said that they intended to cut the baby out of her ("Maternity Leave"). Ethan pursued Claire and demanded that she be returned to him. He was captured in an attempt to kidnap Claire again and was afterward shot by Charlie six times while lying unarmed on the ground, resulting in his death ("Homecoming"). Claire gave birth without complications to Aaron and after Ethan's death there were no further attempts to kidnap either Claire or the baby.

Claire at one point was concerned that Aaron was ill and obtained some of the vaccine that Desmond had taken every nine days at the Swan. It is unclear how much of the drug Claire gave Aaron or how long she continued to give it to her child.

It was later revealed that Claire has an "implant" under the control of the Others. The activation of the implant was able to induce what was said by Juliet to be a withdrawal symptom from no longer having injections of her serum, within 48 hours. However, this is obviously a lie as it was the Others who activated the implant to cause Claire to be symptomatic. Juliet administered an injection of the vaccine to Claire, but it is unclear if this had any effect in her recovery. ("One of Us")

Juliet then discovered that Sun was pregnant, and revealed that if she conceived off-island, there was a likelihood that the mother and child would both live (confirming Juliet's original theory). However, Sun discovers she became pregnant on the Island, causing Juliet to admit that without help, Sun will die before her third trimester. ("D.O.C.")

In fortuitous circumstances, however, Sun does manage to escape the Island, and is shown having a healthy baby in South Korea. ("Ji Yeon")

Occurrences of pregnancy

The following characters have been pregnant, or have taken pregnancy tests.

	Mother	Father	Positive Pregnancy	End Result
	Ana Lucia Cortez	(Presumed) Danny*	‎	Unborn baby was killed by Jason McCormack
	Beth*	her husband*		Died before giving birth
	Claudia	Unknown		Gave birth to Jacob and the Man in Black
	Cassidy Phillips*	James "Sawyer" Ford		Gave birth to Clementine Phillips
	Kate Austen	Kevin Callis*		Pregnancy test was negative
	Rachel Carlson*	Injection		Gave birth to Julian Carlson
	Sarah Shephard*	Jack Shephard		Pregnancy test was negative
	Sarah Shephard*	Unknown		Pregnancy starts sometime in late 2006/early 2007, as seen in April 2007 flash-forward
	Susan Lloyd*	Michael Dawson		Gave birth to Walter Lloyd
	Henrietta*	Unknown		Died from pregnancy
	Sabine*	Unknown		Died from pregnancy
	Claire Littleton	Thomas*		Gave birth to Aaron Littleton
	Danielle Rousseau	Robert		Gave birth to Alex
	Sun-Hwa Kwon	Jin-Soo Kwon		Gave birth to Ji Yeon Kwon off-Island
	Emily Linus*	Roger Linus*		Died after giving birth to Ben
	Emily Locke*	Anthony Cooper		Gave birth successfully to John Locke three months premature
	Penelope Widmore	Desmond Hume		Gave birth successfully to Charlie
	Amy	Horace Goodspeed		Gave birth successfully to Ethan, 2 weeks premature
	Lara Chang	Pierre Chang		Gave birth successfully to Miles Straume
	Eloise Hawking	Charles Widmore		Gave birth successfully to Daniel Faraday
	Penny's mother	Charles Widmore		Gave birth successfully to Penny
	Claire Littleton X**	Unknown		Went into false labor, decided to wait until she is ready. She eventually gave birth to Aaron at the concert with the help of Kate
	Sun-Hwa Kwon X**	Jin-Soo Kwon X**		Shot by Mikhail, but Jin tells her in the hospital that the baby is fine. When Juliet Carlson gives her an ultrasound, she realises the baby is a girl called Ji Yeon

(*) Flashback character (**) Flash-sideways character

Details are listed below, sorted by episode.

Season 1

• Claire Littleton was shown pregnant at the beginning of the series. She was 8 months pregnant at the time of the crash ("Pilot, Part 1")
• Claire took a pregnancy test, and it shows she was pregnant. ("Raised by Another")
• Beth was pregnant. She died because Christian Shephard was intoxicated while performing an operation. ("All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues")
• Susan Lloyd was shown pregnant with Walt. She gave birth to Walt in the same episode. ("Special")
• Emily tells Locke that he was "immaculately conceived", although she apparently meant that he had no father, not that he was free from original sin. (This statement is obviously false, and is revealed to be a part of a con by Anthony Cooper.) ("Deus Ex Machina")

Aaron's birth. ("Do No Harm")

• Claire Littleton gave birth to Aaron. ("Do No Harm")
• Danielle Rousseau revealed that she was 7 months pregnant when she arrived on the Island; a week after her baby daughter was born, the child was taken by the Others. ("Exodus, Part 1")

Season 2

• Ana Lucia Cortez was pregnant, but her unborn child was killed by Jason McCormack. ("Collision")
• Sarah Shephard told Jack that she had taken a pregnancy test. She said it was negative. ("The Hunting Party")
• Kate told Sun that she once took a pregnancy test. ("The Whole Truth")
• Sun was told she is not able to get pregnant, because her husband Jin is infertile. ("The Whole Truth")
• Sun took a pregnancy test, and is confirmed pregnant. ("The Whole Truth")

