Despite attempts at highlighting continuities across the reproductive process from
conception to childcare, reproduction and parenting still tend to be studied as a
collection of separate objects. This article contributes to the cross-fertilisation of
reproductive and parenting culture studies by first introducing anticipation as a
transversal analytical lens. A conceptual framework for the analysis of anticipatory
regimes in reproduction is introduced with a focus on subjectification effects and future
images. Second, the importance of pregnancy as a connector between reproduction and
parenting is highlighted. These propositions are fleshed out with reference to an
ethnography of pregnancy care in Switzerland. The results demonstrate that pregnant women
are expected to act as anticipating agents and that foetuses are treated as future
children. Future images reveal how prenatal care reproduces gender norms. Analysing
anticipatory regimes contributes to discussions of power relations in prenatal care, the
stratification of reproduction and challenges to reproductive justice.