Expecting Better summary

If you’re trying to get pregnant, you probably have plenty of questions. How old is too old to get pregnant? Does taking birth-control pills affect fertility? There are lots of things to consider while planning your pregnancy, and there are others that you shouldn’t be too worried about.

Age, for example. Are your eggs really “best used by 35,” as one paper offensively phrased it? Not at all. It’s true that fertility declines with age, dropping off precipitously after you turn 40. However, in a study of 2,000 women trying to conceive, 36 percent of those over 40 got pregnant within a year.

If you’re anything like most women, you’ll spend at least part of your first trimester concerned about miscarriage. It’s scary, so if someone tells you to avoid certain things during pregnancy, it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?

Not necessarily. For example, despite popular opinion, alcohol, coffee, and sushi don’t need to be purged from your diet.

To prenatal test or not to prenatal test? And if so, how? This is one of the more emotionally fraught decisions for many pregnant women, and there’s no right answer.

What exactly is it, though? Well, prenatal testing detects chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome. There are two testing methods: prenatal screening and invasive testing.

Each stage of pregnancy carries its own unique characteristics and concerns. In the first trimester, you’re adjusting to a change in lifestyle; in the second, you’re in the thick of it and things like exercise and healthy eating are especially important.

Too many doctors go overboard when looking at weight gain, though, scolding their patients if they’re even just a few pounds over the recommended weight. In reality, unless you’ve gained a lot more than the recommended amount of weight, it’s a much bigger concern to have gained too little. A mother’s weight gain affects her baby’s weight, and babies who are small for gestational age face an elevated risk of complications such as diabetes and lower cognitive skills. The most significant complication for large for gestational age babies, by contrast, is the increased chance of needing a C-section.

In your third trimester, the risk of complications is the highest of any point in your pregnancy. That makes it more crucial than ever to arm yourself with solid information – there’s no better way to face your worries.

One of the biggest of these is premature birth. Many doctors recommend bed rest as a way to avoid this, but there’s no evidence that it actually works. Nor is it worth risking bone loss and muscle atrophy, two common side effects.

The timeline of labor is usually presented vaguely, with something like, “could be a few hours, could be a whole day.” But there are three distinct stages to labor, each with its own potential complications.

Stage one has two parts, dilation and active labor, and it can take days or even weeks. 

As you research birth practices, you might notice a stark divide between women who want medical intervention when they give birth, and those who don’t. There is a middle path, though.

Consider pain medication. Most women in the United States opt for it, but it can complicate the birth process. For instance, an epidural, which is usually administered during the first stage of labor, numbs the lower half of your body. It can’t harm the baby, but because you can’t feel anything or move around much, the baby might not get into the right position.