Why do people say they had a period the whole pregnancy?

For some women, there is intermittent bleeding during pregnancy. this qualifies their pregnancy as high risk as this is not normal and can indicate a problem with the placenta. There is no situation where a pregnant woman has normal or even subnormal menstrual cycles because there is no ovulation or endometrial sloughing.

They misunderstand that bleeding during their pregnancy is not period bleeding, and in fact not every episode of vaginal bleeding is a period. A true period will only occur when a woman is NOT pregnant. While bleeding could reflect a problem with the pregnancy there are situations when it occurs with no obvious explanation and the pregnancy is otherwise uncomplicated.