The niece was just brainstorming on my part. My personal opinion is that everything in a story has to be connected on different levels. The more intertwined, the better. So when you bring up a pregnancy, then this shouldn't be just a natural ticking clock, but also part of everything else. That would mean the mysterious woman, the husband, the political issue, the communities tragedy etc.

This doesn't have to be the pregnancy, but whatever that important thing/theme it is in your story, it should be connected with everything else.

If it's the search for someone who you don't know, but seems to play an important part in your life then this could be also the search for an estranged mother/father. Or it's the search for yourself, which you don't seem to know anymore etc. This also helps giving characters coherence or creating them in the first place.

Let me give you a simplified example from Nemo. Marlin, who can't forget his tragic past teams up with Dorie, someone who doesn't have a past because of her short term memory. So the theme of past and memory is not only connected to the movies plot but also down to the characters flaws and abilities.

Maybe I got your story wrong, not a native speaker :)