Health
‘Trimester Zero’: What to Expect When You’re Expecting to Expect
Two millenniums ago, in the foothills of ancient Greece, the physician and philosopher Hippocrates described pregnancy in terms of bread-making. In the thousands of years since, “a bun in the oven” has emerged as a euphemistic image for childbearing. That is, until a study suggested, in 2019, that pregnancy more closely resembles completing an ultramarathon.
This newer metaphor has taken hold on social media, where the hashtags #preconception and #pregnancyprep exhibit women treating pregnancy like “the biggest race of your life, except you don’t know when the race actually starts.” As any serious competitor would, these contenders prepare for months or even years before their gestational events by optimizing their physical conditions and mental health. “Here’s how I’m prepping to get pregnant this year,” one woman says, poised with an iPad in one hand and an Apple Pencil in the other. The caption reveals a sprawling list: “cycle tracking,” “strengthening the pelvic floor, deep core and glutes,” “balanced meals,” “daily meditations” and “financial prep.” It also offers a discount code for her chosen brand of fertility supplements.
This preparatory stage is sometimes called Trimester Zero, riffing off a 2017 book by the sociologist Miranda Waggoner that examines how public health initiatives affect reproductive risk. On social media, however, the concept has evolved into a set of pregnancy “solutions” offered by influencers and online health gurus to the “trying to conceive” (T.T.C.) demographic. The “elite pregnancy prep expert” (and systems engineer) Alexandra Radway, for example, promises that her Baby Ready Body method — a comprehensive “nourish to flourish” plan — supports “engineering healthy, fit pregnancies.” “You wouldn’t summit Kilimanjaro in flip-flops,” she writes in one post. “Pregnancy deserves the same respect.” With the right course of action, the trend implies, you can ward off all undesirable outcomes — not just morning sickness and exhaustion but, as Radway has suggested, even breast cancer.
That kind of mind-set seems to appeal, in particular, to prospective parents feeling trepidation. “I just want to start off by saying that I’m fricking terrified,” Kaylie Stewart shares, in one of seven parts of her ongoing “Prepping for Pregnancy” series. Another post begins with a similar declaration of terror but breaks into a calming montage: a slow walk down a leafy path, a home-cooked breakfast and makeup applied in a fuzzy robe, all set to a mellow tune. The video itself follows a remedial arc, as if its initial anxiety were transmuted, by the structure provided by preparation, into calmer, more productive energy.
Stewart’s content might be soothing to viewers who share her concerns. But TikTok’s For You page can inundate prospective mothers with plenty of other supposed threats. On the podcast “Culture Apothecary,” for example — which pursues “raw, unpasteurized truths” — the conservative influencer Alex Clark parrots unsupported risks of fetal exposure to Tylenol; her “Ultimate Guide to Pre-Conception” identifies dangers like mold, nail polish and food ordered from DoorDash. A large subset of preconception content also zeros in on “nontoxic swaps” for cookware, cleaning supplies, clothing, makeup and air filtration; even the right brand of organic cotton underwear is important, one influencer suggests, “if we want to see our future grandbabies.” (According to this thinking, your fate was decided decades ago by the brand of your grandmother’s knickers.)
In case that pressure wasn’t enough, “prepregnancy glow-up” posts promote plans for becoming not only the healthiest but also the hottest version of yourself before giving birth. “Welcome to a new era,” Gabrielle Meloff announces, by way of transitioning her profile from bridal content to “How I’m Getting Hotter & Healthier Before Pregnancy,” a preconception playlist that complements mood boards envisioning “planning for a pregnancy like a wedding” (featuring images like San Pellegrino in wicker baskets and early 2000s Christy Turlington practicing yoga and towers of rolled-up towels, presumably made from organic cotton).
These fantasies have arisen in a distinctly pronatalist moment, as many continue to push for higher birth rates. Yet material support for having children remains scant. Perhaps women online are simply reading between the lines: It’s on them, and them alone, to create conditions conducive for children. The content that encourages men to partake in prenatal prepping seems only to reinforce that women are exclusively responsible: Husbands aren’t prepping themselves, per se, but being prepped by their wives — who are now tasked with replacing their briefs with boxers and serving up meticulously researched, “fertility boosting” meals from scratch every day, having been permanently scared away from takeout.
