✦ Second trimester · The Iron Teeth ✦

18 weeks pregnantThe Soot-Covered Guide

Week: 18 of 40
Trimester: Second
To go: 22 weeks

Week 18 of the pregnancy journey — The Soot-Covered Guide, The Miner's Descent

What happens in week 18

The path becomes a deep cavern with glowing pink and magenta lava streams in the rock walls. The air shimmers with heat. A miner — covered in soot, headlamp dim — is the only living thing down here. He looks at you and your partner without surprise. You're early. The scan station's two days further down.

The Miner's Descent · Weeks 14–27 · The Iron Teeth

This week’s choice

Pick one. There’s no wrong answer — only a different road.

Notes for the road — week 18 in the real world

The anatomy scan is coming up — usually weeks 18 to 22.

It's the most detailed look at your baby you'll get during pregnancy. They check every organ, measure the bones, count the fingers, look at the heart in motion. It takes 30–60 minutes. The wait between booking it and walking in is often the longest two weeks of pregnancy.

✦ Drink water in the hour before — a fuller bladder lifts the uterus into a better viewing position.
✦ Don't book it for the same day as a meeting. Whatever they find — good news or hard news — you'll need the rest of the day.
✦ If you don't want to know the sex, tell them at the start of the scan, before they look. Easier to keep a secret than to unhear one.

The rest of week 18’s notes travel with you — in the app, on the week you’re actually in.

START ONApp Store START ONGoogle Play

Walk week 18 yourself.

Set your due date and the map opens on the week you’re actually in — this encounter, this choice, and the thirty-nine others. Free.

START ONApp Store START ONGoogle Play

18 weeks pregnantThe Soot-Covered Guide

What happens in week 18

Notes for the road — week 18 in the real world

Walk week 18 yourself.

Every week of the journey