In 2016, a black baby born in Charlottesville, Virginia, was almost ten times more likely than a white baby to […]
Labor, Birth, and Superstitions
On the morning that my daughter-in-law went into labor, a small bird crashed into our apartment window and lay dead […]
A Brief History of “Bouncing Back”
So the world has witnessed yet another round of the Royal Baby bonanza — from tracking Meghan Markle’s maternity style, […]
From Hospital to Home: Wendy Kline’s Coming Home: How Midwives Changed Birth
Wendy Kline has delivered a new addition to the history of childbirth in America. In her engaging and well-researched book, […]
Pharmacological Innovation and the Desire to Simplify Postpartum Depression
At the end of March, Sage Therapeutics announced FDA approval for the intravenous and hospital-supervised use of their new postpartum […]
The (Historical) Body in Pain
For the last decade, I’ve been reading and writing about other women’s pain. Contractions lasting 72 hours. Feverish deliriums after […]
Reproductive Justice and Midwifery on the US-Mexico Border
On August 29th, Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post published an article about the citizenship status of Americans born near […]
Hospital Confinement: From the 19th Century to the 21st
Last summer I had a very different experience of childbirth than most women. I was not entirely sure what to […]
