Pregnancy Confidential

In this episode we’ll cover all you need to know about Week 9 of pregnancy. We’re calling it the “Wait, I’m pregnant? I’m pregnant! Ohmigod I’m pregnant” period. This is the week when, whether you’ve known you’re expecting since before you missed your period (thank you, First Response!), or just figured it out and are still in shock, it’s beginning to feel REAL, people.

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At 10 weeks, you’ve finally come to terms with your pregnancy. Now it’s time to start thinking about spreading the word to your friends and family, if you haven’t already (hands up if you Instagrammed your positive pregnancy test). Most people start sharing the big news around 12 weeks, but with a status update just a finger tap away, folks are starting to post their reveals even sooner. Whether you choose to speak out now or later, the trend seems to be to go big, bold and creative with your pregnancy reveal.

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At 11 weeks, you and your partner are still fairly new to this whole pregnancy thing. And it can take some adjusting. (You won’t be the only one with major mood swings over these next few months.) If you’re in a relationship, you might be wondering how having a baby will impact your partnership: Will it make it stronger? Will it be a test of your commitment? The truth is, probably both. A strong, healthy relationship will be more important than ever once a new human being comes along, but it certainly won’t always come easy.

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It’s Week 12 and you’ve made it to the last week of your first trimester. Congrats! It’s an exciting milestone because it means your miscarriage risk drops significantly, your troublesome first trimester symptoms should start to subside, and you can start to breathe easier in this pregnancy—it’s also around when a lot of people start thinking about telling the world. But before you blast the news on Facebook, you’ll want to tell your boss, so they aren’t the last to find out after Dave in accounting. This week’s episode covers everything you need to know about being pregnant at work.

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It’s Week 13 and, for many of you, the fog of the first trimester is finally lifting: You’re probably starting to feel like your old self again, minus the constant nausea and irksome food aversions. But out with the old and in with the new: With the start of the second trimester often comes extreme hunger. It sometimes feels like your body is making up for everything it missed out on in the last three months and wants to eat all food in its path. Good thing you’re eating for two... But are you, really?

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At Week 14 you’re truly in your second trimester—and with it comes a slew of body changes that you’re probably starting to notice—from top to bottom. Yup, there’s a lot more to pregnancy than just growing a baby bump, even for those seemingly blessed with a “perfect” bump on a “perfect” body. There’s nary an inch of your body that goes untouched during these 9 months, not always for the worst (hello, big boobs and lustrous hair!). And sometimes for the worst (thanks but no thanks pregnancy acne). In today’s TMI episode, we focus on your changing pregnant body.

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On this episode, we’ll cover all you need to know about Week 15 of pregnancy. We’re calling it the “I’m Not Fat, I’m Pregnant” period. I.e. the time when nothing fits right except old leggings and your stretchier tank tops, and whether or not you have a bump seems to depend on what you had for lunch that day.

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Decisions, decisions: pregnancy can feel a little full of them at times. But at Week 16 you’re at the best part of your pregnancy, some say—the bit where the first trimester ickiness is in the rearview mirror and your barely-­there bump is far from holding you back. If you’re feeling full of energy and ready to organize the world, now might be a great time to consider your birthing options. While some may be dictated by your type of provider, it’s never too late to change your mind, or get educated on your choice of where you deliver.

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For Week 17, we address the big baby name question: How do you actually pick one—that doesn’t sound pretentious, works with your last name, doesn’t make your partner question your sanity or remind you of your nemesis in 4th grade? Yup, choosing a baby name is harder than it looks.

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Most parents find out their baby’s sex (if they choose to find out) during their mid­pregnancy ultrasound, usually around 18 to 20 weeks—that is if your technician can tell (sometimes it’s still not that easy). That makes now a great time to start planning your gender reveal—if you believe in such a thing. And if you have no idea what we’re talking about, you’re off the hook: It’s a fairly new trend that’s been picking up speed lately and, like a pregnancy reveal, there are about gazillion ways to do it.