Season 3

• Cassidy becomes pregnant with Clementine by Sawyer. ("Every Man for Himself") ("Left Behind")
• Kate told her husband that her pregnancy test was negative. ("I Do")
• Juliet is revealed to be a fertility doctor. She has impregnated a male field mouse and successfully uses a new drug to make her sister Rachel fertile. Dr. Alpert asks her to examine the CT scan of an unusual womb. ("Not in Portland")

Ben's birth. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")

• Ben claims "I was born on this island. Not many of my people can say that." ("The Man from Tallahassee") - In fact he was born in a forest 32 miles outside Portland. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
• Rachel is revealed to have given birth to her son, Julian, two years prior to present time. ("One of Us")
• For reasons as yet unknown, pregnancy on the Island is fatal. Juliet was brought to the island to find a cure. She witnessed the death of many women as a result of their pregnancies, including Sabine. The women's immune systems treat the fetus as an invasive organism. Claire is the only known woman on the Island to have survived pregnancy and childbirth according to Juliet. ("One of Us")
• Emily Linus gives birth to her son Ben and dies soon afterwards. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
• Sarah Shephard is shown to be pregnant, father is presumed to be not Jack. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
• Kate reminds Sawyer that the Others are coming for the pregnant women, and that she could be one of them. Sawyer says they should hope she's not pregnant. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
• Ben claims that the reason he brainwashed Karl was because he did not want him to get Alex pregnant. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")

Season 4

• Sawyer broaches the topic of Kate's possible pregnancy on Claire's porch at the Barracks, Kate discusses babies with Claire, and then the following morning, Kate tells Sawyer she's sure she's not pregnant. ("Eggtown")
• Juliet's patient, Henrietta, dies on the operating table from her pregnancy. ("The Other Woman")

Sun in labor. ("Ji Yeon")

• Sun goes into labor and gives birth to her and Jin's daughter, Ji Yeon. ("Ji Yeon")
• Emily whispers to emergency room doctors that she's pregnant, and prematurely gives birth to John. ("Cabin Fever")

Season 5

• Penelope gives birth to a son. He is named Charlie, after Charlie Pace. ("Jughead") Charles is also the name of her father, but this tribute to him is inadvertent.
• Amy gives birth to a son, Ethan, at the DHARMA Initiative Barracks. ("LaFleur")
• Ellie is cautioned against helping move the Jughead due to her pregnancy. ("The Incident, Part 1")

Season 6

• Claire went into false labor, but decided to delay the birth until she is ready. She has already named her baby Aaron. ("What Kate Does")
• Sun was pregnant in the flash-sideways timeline. She was hit by a stray bullet, leaving her and the unborn child's fate unknown. Although, according to Jin-Soo Kwon, the baby is fine. ("The Package")

Jacob and his twin, moments after birth. ("Across the Sea")

• Claudia arrived on the Island, heavily pregnant. Shortly after meeting Mother, she gave birth to twins - Jacob and his brother. Mother then killed her and raised the children as her own. ("Across the Sea")
• Dr. Juliet Carlson gives Sun an ultrasound which triggered a flash of her previous life on the Island. Jin also began to remember the Island. They both realised the baby is named Ji Yeon. ("The End")
• Claire went into labor at the concert. She gave birth to Aaron with the help of Kate. When Charlie gave her a blanket, they both began to remember the Island life they had and recognise each other. ("The End")

Recurring themes

Father missing during birth

• Thomas left Claire when she was still pregnant. ("Raised by Another")
• Ana Lucia's relationship with Danny ended before she could tell him she was pregnant. ("Collision")
• Sawyer did not find out Cassidy was pregnant until after Clementine was born. ("Every Man for Himself")
• A father was never mentioned for Rachel's son. ("Not in Portland")  ("One of Us")
• John Locke's father was not around when he was born. ("Cabin Fever")
• Horace Goodspeed was unconscious and not around when Ethan was born. ("LaFleur")
• Jin was believed to be dead while Sun was giving birth. ("Ji Yeon")
• The father of Alex was already dead when Danielle Rousseau gave birth. ("This Place Is Death")
• Jacob and the Man in Black's unknown father was absent when Claudia gave birth to them. ("Across the Sea")

Out of the many births in the series, Ben, Charlie Hume and Walt appear to be the only ones who had their fathers present.

Separation after negative pregnancy test

• Sarah left Jack shortly after seeing a negative pregnancy test. ("A Tale of Two Cities")
• Kate left Kevin Callis shortly after seeing a negative pregnancy test. ("I Do")

Virgin conception

• In "Deus Ex Machina", Locke is told by his mother, Emily Annabeth Locke, that he was "immaculately conceived", although she meant that he had no father (i.e. "virgin birth"), not that he was free from original sin. However, she reveals later in the episode the true identity of Locke's father, implying she lied to keep his whereabouts a secret.

Premature birth

• John Locke was born three months premature. ("Cabin Fever")
• Ben was born two months premature. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
• The public believe that Aaron was born to Kate approximately 3 months early. ("Eggtown")  ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
• Ethan was born two weeks premature. ("LaFleur")

See also

• Pregnancy test
• Children
• The Others#Pregnancy issues