Beginnings: Pregnancy, Childbirth and Beyond
Children play with blue foam building blocks at the Blue School in New York City on March 31. The private preschool was founded by members of the Blue Man Group who wanted to send their own children to a school they felt supported creativity. Mark Lennihan/AP hide caption
Job training. The Co-Op School hide caption
Lightening the mood, the otherwise serious health care proceedings are punctuated by song and dance. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton/NPR hide caption
Khasrat and Qadar Gul struggle to reconcile their cleric's teachings against contraception with husband Qadar's desire not to father more children. "We are poor and cannot afford a bigger family," Qadar Gul says. Julie McCarthy/NPR hide caption
Adam Graham (from left to right), Tanae Foglia, Kelly Hruska, Stacey Ferguson, Corie Driscoll, Angela Tilghman and Sharon Johnson participate in a round-table discussion about parenting hosted by Michele Norris at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption
Stacey Ferguson, Corie Driscoll and Angela Tilghman participate in a round table discussion about parenting hosted by Michele Norris at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption
The Challenges Of Child Care: Emotional Decisions And A Constant Juggling Act
A young child wrapped in an aguayo, a traditional sling, on mother's back in La Paz, Bolivia. Anthony Cassidy/Getty Images hide caption
Dorothy Mwesiga with her third child. Mwesiga was treated with antidepressant drugs and talk therapy for her postpartum depression. Joanne Silberner for NPR hide caption
Israa Saad Diab lifts the cover from her son Hamza's face, while her husband, Ibrahim Muhammad, watches, after the traditional Sebou ceremony in Mansoura, Egypt, on May 27. Holly Pickett for NPR hide caption
Alison MacAdam with her son, Abe, about eight months after she put this mix to use. Courtesy of the MacAdam family hide caption
Dr. Sandrine Courtial examines 3.5-month-old Ayline Alhas at the Centre de Protection Maternelle et Infantile (PMI) in Savigny-sur-Orge, France, before giving her a vaccination. Ayline's mother, Melissa, has been bringing her in for free well-child check-ups since her birth. Olivier Pascaud for NPR hide caption
Zac and Penny Johnson's son Henry is 4, but they still have his hospital blanket in a box with other keepsakes. Zac remembers bringing one of these blankets home to their dog Daisy to smell, in anticipation of Henry's homecoming. Andrea Hsu/NPR hide caption
Last week, NPR asked for photos of newborns with the pink-and-blue-striped flannel blanket. We received close to 2,000 photos, from almost every state in the U.S. NPR hide caption
New parents Wu Lili (left) and Mo Shiwei hold their 29-day-old baby boy. The new mom is staying at the Weige center in Beijing, which provides luxury accommodation and 24-hour nursing staff to woman who are participating in the Chinese tradition of "sitting the month." Andrea Hsu/NPR hide caption