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Everyone loves to talk about the pregnancy glow, and it’s usually one of the questions you’ll get asked at parties: How are you feeling; are you glowing yet? At Week 19, you may still be feeling more chubby than blossoming, and you might be battling your share of pregnancy acne and the occasional stretch mark, so feeling like a sexy mama could seem far from achievable right now. But this can change or it may not apply at all—there are plenty of women who feel their sexiest during pregnancy.

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In this episode we’ll cover all you need to know about Week 20 of pregnancy. We’re calling it the “Registry Special,” or the “I Better Start Thinking Seriously About This Baby Stuff” period. This is the week when you have the big, extensive mid­-pregnancy ultrasound that will help determine your baby’s overall health. It can be totally nerve­wracking, but once it’s done, you may feel more ready to start thinking seriously about what this baby needs when she comes out.

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It’s Week 21 of your pregnancy and you’re finally getting the hang of this business of being with child. You might even have a good idea of what kind of parent you’ll be (a good one, duh). But just as you start to gain confidence as a mom-­to-­be, you’re knocked down by the lady in line at Subway who questions your choice of sandwich. Congrats! You have a bump and it’s officially open-­season for anyone and everyone to give you baseless, unsolicited advice. In this episode, we’ll discuss the worst we’ve heard and how to deflect criticism with panache.

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It’s Week 22 and you’ve been pregnant for a while—you’re over the hump, but you still have a trimester and a third to go. While pregnancy is a time for glowing, planning and getting excited for the baby-­to-­be, it can sometimes be a bummer: Sleepless nights trying to stay in the “right” position (Why is it that you always loved sleeping on your left side until now?), heartburn, a sense of anxiety you can’t shake, mood swings. Sometimes pregnancy blows—and it’s OK. Today we’ll talk about why you really don’t have to LOVE being pregnant all the time.

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By the time Week 23 rolls around, you’ve had a lot of time to think about parenthood, and what it means to have a real live baby on the way. You might have planned your nursery, and thought about parenting styles (which you may or may not stick to when reality hits), and you might have spent a moment or two considering your partner and what kind of parent he (or she) will be. Sure you love them—that’s why you’re in this pregnancy situation—but what will they be like when there’s the pitter patter to think about?

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Before things get even busier in your third trimester, Week 24 is a great moment to take stock of what you appreciate in your life and put together a list of quality things to do with your partner, or kids, before you bring a (rather disruptive) new life into your world—whether this means scheduling that camping trip your daughter’s been pining for, or getting a reservation at that hot new restaurant, having a pre­-baby list of to-­dos is a fun way to bond with your soon­-to-­be growing family.

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At Week 25 it’s easy to start feeling a teeny bit overwhelmed by this whole baby thing: After all, you’re a mere three months away from being a real, live parent. Sure we talked about what to put on your baby registry in an earlier episode, and yeah you’ll need all kinds of stuff, but today we get down to the bare essentials. What do you REALLY need when you have a baby? Turns out, not very much. But there are a few things (and people!) you’ll want by your side in those first weeks home with your newborn.

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If pregnancy felt like a dream in the early days, at 26 Weeks it definitely feels like reality: you’re sporting the belly to prove it and you’re probably well aware of there being a real, live baby inside with every somersault you feel. This real baby has gotta eat when he comes out, so now’s a good time to think seriously about how and what you’ll feed him. You’ve heard it a million times: breast is best. But is it always? In this week’s podcast, we take a look at the formula/breast milk debate. 

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For Week 27, we’ll tackle birth plans: what goes into them, how you make one, what NOT to put in one, and whether it’s even something you’ll use when, ahem, push comes to shove. 

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As you enter your third trimester at 28 weeks, your thoughts are likely drifting towards what’s happening in three months—um, pushing a baby out—and how you’re actually going to manage it. First, know that many billions of women have birthed babies and it can be done—of that we promise you—but how you decide to do it can vary, and depends a lot on your personality, pregnancy and, well, pain tolerance. Over the next few episodes, we’ll discuss different ways of giving birth, starting with this one, where we get real about what it’s like to have a natural unmedicated birth.

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