Life

13 Pregnancy Acronyms Every Mom-To-Be Needs To Know

by Jacqueline Burt Cote

In the pre-internet days, pregnancy was oftentimes an isolating experience (unless, that is, you were lucky enough to have friends on a similar reproductive schedule). Now, thanks to message boards and social media, expecting moms all over the world can connect with women in similar situations — but joining a virtual conversation can be tricky if you don't know the lingo. After all, we are living in the age of the abbreviation, LOL (see what we did there?). So what are the pregnancy acronyms every mom-to-be needs to know?

Moms-to-be are sort of like teens when it comes to inventing a language all their own: Pretty much all the "words" they use involve two to three letters, and they have an apparent distaste for vowels. But while teens generally use acronyms in an attempt to confuse curious parents (and also because they're lazy), pregnant women generally use acronyms because half the words they have to type are super long, super hard-to-spell medical terms (so, pregnant women are lazy, too).

At first, these seemingly random jumbles of letters might seem intimidating. How can you join the club if you can't communicate with its members? And guessing could lead to some serious misunderstandings. But don't worry: Thanks to our handy guide, you'll be fluent in pregnancy acronyms in no time!

1

BFP/BFN

Here we have two variations on the same basic theme: BFP = "big fat positive" (pregnancy test); BFN = "big fat negative" (pregnancy test). If you're expecting right now, chances are you'll mostly be using the first, but it's possibly that you used the second plenty of times leading up to it.

2

CS or C/S

Because nobody can ever remember how to spell "Cesarean," these handy abbreviations for "C-section" will save you from many a typo.

3

EDD

A hip new spelling of a classic nickname? Nah, "EDD" refers to either "estimated due date" or "estimated date of delivery" (which, as you'll no doubt discover, may or my not be accurate!).

4

FTM

Full-time muffin? Fuzzy-tongued marmoset? Good guesses (sort of), but this one means "first time mom."

5

IC

Probably not a term that was part of your lexicon pre-pregnancy, IC stands for "incompetent cervix" (a condition which can lead to premature birth).

6

L&D

This one stands for something that's probably taking up a lot of space in your worried mind at the moment: "labor & delivery." Fingers crossed your L&D is EAP ("easy As pie," of course — which, fine, is not a real acronym).

7

MS or M/S

When you're frankly too queasy to type out the words "morning sickness," let these acronyms speak for you.

8

PG

The most obvious acronym on the list (and the reason why you're looking at this list in the first place), PG stands for "pregnant" (d'oh!).

9

US or U/S

Nope, this abbreviation has nothing to do with the nation we live in... it's all about a common procedure moms love to talk about on message boards and throughout their pregnancy, especially once they're ready to talk about it — an "ultrasound," naturally!

10

VBAC

It might sound like some kind of high-tech vacuum cleaner, but VBAC actually refers to "vaginal birth after cesarean section."

11

BW

Whether you see "BW" or "B/W," both of these acronyms mean the same thing..."blood work" (which, as you know, you have an awful lot of when you're pregnant!)

12

GD

Since we were on the topic of blood work, here's another term you might see popping up fairly often: GD = "Gestational Diabetes" (ugh). Don't be alarmed if this topic comes up in conversation — just because you are talking about it with your doctor is not cause for any alarm. You will though, have to be tested for it during your pregnancy by drinking a sugary fluid that some mind drinking more than others — sorry, but you're not getting out of this one.

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