Expertise can explain the science of what''s happening to a fetus or a baby throughout development, but all the science in the world can''t tell you what it feels like to have a baby: the pang of morning sickness, the pain of labor, the excitement of birth, and the joy that comes from seeing your baby''s first smile.

9 Months In, 9Months Out explores what we actually experience in the nine months of pregnancy and the nine months that follow.

As a professor of infant and child development, author Vanessa LoBue had certain expectations about how pregnancy and motherhood would go. Experiencing it was a different story. As she learned, the first few months of parenthood are much harder than anyone tells you. Written month-to-month in real time as LoBue proceeded through pregnancy and first-time parenthood, 9 Months In, 9 Months Out integrates science and infant development with the personal journey involved in becoming a parent. LoBue also takes a researcher''s lens to issues that are top of mind for new parents: breastfeeding, the sleep training controversy, gender development, the science (or lack thereof) behind the link between vaccinations and autism, and the debate over screen time.