Magazine

A simple non-wifi baby monitor on a wooden nursery dresser next to a half-empty coffee mug

The Wi-Fi Paranoia and Why We Chose a Simple Monitor

I was seven months pregnant with Maya, standing in the middle of Target aisle 14 in my black maternity leggings that were completely pilling at the thighs, clutching a lukewarm iced coffee like it was a life preserver. My phone...

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Pediatric nurse reviews global daily birth rates and hospital schedules

How Many Babies Are Born a Day: The Honest Math Behind Birth

My mother-in-law told me infants only arrive during full moons. My old charge nurse at Northwestern swore Tuesday mornings were a cursed tidal wave of inductions. And the cashier at Trader Joe's confidently informed me, while bagging my frozen samosas,...

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Stressed mom looking at a smartphone calculator with a coffee mug nearby

Why Every Baby Math Formula Is Basically Lying To You

It was 3:14 AM, and I was sitting on the nursery floor wearing my husband Mark’s oversized gray college sweatpants—the ones with the mystery bleach stain on the knee—aggressively typing numbers into my glowing phone screen while my coffee from...

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Messy pile of yarn and a half-finished blanket on a living room rug

The Truth About That Heirloom Crochet Baby Blanket

I was thirty-seven weeks pregnant with my oldest, sweating completely through a gray maternity tank top in the middle of a Texas July, when my grandmother proudly pulled a massive, neon-yellow afghan out of a plastic grocery bag. It had...

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Tiny organic cotton baby garments folded neatly on a nursery dresser

Sorting Through the Utter Chaos of Buying Preemie Baby Clothes

I was standing at the hospital sink scrubbing my hands for the fiftieth time that Tuesday, staring at a crumpled plastic bag of tiny garments. My mom had just called to cheerfully suggest I just buy standard newborn sizes because,...

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Baby sleeping in a simple organic cotton bodysuit

Dear past Priya: the brutal reality of buying new born clothes

Dear Priya from six months ago. You're currently sitting on the floor of the nursery in our Chicago apartment, surrounded by a mountain of miniature denim jackets, tulle skirts, and button-down flannel shirts. You're feeling very proud of yourself. You...

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A pile of folded organic baby sleepwear on a messy nursery chair.

The Truth About Baby Sleepwear When Everyone Has an Opinion

"Put a hat on him, he's freezing," my mother-in-law said, handing me a knit cap that looked like an oversized acorn. This was at 2 PM. At 4 PM, my lactation consultant visited, took one look at Leo swaddled in...

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A tired mom drinking coffee next to a baby sleeping soundly near a white noise machine in a cozy nursery.

The Messy Truth About White Noise For Babies And Sleep Safety

I was sitting cross-legged on the stained rug of Leo's nursery at like 3:14 AM. I was wearing my husband's college lacrosse hoodie that smelled vaguely of sour milk, and holding my screaming four-week-old, totally convinced I had already broken...

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Pregnant mother drinking coffee looking at a list of baby boy names on her phone

The Real Truth About Picking Cute Baby Boy Names

I was exactly 34 weeks pregnant with Leo, sitting on the cold linoleum floor of a devastatingly bright Target aisle at 9 PM, wearing maternity leggings that smelled faintly of old string cheese, and I was crying. Full-on, ugly-crying next...

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