Table 2.

Emergent themes from participants’ definitions of pregnancy planning nomenclature

Theme	Description	N
Planned Pregnancy
Decision-making	Deciding to pursue a pregnancy before the pregnancy happens, often involving communication between two partners.	40
Preparedness/readiness to parent	Feeling ready to have a(nother) child, including financial preparedness, completion of schooling, and being in a stable relationship.	38
Actively trying	Actions taken in order to get pregnant, including stopping contraception, changing health behaviors, and tracking fertility.	34
Unplanned Pregnancy
Contraceptive Failure	Pregnancies that happen as a result of a contraceptive failures, such as a condom breaking or inconsistent contraceptive use.	33
Surprise	Pregnancies that are unexpected or have an element of surprise.	29
In-Between Planned and Unplanned
Okay becoming or getting partner pregnant	When a pregnancy is not desired or actively planned, but would be a welcomed thing in someone’s life.	23
“Not not trying”	When one is not taking steps to become pregnant but also not taking steps to prevent a pregnancy.	12
Nothing in-between	The belief that there is no status in between planned and unplanned pregnancy.	29
Context-dependent definitions of pregnancy planning
Preparedness/readiness to parent	More participants who had experienced unplanned pregnancy described preparedness when describing pregnancy planning compared to participants with no history of unplanned pregnancy	38
Timing	Mostly students or college graduates described a timing aspect to pregnancy planning	12
Fatalism	Some participants, mostly men, did not feel that it was possible to plan a pregnancy.	6
Pregnancy just happens	Some participants, mostly men, felt that pregnancies can happen to anyone.	5