Childbirth

A mother-daughter love story

17 February 2024 9:00 am

In her latest memoir, Leslie Jamison describes her pregnancy, experience of childbirth and devotion to her baby, returning repeatedly to the dilemmas of a working mother

Labour of love? What women need to know about childbirth

17 June 2023 9:00 am

Pregnant women are still woefully ill-prepared for the gruelling experience ahead of them and the life-changing damage that often results, says Lucy Jones

Why are we so squeamish about describing women’s everyday experiences?

20 May 2023 9:00 am

Philip Hensher discusses how words relating to women’s ordinary experiences have been shrouded in euphemism over the centuries

Having a baby is like joining a cult — full of other, more capable mothers

29 February 2020 9:00 am

When you’re not a mother it’s hard to imagine what motherhood is like. Anyone you know who becomes one assures…

Henri-Charles-Ferdinand of Artois, Duke of Bordeaux and his sister Louise-Marie-Therèse of Artois at the Tuileries, by Louis Hersent (1777–1860)

How any mother — or baby — survived childbirth before the 20th century is astonishing

15 December 2018 9:00 am

Between 1300 and 1900 few things were more dangerous than giving birth. For poor and rich, the mortality rate was…

It’s got to be perfect

22 July 2017 9:00 am

When I order a cup of tea in Costa, the barista says: ‘Perfect!’ I ask for tap water in a…

Inside the Portland Hospital

Downton Abbey with epidurals: BBC2's Five Star Babies reviewed

23 April 2016 9:00 am

Five Star Babies: Inside the Portland Hospital won’t, I suspect, have been a hard sell to BBC2’s commissioning editors. Childbirth…

New mothers deserve something better than NCT classes

3 October 2015 8:00 am

Why women are seeking alternatives to NCT antenatal classes