Pregnancy Articles

Every article on this page is written and reviewed by Samantha L. Fox, RN, BSN, MSN— an Emergency Department nurse and US Navy Nurse Corps officer. The goal is to give plain-English answers to the questions women actually search for, with the same clinical accuracy you'd expect from a hospital patient handout or a nurse explaining something at the bedside.

Sourcing standard.When an article makes a clinical claim — about symptoms, risks, timelines, or what's "normal" — the source is named inline and listed in the references section at the bottom of the article. We prefer, in this order: ACOG Practice Bulletins and Committee Opinions, AAP guidelines, CDC and NIH publications, RCOG and WHO when US guidance is silent, and peer-reviewed journals (NEJM, JAMA, Obstet Gynecol, Pediatrics, Lancet, BMJ) for specific studies. We avoid citing other consumer-facing pregnancy sites as primary sources, because that's how the same outdated guidance keeps recirculating.

Update cadence.ACOG updates its bulletins on different cycles depending on topic, but most major ones are reviewed every 3-5 years. We re-check our articles against the current versions when we revise — the "Last reviewed" date on each article tells you when that check happened. If you're reading something more than a year old and you want to confirm it's still current, search ACOG's website for the topic and check the publication date on whatever bulletin they currently list.

What we won't do.We don't prescribe, diagnose, or replace your prenatal care team. If an article and your provider disagree on something, your provider wins — they have your full history, current vitals, and physical exam findings, all of which matter more than a general article. Articles here are educational; clinical decisions belong to the clinician taking care of you.

Tools alongside articles. If you came here looking for a specific number — a due date, an ovulation estimate, an hCG doubling time, a kick count — the homepage indexes the calculators directly. The articles complement those tools by explaining what the numbers mean and when to call a provider.