it may not happen to plan?

[Eway]

What does "it may not happen to plan" mean?

[Jenny 7]

If you make a plan, you expect something to happen in a certain way.

If you think there may be a problem with your plan, you can say 'it may not happen to plan', meaning something may go wrong.

[Johannes]

"It may not happen according to plan" is, I think, the correct version.

[Eway]

Well, I am still confused so I would like to show the complete sentence here:

"We take for granted that having a baby is part of the natural order of things, so it never occurs to us that it may not happen to plan."

Does this mean "We think pregnancy always happens naturally. So we never think that it is something we can make a plan of." ?

[Curious Cat]

I think what is meant by the sentence is something like:

We think pregnancy always happens naturally. So we are confused/puzzled when something goes wrong, 'cause we had never thought that something could go wrong with it...

Or:

We think that having a baby is a part a natural plan (or "a part of a life plan"), and it never occurs to us that this plan can be ruined...

Sorry if my paraphrasing is wordy... But I hope it is of some help

Good luck

[Johannes]

"We take for granted that having a baby is part of the natural order of things, so it never occurs to us that it may not happen to plan."

Does this mean "We think pregnancy always happens naturally. So we never think that it is something we can make a plan of." ?[/QUOTE]


The last part of the sentence may be interpreted in three ways:

1. It doesn't occur to us that the timing of the pregnancy itself does not happen according to plan. i.e. you can can get pregnant "accidentally", without having planned this at this stage in your life.

2. It doesn't occur to us that the actual birth of the baby may not happen according to plan. For example, there may be complications that arise during birth, you may need to have an operation, or you thought that it will be over very quickly and in the end it took hours, etc.

3. It doesn't occur to us that, for some reason, you may not be able to get pregnant at all.

[Casiopea]

"We take for granted that having a baby is part of the natural order of things, so it never occurs to us that it may not happen to plan."

In other words, when a couple decides to spend their future together as life-mates, one of their plans is to start a family of their own. The assumption is, people form partnerships in order to bear and raise children. It's the natural order of the animal kingdom; Nature's "plan". But for some couples getting pregnant isn't possible; they can't have children of their own. Their plan to have children doesn't work out (i.e., having a family doesn't go according to their plan or Nature's plan).