Pregnant guides
Short articles for this stage, reviewed against AAP and CDC guidance.
TLDRPregnant: the few things to know, for busy parents
- Call your provider or labor and delivery now for bleeding, leaking fluid, the baby moving less, a headache that won't go away or vision changes. Call 911 for chest pain or trouble breathing. Read the guide
- Take a prenatal vitamin with at least 400 mcg folic acid, and skip unpasteurized dairy, undercooked meat and eggs, cold deli meats and high-mercury fish. Read the guide
- Expect an anatomy scan at 18-22 weeks, a glucose test at 24-28 and a Tdap shot at 27-36 weeks. Genetic screening is always optional. Read the guide
- Real contractions get longer, stronger and closer together. Call whenever your water breaks, and before 37 weeks for regular tightening or leaking fluid. Read the guide
- By weeks 34-36, have the car seat installed, the hospital bag packed and a plan for the first weeks at home. Read the guide
- Set up a safe sleep space before the birth: a crib, bassinet or play yard with a firm, flat mattress and nothing else in it. Read the guide
Getting ready 6
- Getting Ready for Baby: A Pregnancy-Week Checklist Week-by-week list of appointments, paperwork, gear and the hospital bag.
- What to Buy Before the Baby: A Shopping List The shopping list: what to have before the birth, what can wait, and what to skip.
- Signs of Labor: True vs False Labor and When to Go to the Hospital How to tell real labor from practice contractions, time contractions, cope at home and know when to go.
- Birth Plans and Choosing Where to Give Birth Hospital, birth center or home, OB or midwife, doulas, and what to put in a one-page birth plan.
- Epidurals in Labor: How They Work, Side Effects and Other Pain Relief How a labor epidural is placed, when you can get one, common side effects and myths, and other pain relief options.
- Labor Pain Relief: Epidural, Nitrous Oxide and Other Options Every labor pain option compared: coping techniques, nitrous oxide, IV medicines, epidural and spinal.
Your pregnancy 19
- Pregnancy Month by Month: What Happens Each Trimester What usually happens in each trimester, and the checkups along the way, from What to Expect.
- Pregnancy: What the Research Says About Caffeine, Food and Exercise What the research says about common pregnancy rules like caffeine, food and exercise, from Emily Oster's Expecting Better.
- Common Pregnancy Discomforts: Nausea, Heartburn, Back Pain and What Helps Relief for morning sickness, heartburn, aches, swelling and poor sleep in pregnancy, and which symptoms need a call.
- What to Eat When Pregnant: Vitamins, Weight Gain and Foods to Avoid Prenatal vitamins, extra calories, healthy weight gain, and which foods, fish and drinks to avoid in pregnancy.
- Prenatal Visits and Tests: Schedule, Screenings and Vaccines How often prenatal visits happen and when ultrasounds, genetic screening, glucose tests, GBS and vaccines are done.
- Exercise in Pregnancy: How Much, What's Safe and What to Skip How much to move, which workouts are safe, what to avoid, and how to adjust as your belly grows.
- First Trimester: Symptoms, To-Dos and What's Normal in Weeks 1-13 What the first 13 weeks feel like, what to do first, and how to get through nausea and exhaustion.
- Gestational Diabetes: Glucose Test, What to Eat and Birth Testing, eating and blood sugar checks with gestational diabetes, plus birth timing and testing after.
- High Blood Pressure and Preeclampsia: Signs, Aspirin, Checks Types of high blood pressure in pregnancy, aspirin prevention, home readings, birth timing and after.
- Being Induced: Why Labor Is Induced, How It Works and How Long It Takes What labor induction involves, from membrane sweeps and cervical ripening to oxytocin, and how long it can take.
- Pregnancy After IVF: Progesterone, Extra Scans and Feelings What's different after IVF or fertility treatment: early monitoring, risks, extra scans and emotions.
- Miscarriage: Signs, Options, Recovery and Grief What happens in an early miscarriage, the three treatment options, physical recovery and grief.
- Pregnancy After 35 and 40: Real Risks and Extra Care What actually changes with age, the extra screening and monitoring offered, and what helps.
- Pregnant After a Miscarriage or Stillbirth: Care and Coping Extra care plans, managing anxiety, and support for a new pregnancy after miscarriage or stillbirth.
- Second Trimester: Feeling Kicks, the Anatomy Scan and Weeks 14-27 Energy returns, first kicks, the 20-week anatomy scan, glucose test and what to plan now.
- Sex During Pregnancy: Is It Safe and What Changes When sex is safe, when to hold off, normal spotting and cramps, comfortable positions and intimacy.
- Third Trimester: Week 28 to Birth, Tests, Kicks and Getting Ready The last stretch: weekly visits, GBS and vaccines, movement patterns, hospital bag and term dates.
- Travel During Pregnancy: Flying, Road Trips and Going Abroad When to travel, airline cutoffs, avoiding blood clots, seatbelts, Zika and malaria, and what to pack.
- Working While Pregnant: Your Rights, Accommodations and Safety Workplace rights and accommodations, job hazards, telling your employer and getting through the day.
Health 1
Sleep 1
Want to go deeper? See the experts and books behind these guides, or the library Cradle answers from.