Risk and the Pregnant Body‪.‬

Reasoning well about risk is most challenging when a woman is pregnant, for patient and doctor alike. During pregnancy, we tend to note the risks of medical interventions without adequately noting those of failing to intervene, yet when it's time to give birth, interventions are seldom questioned, even when they don't work. Meanwhile, outside the clinic, advice given to pregnant women on how to stay healthy in everyday life can seem capricious and overly cautious. This kind of reasoning reflects fear, not evidence. The first trimester of pregnancy had not been an easy one for Andrea--mornings brought waves of nausea and vomiting, and afternoons, debilitating fatigue. (1) What got her through were two things: the hope that her symptoms would start to lift when she got past her first trimester, and, of course, the promise of a baby in December. Unfortunately, neither of these came to pass.