After all, a woman online is most celebrated when she treats herself as a never-ending project. Preconception content, then, seems less like practical advice and more like a narrative starting point that allows the story of your life to perform well on social media. Motherhood can be described as tedious, uncertain or isolating — or as the new, empowering chapter for a person devoted to optimization. As one post — a slide show with Hermès baby blankets, bubble baths and freshly cut bouquets — reminds viewers, preparation for motherhood is also preparation “for life.” Its caption could describe any number of contemporary journeys, especially those that live on the internet: “What looks extreme to others is usually just preparation for the future they can’t see yet.”
Kim Hew-Low is an Australian writer living in Brooklyn.
U.S. health officials are monitoring 16 additional people across the country for symptoms of hantavirus whom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not previously mentioned, the agency said on Thursday.
The new people the C.D.C. reported were not on the cruise ship but were passengers on an April 25 flight to Johannesburg and exposed to someone known to have been infected, said Dr. David Fitter, who is leading the C.D.C.’s response to the outbreak.
The new total of those being monitored in the United States is 41, a significant increase over the 18 passengers from the Dutch cruise ship who were brought back to the United States on Monday. They are quarantining at special facilities in Omaha and Atlanta.
Seven other passengers from the cruise ship had disembarked on April 24 in St. Helena, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, returned to the United States on commercial flights and are being monitored by state health departments.
As of Thursday, there were no confirmed cases in the United States, Dr. Fitter said.
The infected passenger was a 69-year-old Dutch woman whose husband was the first person to die in the outbreak, on April 11. She was among those who disembarked from the ship on April 24. The next day, she flew from St. Helena to Johannesburg. She collapsed shortly after arrival and died on April 26. She was confirmed on May 4 to have had hantavirus.
C.D.C. officials would not give any other information about the 16 passengers, including where they had gone once they reached the United States.
It was not clear whether all Americans exposed to the virus are now back in the country, or whether there are additional people being monitored abroad.
“Our job is to ensure that we are monitoring and in contact with anybody that might have been on the flight this person had taken,” Dr. Fitter told reporters. The agency is “monitoring all Americans that potentially would have been exposed, whether in the U.S. or abroad, and we have been in contact with them,” he said.
In an interview on Sunday with CNN, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the C.D.C.’s acting director, said none of the seven passengers who returned to the United States earlier had symptoms at the time of their travel, so officials had not seen a need to alert the public or trace contacts.
For the moment, quarantine is essentially voluntary. Officials are encouraging those who were exposed to the virus to “stay at home and avoid being around people during their 42-day monitoring period,” Dr. Fitter said.
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Concerns about rising hantavirus cases has Americans reflecting on the coronavirus pandemic.
Although COVID-19 began with a foreign strain and spread rapidly around the world, experts say it’s not likely that hantavirus will behave the same way.
The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact.
RARE HANTAVIRUS HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 HAVE DIED
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel spoke with Fox News Digital about the similarities and differences between hantavirus and coronavirus, noting that there is “no comparison.”
“You could say the comparison ends at that they’re both single-stranded RNA viruses,” he said. “That’s a comparison, but [hantavirus] has been unchanged basically for decades.”
Dr. Marc Siegel says there’s “no comparison between these two viruses, other than that the single-stranded RNA viruses are both carried by animals.” (iStock)
Coronavirus was different because it began to mutate, which started to cause “all kinds of problems,” Siegel noted.
“We don’t know why it started to mutate, but this one doesn’t appear to have done that,” he said. “And every day that goes by seems to show that theory is correct – the genetics of it is the same.”
DR MARC SIEGEL: HANTAVIRUS CRUISE OUTBREAK IS ALARMING BUT FEAR IS SPREADING FASTER THAN FACTS
“So, there’s no comparison between these two viruses, other than that the single-stranded RNA viruses are both carried by animals.”
Siegel added that COVID is an airborne virus, while hantavirus is mainly a secretion-borne virus, although it can be transmitted through dust and droppings in the air.
The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact. (Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu)
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”
While coronavirus “moved in the direction of humans in a significant way,” hantavirus has not, except for “very rare” human-to-human transmission, according to the doctor.
