Pregnancy & Parenting
From the moment you start thinking about a baby through the toddler years — warm, honest, and thoroughly researched guidance written by someone who has lived it.
Week by week
First Trimester (Weeks 1–12)
Second Trimester (Weeks 13–26)
Week 40 of Pregnancy: A Pumpkin, and Your Due Date
Week 40 is the classic due date — though it's genuinely just one point in a normal range, as our own earlier arrival made clear to us firsthand.
Week 39 of Pregnancy: A Mini Watermelon, and Officially Full Term
Week 39 is officially full term for most pregnancies — by this point, our own daughter was already a week and a half old, and we were adjusting to life at home.
Week 38 of Pregnancy: A Leek, and What's True If You're Still Waiting
Week 38 usually means the baby's organs are essentially ready for the world — for our own daughter, that moment had already come a week earlier.
Week 37 of Pregnancy: A Winter Melon, and the Week Our Daughter Arrived
Week 37 is considered early term for most pregnancies — for us, it was the actual week our daughter was born, sooner than we'd expected.
Week 36 of Pregnancy: A Romaine Lettuce, and Confirmation She Was Head-Down
Week 36 is often when the baby settles head-down into the pelvis — for us, a routine appointment confirmed exactly that, and all was well.
Week 35 of Pregnancy: A Honeydew Melon, and Managing Mild Swelling
Week 35 often brings swollen hands and feet — for me it was mild, and propping my legs up while sitting made a real difference.
Week 34 of Pregnancy: A Cantaloupe, and Manageable Back Pain
Week 34 often brings backache as a standard third-trimester symptom — for me, it stayed mild, and side-sleeping with pillows made the real difference.
Week 33 of Pregnancy: A Pineapple, and the Week the Itching Finally Eased
Week 33 is when the skull stays deliberately soft for birth — for me, it was also the week the itching genuinely started calming down.
Week 32 of Pregnancy: A Jicama, and the Week Medication Doubled
Week 32 is when Braxton Hicks practice contractions often start — for me, the bigger news was my ICP medication being doubled, and it helped.
Week 31 of Pregnancy: A Coconut, and a Genuinely Uncomfortable Week
Week 31 was the hardest week of the itching for me — scratched, sore, and waiting on another round of tests while the medication was adjusted.
Week 30 of Pregnancy: A Large Cabbage, and the Week We Got a Diagnosis
Week 30 is when my test results came back — elevated liver enzymes causing the itching, a pattern doctors call intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.
Week 29 of Pregnancy: A Butternut Squash, and the Week I Mentioned the Itching
Week 29 brought the usual third-trimester tiredness, plus a decision that mattered more than it seemed at the time: mentioning worsening itching to my doctor.