Take charge of your maternity care

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Make informed decisions throughout pregnancy

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Understand your options for labor and birth

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Get to know us and our 100-year history

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What Every Pregnant Woman Needs to Know About Cesarean Birth

Featured Resource

Featured Resource

Experts agree that too many babies are born via cesarean section in the United States.

What does this mean for you?

Learn why a care provider may recommend C-section, its risks and benefits and ways to increase your likelihood of having a vaginal birth so you can make an informed decision.

Download the booklet
Read the latest fact sheet
Check out our C-section Q&A

Your Body throughout Pregnancy

Slideshow

Slideshow

Wondering about all the amazing (and sometimes weird) changes taking place in your body during pregnancy?

Check out this slideshow on the effects of pregnancy on your body and the stages of fetal development. The image here illustrates a pregnancy at 40 weeks, or full term.

View the Slideshow

Being involved in your maternity care matters. We’re here to help.

information you can trust

With so much information out there on pregnancy and childbirth, it’s hard to know what to trust. But it’s important to become informed, because the care you receive during this time can have a big impact on your health, your baby’s health and your overall satisfaction.

To make informed decisions, women need access to evidence-based information and help navigating their maternity care throughout their pregnancy and birth journey.

That’s why, for nearly 100 years, Childbirth Connection (now a core program of the National Partnership for Women & Families) has connected women with just that kind of high-quality information.

We hope this website will empower you to take charge of your maternity care and guide you in making the best possible decisions for yourself and your baby.

Learn more about Childbirth Connection

Welcome message from Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families

Being involved in your maternity care matters. We’re here to help.

information you can trust

With so much information out there on pregnancy and childbirth, it’s hard to know what to trust. But it’s important to become informed, because the care you receive during this time can have a big impact on your health, your baby’s health and your overall satisfaction.

To make informed decisions, women need access to evidence-based information and help navigating their maternity care throughout their pregnancy and birth journey.

That’s why, for nearly 100 years, Childbirth Connection (now a core program of the National Partnership for Women & Families) has connected women with just that kind of high-quality information.

We hope this website will empower you to take charge of your maternity care and guide you in making the best possible decisions for yourself and your baby.

Support Childbirth Connection today

Support our work! Your donation will help us empower women to take charge of their maternity care.

Make your voice heard. Tell Congress to support the Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act.

We strongly support The Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act (S. 466 and H.R. 4695) as a way to improve maternal and child health in the United States. In particular, it would help identify standards that can be used to optimize care and improve outcomes for both childbearing women and newborns – especially those covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It would also enhance progress toward a high-performing maternity care system by addressing performance measurement gaps and supporting the work of maternity care quality collaboratives. Congress should make it a top priority.

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Take charge of Maternity Care

Become pregnant

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have a healthy pregnancy

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Plan for giving birth

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