When Kelsey Hatcher's twins share their birth story someday, their tale will truly be one in a million.

Hatcher, who gave birth at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has a rare double uterus and was pregnant with a baby in each one. After 20 hours of labor, she delivered two girls -- Baby A on Dec. 19 and Baby B on Dec. 20.

"Never in our wildest dreams could we have plan...

The timing of a simple, standard part of childbirth could mean the difference between life and death for premature babies, a pair of new evidence reviews have concluded.

Preemies whose umbilical cords are clamped 30 seconds to two minutes after birth are less likely to die before leaving the hospital, compared to those whose cords are immediately clamped, researchers report in the Nov. 14...

Following nearly two decades of decline, U.S. infant death rates edged up by 3% in 2022, new provisional government numbers reveal.

"This was the first year we saw statistically significant increased rates of infant mortality in about 20 years,"said study author Danielle Ely, a statistician at the U.S. National Center for He...

New parents bringing home their bundle of joy often carry something else with them as they leave the hospital: medical debt.

That's according to new research from Michigan Medicine that found postpartum women are more likely to have medical debt than those who are pregnant.

The researchers studied this by evaluating collections among a statewide, commercially insured cohort of more ...

The United States is experiencing an alarming wave of congenital syphilis, and one southern state saw a 1,000% rise in babies born with the infection between 2016 and 2022.

The number of babies born with the infection in Mississippi rose from 10 in 2016 to 110 in 2022. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection. Congenital syphilis occurs when an infected mother passes the dis...

Walkable neighborhoods -- with sidewalks, parks and paths -- encourage pregnant women to get more exercise, which leads to good outcomes for both mom and baby.

New research looks at the influence of these walkable communities on this activity, which is considered safe for pregnant women.

Having a baby in the United States continues to be a risky proposition, particularly for Black women, according to a pair of new reports.

The number of U.S. deliveries that resulted in severe, potentially life-threatening complications for the mother increased between 2008 and 2021, according to a new analysis led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Further, ...

Many American women fear childbirth, and the COVID-19 pandemic did not calm those feelings, new research shows.

"Our results showed really high rates of childbirth fear in our sample," said Zaneta Thayer, co-author of a new study and an associate professor of anthropology at Dartmouth College in Hanov...

Pregnancy rates in the United States suffered a steep decline during the last decade, new government data shows.

The overall U.S. pregnancy rate fell by 12% between 2010 and 2019, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

The pregnancy rate among women aged 15 to 44 was 85.6 per 1,000 in 2019, down from 97.3 per 1,000 in 2010, ...

The "baby bust" that hit the United States during the first year of the COVID pandemic did not affect all states equally -- with states that were more racially diverse or more "blue" seeing bigger drops in their birth rates.

That's among the findings of a ...

A potentially dangerous complication of pregnancy might be prevented by carefully screening women late in pregnancy and planning a timed delivery for those at high risk, a new study reports.

More than half of all preeclampsia cases that occur late in pregnancy could be warded off through induced labor or cesarean section provided to high-risk women, according to an analysis published onli...

Where a woman lives in the United States has a lot to do with whether she has severe maternal complications from childbirth, according to new research using Medicaid data.

Her race or ethnicity also greatly affects this, researchers found.

"Near misses" -- where complications could have led to the death of the woman during pregnancy or delivery -- are highest in Washington, D.C., nu...

New mothers who gave birth early in the pandemic filled far more opioid prescriptions than American women did previously, raising concerns about the potential for narcotic misuse.

About 38% of more than 460,000 women who gave birth from July 2018 through December 2020 were prescribed opioids for postpartum pain management, according to the University of Georgia study.

But there was ...

Despite a longstanding assumption that babies' gut microbiome development could be affected by whether they were born vaginally or through cesarean section, scientists report this doesn't appear to be the case.

A team of Canadian researchers looked to infant stool microbiome composition in the first weeks and months of life to evaluate the theory.

"We show that the composition of th...