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There have been hantavirus cases in the U.S. for decades, although they are “very rare,” Siegel noted.
Certain factors of this disease spread are changing, including warming temperatures that are causing rodents to migrate north toward Buenos Aires, according to the doctor.
DEADLY CRUISE VIRUS TIMELINE SHOWS HOW HANTAVIRUS SPREAD AMONG PASSENGERS
The current outbreak stemming from the cruise ship did not help the cause, Siegel went on — but this spread doesn’t suggest that the virus has changed. Rather, it shows how close quarters on a ship are “very conducive” to spread, he said.
Passengers disembark from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on May 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
“Every day that goes by shows that … we’re not seeing a second generation of spread,” he reiterated.
The better comparison to make is between hantavirus and bird flu, which is a predominantly animal-based virus that “occasionally infects humans,” Siegel said.
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“There are billions of birds, and every year we talk about how it’s going to cause a pandemic, but it would have to mutate significantly,” he pointed out. “I feel that [hantavirus] would have to mutate significantly before it could go human to human in any significant way, because this is basically an animal virus … it’s very comfortable inside a rodent host.”
Siegel went on, “If you get this virus, you’re in trouble, but getting this virus is very difficult.”
A person visits a COVID testing site on a Manhattan street in New York City on Jan. 21, 2022. “Coronaviruses are airborne … this is not,” Dr. Siegel said. “And coronaviruses mutate a lot, and this does not.” (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Regarding fears that another global pandemic may be looming, Siegel said that just because one virus becomes widespread does not mean all viruses will.
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“Coronaviruses are airborne anyway. This is not. And coronaviruses mutate a lot, and this does not,” he said. “I’m much more concerned about flu than this. Flu can mutate all the time, and it’s already going human to human all over the place, and it’s airborne.”
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“Most infectious disease specialists are much more worried about flu than this, as deadly as this can be,” he added.
“We’re talking apples and oranges, and any comparison you make after that provokes fear.”
Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.
One morning just before Christmas, Michelle stood in a Thrifty-Wash, watching her seven loads of laundry tumble and spin. The machine at the Airbnb had broken and flooded the place. It had been a blessing, in a way — Michelle needed this time alone to think.
The night before, Los Angeles Unified School District officials had hosted a Zoom webinar for parents, in which they had promised to present all the evidence that campus was safe. Michelle had gone in with high hopes, maybe even optimism. Afterward, she called it “the Zoom from hell.”
The officials had opened the meeting by announcing that Pali High’s students would go back to campus at the end of January. Michelle had peered at the screen, squinting to make sense of their color-coded maps, charts and checklists as district officials and their third-party contractors used wonky terms to describe what sounded to Michelle like rudimentary decontamination methods: “visual inspections,” “glove tests,” “subjective evaluations for smoke odor” and the copious use of wet wipes.
The “Environmental Concerns” WhatsApp group began pinging with live commentary. “It’s like they’re all hanging out with my insurance company,” one mother typed. “Transparency my a$$,” wrote another.
During the question-and-answer portion, parents flooded the submission box: Why weren’t the porous ceiling tiles removed? (“We did our best to remove any surface contaminants that we could see visually,” one contractor replied.) Did they realize that lithium had been detected in smoke-damaged homes near the school? (“Lithium, we determined, was not going to be a high-priority metal for us,” another contractor explained.) And why hadn’t they tested for benzene, carbon tetrachloride or perchloroethylene — some of which had been found in other Palisades buildings after the fires?
Michelle had a hunch she knew the answer, but she assumed no official would ever admit it. Then the project manager for one of the contractors came on the screen.
“There are hundreds — literally — of different compounds that could be produced during a fire,” he said, “and there are analytical methods that can be very, very precise in sampling for those.” But the problem, he said, was that it “lacks specificity in what we can actually deal with … ”
Michelle had shaken her head in disbelief. The project manager interrupted himself. “That was the wrong way to put that,” he muttered.
This morning, Michelle had waked to some parents on the “Environmental Concerns” chat talking about putting their kids in virtual learning. Others were hoping to transfer. Michelle was fantasizing about protesting the return to campus, even dreaming up the picket signs: “Lead should only be in pencils,” or maybe, “Test on the school, not on the kids.”
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