We will ask you to give some biological samples and fill in some questionnaires about your general health.

You will be provided free parking at Hunter Medical Research Institute and will be seen promptly by a midwife and sonographer for your pregnancy appointments.

Each appointment will take approximately one hour of your time.

We will request information from your birth records and a follow-up appointment to see you and your baby at six weeks and six months after your birth.

As part of the study, we meet and test at the following stages of your pregnancy:

• 14 weeks - body composition, blood pressure, height, weight, biological samples swabs and questionnaire

• 20 weeks - ultrasound, body composition, blood pressure, weight, biological samples, swabs, and questionnaire

• 28 weeks - ultrasound, body composition, blood pressure, weight, biological samples, and questionnaire

• 36 weeks - ultrasound, body composition, blood pressure, weight, biological samples, swabs, and questionnaire

• Birth - information about your labour and biological samples from your birth

• 6 weeks postnatal - body composition, weight, blood pressure, expressed breastmilk, biological samples, swabs, and a scan of the baby's blood vessels

• 6 months postnatal - body composition, weight, blood pressure, biological samples, swabs, and questionnaire.

The first 1000 days from conception until two years of age is a critical time period of shaping physical and mental health, social development, and wellbeing across the course of a person's life.

We want to improve our understanding of the impact events during this time can have on important health outcomes like:

• obesity

• diabetes

• heart disease

• mental health

We will use this knowledge to improve the way we deliver pregnancy healthcare to give the next generation a better chance at a healthy life.