What to Expect When You're Expecting: (Updated in 2025)

Updated multiple times every year, America’s pregnancy bible answers all your questions.
When can I take an at-home a pregnancy test?
How can I eat for two if I’m too queasy to eat for one?
Can I keep up my spinning classes?
Is fish safe to eat? And what’s this I hear about soft cheese?
Can I work until I deliver? What are my rights on the job?
I’m blotchy and broken out—where’s the glow?
Should we do a gender reveal? What about a 4-D ultrasound?
Will I know labor when I feel it?

Your pregnancy explained and your pregnant body demystified, head (what to do about those headaches) to feet (why they’re so swollen), back (how to stop it from aching) to front (why you can’t tell a baby by mom’s bump). Filled with must-have information, practical advice, realistic insight, easy-to-use tips, and lots of reassurance, you’ll also find the very latest on prenatal screenings, which medications are safe, and the most current birthing options—from water birth to gentle c-sections. Your pregnancy lifestyle gets equal attention, too: eating (including food trends) to coffee drinking, working out (and work) to sex, travel to beauty, skin care, and more. Have pregnancy symptoms? You will—and you’ll find solutions for them all. Expecting multiples? There’s a chapter for you. Expecting to become a dad? This book has you covered, too.

Heidi Murkoff is the author of the What to Expect®; series and author of Eating Well When You're Expecting, The What to Expect Pregnancy Journal & Organizer, What to Expect the First Year, The What to Expect Baby-Sitter's Handbook, and the What to Expect Kids series from HarperCollins. Her interactive website is www.whattoexpect.com, and she lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.

Photo by Heidi Murkoff (Email) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

For over forty years, Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect When You're Expecting has served as the undisputed cultural touchstone and essential navigational guide for millions of parents embarking on the profound journey of pregnancy. Often referred to simply as the "pregnancy bible," this iconic manual has been continuously revised to reflect the rapidly shifting landscapes of maternal health, and the extensively updated 2025 edition stands as its most comprehensive and inclusive iteration yet. In an era where expectant parents are routinely bombarded with an overwhelming and often contradictory avalanche of advice from social media, wellness influencers, and online forums, Murkoff’s thoroughly researched volume provides a desperately needed anchor of evidence-based reassurance. It strips away the panic-inducing noise of the digital age, offering instead a calm, authoritative, and deeply empathetic voice that guides readers through every single week of gestation with clinical accuracy and profound emotional intelligence. The latest edition retains the warm, conversational tone that originally made the book a global phenomenon while meticulously integrating the very latest medical guidelines and addressing the unique realities of having a child in the modern world.

The genius of the book’s enduring structure lies in its highly intuitive, month-by-month chronological breakdown, which perfectly mirrors the real-time experience of the expectant parent. Rather than presenting pregnancy as a single, overwhelming medical event, Murkoff breaks the forty weeks down into digestible, highly specific chapters that address precisely what is happening in the body and mind at that exact moment. Each section meticulously details the fascinating, unseen biological milestones of fetal development, explaining everything from the initial flutter of a heartbeat to the final stages of lung maturation. More importantly, the book validates the vast spectrum of physical symptoms the carrying parent might experience, ranging from the well-known hurdles of first-trimester nausea and profound fatigue to the lesser-discussed realities of round ligament pain, pregnancy brain, and sleep disturbances. By answering the most common and embarrassing questions with absolute candor and zero judgment, Murkoff normalizes the often bizarre and uncomfortable realities of growing a human being, transforming fear into empowered understanding.

What truly distinguishes the 2025 update is its fierce commitment to inclusivity and its reflection of contemporary family dynamics alongside modern medical advancements. Murkoff explicitly acknowledges that the journey to parenthood is no longer defined by a single, traditional narrative. The language throughout the volume has been carefully adapted to welcome all types of families, including solo parents, same-sex couples, and those utilizing surrogacy or advanced assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization. Furthermore, this edition delves deeply into the modern landscape of prenatal testing, offering clear, unbiased explanations of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), expanded genetic carrier screenings, and early anatomical ultrasounds. It expertly translates complex medical jargon into accessible language, empowering parents to make informed decisions alongside their healthcare providers without feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of diagnostic options now available in modern obstetrics.

Beyond the clinical mechanics of gestation, the updated volume places an unprecedented, much-needed emphasis on maternal mental health and holistic wellness. Recognizing that pregnancy is an emotional marathon just as much as a physical one, Murkoff devotes significant space to the psychological complexities of expecting a child. The book tackles the very real challenges of prenatal anxiety, the shifting dynamics of romantic partnerships, the complex process of setting boundaries with well-meaning but overbearing family members, and the critical importance of identifying the early warning signs of perinatal depression. Nutritional guidelines have also been thoroughly modernized, moving away from restrictive, outdated diet culture towards a more balanced, intuitive approach to nourishing both the baby and the parent. The updated exercise chapters reflect current medical consensus, encouraging safe, modified movement while entirely dismissing the antiquated notion that pregnant individuals must treat themselves as fragile glass vessels.

As the narrative moves toward the climax of childbirth, the book provides an exhaustive, pragmatic guide to the labor and delivery process that leaves no stone unturned. Murkoff expertly explores a wide variety of birth plans and pain management strategies, from unmedicated physiological births utilizing hydrotherapy and hypnobirthing to scheduled cesarean sections and the strategic use of epidurals. Crucially, the 2025 edition emphasizes flexibility and self-advocacy, reminding readers that the ultimate goal is a healthy parent and a healthy baby, regardless of how the birth unfolds. Finally, the volume extends its vital support into the often-overlooked fourth trimester, offering candid advice on physical recovery, the steep learning curve of infant feeding, and the profound hormonal shifts of the postpartum period. Ultimately, the 2025 edition of What to Expect When You're Expecting remains an indispensable masterpiece of health communication. It reassures, educates, and empowers a new generation of parents, proving that while the medical science surrounding pregnancy will constantly evolve, the fundamental need for compassionate, accurate, and accessible guidance remains absolutely timeless.