What to Expect When You’re Expecting

Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect When You’re Expecting has functioned as the default pregnancy reference for generations of expecting parents, walking through pregnancy month by month with detailed information on what’s happening to the developing baby alongside what’s happening physically and emotionally to the parent carrying them. Each chapter covers common symptoms for that stage, flags what’s typically normal versus what warrants a call to a doctor, and answers the kind of specific, sometimes embarrassing questions parents are often too hesitant to ask out loud at appointments. The book has gone through multiple editions and updates over the decades to keep pace with current medical guidance, covering everything from nutrition and exercise during pregnancy to labor and delivery options, postpartum recovery, and early newborn care. Murkoff also addresses high-risk pregnancies, multiples, and other less common situations, rather than assuming every reader is having a straightforward, low-risk pregnancy. It’s not the only well-regarded pregnancy book on the market, and some readers find sections of it more anxiety-inducing than reassuring, but it remains the one most expecting parents end up with on the nightstand, increasingly dog-eared by the time week twenty rolls around. It’s commonly given as a baby shower gift alongside.