50 Fun Facts About Pregnancy

A full-term human pregnancy lasts roughly how long from the last period?

That is just over nine months; counting from fertilisation it is about 38 weeks.

Pregnancy is divided into how many trimesters?

Each is roughly three months long.

At what point does a developing baby stop being called an 'embryo' and start being a 'fetus'?

'Embryo' covers the first seven weeks after implantation.

Despite its name, when can 'morning sickness' actually strike?

It typically occurs between the 4th and 16th weeks.

Roughly what share of pregnant women experience morning sickness to some degree?

About 60% actually vomit.

Which hormone do pregnancy tests detect in blood and urine?

It also may be behind morning sickness.

What are the harmless 'practice' tightenings before real labour called?

They can start as early as the sixth week but usually the second or third trimester.

The English physician who first described those practice tightenings did so in what year?

He was an English physician studying the later stages of pregnancy.

What is the term for the first time a mother feels her baby move?

The first flutters are sometimes mistaken for gas or hunger pangs.

What did Aristotelian tradition believe the first felt movement marked?

This was called 'ensoulment'.

What is 'sympathetic pregnancy', in which a partner shares the symptoms, formally called?

Symptoms can include weight gain and morning nausea in the non-pregnant partner.

Which symptoms most often affect a partner going through a sympathetic pregnancy?

The cause is debated between psychosomatic and hormonal explanations.

Twins from a single fertilised egg that splits are described as what?

Fraternal twins come from two separate eggs and share about 50% of their genes.

How much genetic material do fraternal twins share, like any siblings?

Identical twins share nearly all their DNA.

What do you call three babies born at once?

Eight at once are octuplets.

The first surviving set of octuplets on record, born in 2009 in California, carry which surname?

The McCaughey septuplets of 1997 were the first surviving seven.

The extremely rare event of conceiving a second baby while already pregnant is called what?

Only about 10 human cases have been confirmed.

Which animal has the longest gestation of any mammal, at about 22 months?

A human pregnancy, by contrast, is about nine months.

On average, how long after fertilisation does an embryo implant in the uterus?

Implantation bleeding can be an early sign of pregnancy.

At 28 weeks, roughly what share of babies can survive outside the womb with good medical care?

They often still face serious health complications.

A baby born before which point is considered 'preterm'?

Between 39 and 41 weeks is 'full term'.

A pregnancy that reaches or passes 42 weeks is called what?

41 to 42 weeks is 'late-term'.

What is the Latin-derived medical term for a pregnant woman?

'Gravidus' comes from the Latin for 'heavy'.

A woman pregnant for the very first time is medically called a what?

A woman who has never been pregnant is a nulligravida.

The dark line that can appear down the middle of a pregnant belly is called what?

It results from hormonal pigmentation changes.

The bluish discolouration of the cervix and vulva in early pregnancy is named after whom?

Goodell's sign is a softening of the cervix.

Which two of the baby's tiny middle-ear bones come from the first pharyngeal arch?

The stapes, the smallest bone in the body, comes from the second arch.

After about which point is a fetus's hearing system fully formed, so it can hear low sounds?

Language acquisition may begin before birth.

What is the first, antibody-rich 'milk' a mother produces just after birth called?

It is also known as foremilk, or 'beestings' in old English dialects.

What proportion of women report experiencing food cravings in general?

Only about 68% of men report them; chocolate is the most craved food.

Which food is the most commonly reported craving in studies?

A food craving is a specific, intense desire, different from ordinary hunger.

What is the condition in which a non-pregnant woman firmly believes she is pregnant?

It is the opposite of pregnancy denial.

Roughly how often does denial of pregnancy last all the way until delivery?

Denial lasting to about 20 weeks happens in about 1 in 475.

Around what fraction of recognised pregnancies end in miscarriage?

Miscarriage risk is highest in the first trimester.

In which trimester is the risk of miscarriage highest?

Around the middle of the second trimester, the mother may first feel the baby move.

Which country had the world's highest fertility rate in 2024, at about 6.6 children per woman?

South Korea had the lowest, at about 1.12.

Roughly how many pregnancies occurred worldwide in 2012?

About 89% were in the developing world.

Cerebral palsy is far more common in which kind of birth?

It is largely a side effect of premature birth and low birth weight.

The stretchy stretch marks and swollen ankles of late pregnancy are caused mainly by what?

Peripheral edema is swelling of the legs, feet and ankles.

What is the McCaughey family, of Des Moines, famous for in 1997?

The Suleman octuplets followed in 2009.

Those harmless practice tightenings are believed to help the body do what?

Feeling them does not mean labour is about to begin.

What is the medical term for a woman who has never been pregnant?

A first-time pregnancy is a primigravida; a woman in later pregnancies is a multigravida.

Naegele's rule for a due date adds a year to the last period's date, subtracts three months, then adds how many days?

It assumes a 280-day gestation; real births scatter around the estimate with a standard deviation of about two weeks.

Because it is genetically different from the mother, the fetus is described as an unusually successful what?

Increased immune tolerance stops the mother's body rejecting it; Rh-negative mothers may get a Rho(D) immune globulin shot.

How much total weight gain does the Institute of Medicine recommend for a normal-BMI singleton pregnancy?

Underweight women are advised to gain 28-40 lb, overweight women 15-25 lb and obese women 11-20 lb.

Smoking in pregnancy is associated with roughly how much higher odds of preterm birth?

It also doubles the risk of premature rupture of membranes, placental abruption and placenta previa.

How many minutes of moderate exercise per week does the American College of Sports Medicine advise in pregnancy?

Heavy lifting, hot temperatures and high-impact sports should be avoided; exercise can shorten labour and cut C-section risk.

Most airlines allow pregnant women to fly long distances until which gestational week?

Short flights are generally allowed to 36 weeks, and many airlines want a doctor's note after 28.

Which WHO programme, launched in 1991, certifies hospitals that offer optimal care for giving birth?

Certified facilities accept visits from expecting parents to familiarise them with the staff and setting.

Globally, roughly what share of pregnancies are unplanned?

Over half of unplanned pregnancies, about 56%, end in abortion.