New evidence finds that babies born by cesarean section may not miss out on essential microbes.

Though these newborns receive less of their mother's gut microbiome during birth, they can obtain their mom's microbes in breast milk and in other ways.

"We wanted to have a better idea of how the infant microbiome develops in different parts of their bodies and how it's influenced by f...

You're 38 weeks pregnant and so uncomfortable you can barely move, so you ask your doctor if labor can be induced early.

That's not necessarily a good idea, according to new research that found children born after elective induced labor may do worse in school.

Dutch researchers found that 12-year-olds who as newborns were delivered after elective induced labor scored lower on tests...

Continuing a decades-long trend, the percentage of American women who've ever had a child declined again in the latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"A lower percentage of women aged 15 to 44 in 2015--2019 had ever had a biological child (52.1%) compared with women aged 15 to 44 in 2011--2015 (54.9%)," concluded a report issued Jan. 10 by the CDC's Nati...

More pregnant women in the United States are choosing to deliver their babies at home rather than in hospitals, a trend that may have been influenced by the pandemic.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday showed that 52,000 women gave birth at home in 2021, an incre...

The pandemic brought about a lot of changes in people's lives. For many, that included a new baby.

The United States saw a "baby bump"in 2021 described in a new study as "the first major reversal in declining U.S. fertility rates since 2007."

It was the opposite of what early forecasts predicted.

"There was less ...

Stillbirth is heartbreaking tragedy for parents, but exactly what raises the risk of it remains elusive.

Certain health conditions in a pregnant woman can be a factor, but new research came up with a surprising finding: Stillbirth risk appears to be inherited through male members of the family on eithe...

Pregnancy can be safer and healthier for both mom and baby with good access to quality maternity care.

Yet, the United States is still among one of the most dangerous developed nations for childbirth, especially in rural areas and communities of color, according to a new March of Dimes repo...

Too much anxiety isn't good for anyone, but a new study suggests it is particularly perilous for pregnant women because it can raise the chances of their child being born early.

Given that finding, the researchers recommended that doctors screen for anxiety during the...

Stories about their difficult birth or their parents' fertility challenges can give adult children a more grateful, upbeat attitude towards their lives, British researchers suggest.

They studied the messages as well as how they were delivered, interviewing people about the stor...

Childbirth shouldn't put any dent in your future lovin', regardless of the way your baby was delivered, new research assures.

Sexual enjoyment isn't affected at all by method of delivery in the years following childbirth, according to a study involving the mothers of more than 14,000 babies bor...

Where you live may affect your fertility, a new study suggests.

People who live in economically deprived neighborhoods are about 20% less likely to conceive, compared to people from areas with more resources, researchers said.

Investments in deprived neighbo...

Better have some savings stored up before you rush to the delivery room: A new analysis shows the average out-of-pocket expense for delivering a child in the United States is nearly $3,000, even if you're insured.

Other studies have looked at the costs for specific services, such as Cesarean sections versus vagina...

Babies delivered by cesarean section are no more likely to have food allergies during their first year of life than other infants, according to an Australian study.

The association between type of delivery and food allergy risk had been unclear, so researchers decided to take a closer look.

For the study, they analyzed data on more than 2,000 infants in Australia; 30% were delivered...

Giving antibiotics to a woman just before a cesarean delivery does not increase her baby's risk of asthma or eczema, a new British study says.

C-section is common, but can put new mothers at increased of infection, so they're given preventative antibiotics.

"Maternal infections, such as wound infection, can b...

Pregnant women who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 are at greater risk for delivering stillborn babies, and new research provides important clues about why.

Unlike other fungal, bacterial or viral infections, which cross over the placenta to affect the fetus, SARS-CoV-2 is particularly lethal to the developing placenta, and this damage deprives the fetus of oxygen and nutrition, said s...

So, you're pregnant and battling nausea every day. What harm could come from smoking a joint to settle your stomach?

Plenty, according to a new study that suggests women who use pot while expecting put their infants at risk for some serious health problems.

The problems included