Farida Azizova-Such inside the nursery rocking her son to sleep. "He was 5 weeks when we started coming. It's just my husband and I taking care of him, so I was alone at home. I wanted to find new moms to connect with and a safe space to be able to come and learn about how to take care of a baby, and also my identity shifted when you become a mother." Ali Lapetina for NPR hide caption
Medical debt is as much a hallmark of having children as long nights and dirty diapers. The Crivilare family, Andrew, Heather and Rita, 2, are pictured at their kitchen table in Jacksonville, Ill. Neeta Satam for KFF Health News hide caption
Tori Bowie, who captured gold as a sprinter in the Olympics and the world championships, died at age 32 from complications of childbirth, according to an autopsy report. Matthias Hangst/Getty Images hide caption
Data compiled by the CDC highlights multiple weaknesses in the system of care for new mothers, from obstetricians who are not trained (or paid) to look for signs of mental trouble or addiction, to policies that strip women of health coverage shortly after they give birth. Halfpoint Images/Getty Images hide caption
Hajime White (right) with her daughter Gwen and Gwen's daughter, Quen, at the family compound in Warren, Ark. Gwen had her first baby, a son, at 16, and, defying the odds for teen moms, went on to finish high school and earn a degree in pharmacy tech. "She never stopped because she had the support of me, her dad and her sisters," Hajime says. Sarah Varney/ KHN hide caption
Ezhil Arasi (left) and Ranjith Kumar. The pandemic kept her from her pregnancy checkups. Their baby was born with an intestinal blockage that required surgery and died during the procedure. Doctors told Ranjith that if his wife had been examined regularly during her pregnancy, there could have been a different outcome. Ranjith Kumar hide caption
A woman in labor in the maternity ward at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. With lockdowns have come fears of even greater numbers of home births. Lynsey Addario/Getty Images hide caption
Placenta purveyors often dehydrate and grind a new mother's placenta to a powder, then add it to a pill capsule. Generally, the goal is to increase her milk production, energy and mood, but scientists dispute such benefits. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Addario's coverage of maternal mortality took her to a remote village in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan in 2009, where she photographed a midwife giving a prenatal check in a private home. "In these areas someone will announce that a doctor and a midwife are coming, and any pregnant and lactating women within a certain radius come if they want prenatal or postnatal care," she says. Lynsey Addario hide caption
Charges for nitrous oxide during labor and delivery haven't been standardized. Courtesy of Kara Jo Prestrud, Birth Made Beautiful hide caption
Millions of women lined up along a highway in Kerala to form a "women's wall" on New Year's Day. For participants, the goal is gender equality. AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Chronic pain is just one health concern women can struggle with after giving birth. Some who have complicated pregnancies or deliveries can experience long-lasting effects to their physical and mental health, researchers find. Mirko Pradelli/EyeEm/Getty Images hide caption
Hillary Frank is the creator of the podcast The Longest Shortest Time. Her new book is Weird Parenting Wins. Richard Frank/Penguin Random House hide caption
Dr. Ruth Levesque (right) hands Shaun McDougall his newborn son Brady at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass. The birth of the second twin, Bryce, was much trickier than Brady's. Good communication between the health team and parents was crucial to safely avoiding a C-section, obstetricians say. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption
Nicole and Ben Veum, with their little boy, Adrian. Nicole was in recovery from opioid addiction when she gave birth to Adrian, and she worried the fentanyl in her epidural would lead to relapse, but it didn't. Adam Grossberg/KQED hide caption
Evelyn Marie Vukadinovich is swabbed with a gauze pad immediately after being born by cesarean section at Inova Women's Hospital in Falls Church, Va. Mary Mathis/NPR hide caption
Delayed pushing made no difference in whether first-time mothers had a cesarean section, a large study finds. Getty Images hide caption
A mother holds her newborn twins at a Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital, a public health facility in India. Paula Bronstein/The Verbatim Agency/Getty Images hide caption
California is starting to push hospitals throughout the state to lower their rates of medically unnecessary C-sections. Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images hide caption
Extreme lack of attention is not unusual in hospitals in poor countries, says Martin Onyango, legal advisor for the Center for Reproductive Rights based in Nairobi. Thomas Mukoya/Reuters hide caption