"First-Time Birth"

Lifespan: Stories of Illness, Accident, and Recovery

Last month, Jackie Wolf talked to three women, Lauren, Stacy, and Cora, who were pregnant for the first time. On this month’s episode of Lifespan, Jackie talks to them again—this time about their births. It turns out that the medical treatment and advice they received during their pregnancies set the agenda for how their babies were born. And the three births ended up representing the range of American women’s birth experiences today—a failed induction ending in cesarean surgery; an induced labor with epidural anesthesia ending in a vaginal birth; and a natural birth.