Blog

A New Look (and Updated Content) for ChildbirthConnection.org

| Sep 1, 2016

At the National Partnership, we advocate for a health care system that delivers better quality care and better outcomes at lower costs – including before, during and after childbirth. After all, we know that pregnancy, labor and birth, and the early postpartum period are important and sensitive times in the lives of women and their families. Experiences at this time can have long-term effects – for better or worse.

We know we’ll only achieve our vision of a transformed health care system if childbearing women are fully engaged in their maternity care, and that requires access to high-quality, trustworthy information. That’s why we’re so pleased to announce the launch of a completely updated ChildbirthConnection.org – our online hub for evidence-based information on childbirth and maternity care.

The goal of ChildbirthConnection.org is still to help women and their families become informed about maternity care, plan carefully, feel empowered and prepared to voice their needs and concerns, and challenge established childbirth beliefs and practices that are not beneficial.

We conducted a thorough literature review and updated the content accordingly, ensuring we continue to provide evidence-based information that helps women take charge of their maternity care and make the best possible decisions for themselves, their babies and their families. We also refreshed the website’s look and feel and made it easier for visitors to quickly find what they need.

The website covers critical topics including:

  • What healthy childbearing looks like and how women can avoid the “cascade of intervention.”
  • How a woman’s body changes throughout pregnancy, shown in a popular series of illustrations.
  • The different types of maternity care providers and birth settings and why making the decision about where and with whom to give birth is so important.
  • The risks and benefits of various birth practices, including continuous labor support, labor induction, epidural, episiotomy, cesarean section, vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), strategies to prevent pelvic floor dysfunction and more.
  • Up-to-date health information and resources to educate women before they become pregnant.

While the updated site targets expecting parents, advocates and professionals can still access the Childbirth Connection resources they’ve come to rely on from the Resources page. (You can also find the full set of Listening to Mothers reports and materials at NationalPartnership.org/maternity/ListeningtoMothers.)

We hope you will join us in sharing this important resource widely. Together, we can continue to improve the quality and value of maternity care in the United States.

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