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

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