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The joy and fear Kim is experiencing seem built into our humanity. Throughout history, societies have seen pregnancy as an exciting and frightening time of life. Cultures used to make heroic efforts to keep pregnant women calm and happy. They might use good luck charms to keep evil spirits away—a pregnancy girdle in medieval England, a garlic-filled sack in Guatemala (Aldred, 1997; Von Raffler-Engel, 1994), a cotton pregnancy sash in Japan (Ito & Sharts-Hopko, 2002).

In the past, societies celebrated pregnancy milestones, too. In Bulgaria, the first kick was the signal for a woman to bake bread and take it to the church. In Bali, at the seventh month, a prayer ceremony took place to recognize that there was now, finally, a person inside whom the spirits should protect from harm (Kitzinger, 2000; Von Raffler-Engel, 1994). This chapter draws on the miracle of twenty-first century science to explore each pregnancy concern as I chart the marvelous milestones of prenatal development, pregnancy, and birth.