pregnancy

'Bun in the oven' is an ancient pregnancy metaphor. This historian says it has to go

10:30am October 31, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

In a new book, Policing Pregnant Bodies, author Kathleen Crowther grapples with how very old ideas – some of them misogynistic – shape how we think about pregnancy and abortion today.

This newborn at Gaza's Nasser Hospital was delivered after their mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 24. The doctor said the baby is now in stable condition.

Health & Safety

Giving birth amid Gaza's devastation is traumatic, but babies continue to be born

8:59pm October 27, 2023

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, hospitals in Gaza are crowded and chaotic. Pregnant women face awful conditions: An emergency C-section may be conducted by the light from mobile phones.

Postpartum depression affects up to 1 in 7 women. The first pill to treat it is expected to become available later this year, after the FDA approved it on Friday.

What we know — and don't know — about the FDA-approved postpartum depression pill

3:06pm August 08, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

Postpartum depression affects as many as 1 in 7 women in the U.S., though there are just two treatments approved for it. Experts say the newest could be a game-changer — depending on its price tag.

Maternal death rates have been consistently highest among Black women. But they are also rising among other racial groups.

U.S. maternal deaths keep rising. Here's who is most at risk

7:42pm July 04, 2023

The rate at which women in the U.S. are dying from pregnancy related causes more than doubled in recent decades. A new study, published in JAMA shows Black women and Native Americans are most at risk.

Louie Villasana, who just turned 1, with dad, Luis Fernando Villasana, and mom, Samantha Casiano.

In post-Roe Texas, 2 mothers with traumatic pregnancies walk very different paths

4:00am July 04, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

The state's abortion bans make no exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies. Two women had devastating pregnancy diagnoses — one could leave the state for an abortion, and the other could not.

Dustin and Jaci Statton in an engagement photo from 2021. Jaci found out she had a partial molar pregnancy and couldn't get the abortion she needed in Oklahoma. They traveled to Kansas for care.

Health & Safety

'I'll lose my family.' A husband's dread during an abortion ordeal in Oklahoma

4:40pm May 01, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Jaci and Dustin Statton didn't think Oklahoma's abortion bans would affect them. They were open to having more kids. They didn't imagine Jaci would face a life-threatening pregnancy, though.

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A COVID infection during pregnancy could raise baby boys' risk of some neurodevelopmental delays, study finds.

COVID during pregnancy may alter brain development in boys

5:08am April 18, 2023

by Jon Hamilton

Boys born to mothers who got COVID-19 while pregnant seem to have a higher risk of subtle developmental delays, including those associated with autism spectrum disorder.

A program called MomConnect fields questions via mobile phone about pregnancy and babies. It started in South Africa and now is offered in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Timor-Leste as well.

Health & Safety

A robot answers questions about health. Its creators just won a $2.25 million prize

12:49pm April 14, 2023

by Ari Daniel

At the Skoll World Forum this week, South Africa's Reach Digital Health was one of five honorees. They offer health advice via mobile phones to millions, focusing on pregnancy, babies and COVID.

Samantha Casiano and Luis Villasana and had a baby last week who died shortly after birth. The fatal condition was diagnosed at 20 weeks of pregnancy. When Casiano asked her OB-GYN what her options were, she was told, "You don't have any options. You have to go on with your pregnancy."

Health & Safety

A Good Friday funeral in Texas. Baby Halo's parents had few choices in post-Roe Texas

5:09pm April 06, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

When she gave birth to her baby with a fatal condition two months early, Samantha Casiano scrambled to raise funds for the funeral. Anti-abortion advocates say Texas laws are "working as designed."

Kennise Nevers holds her son, AJ, in her arms at home. Nevers' mother, Nancy Josey, looks on.

Health & Safety

The simple intervention that may keep Black moms healthier

7:54am March 28, 2023

by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey

A Boston hospital gets daily, home blood pressure checks for moms at risk for the pregnancy complication, pre-eclampsia. The effort is a response to alarming rates of Black maternal mortality.

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