‘Sip and see’ parties: too much of a good thing

Alexandra Jones: Planning a soiree to reveal the gender of your baby or post-divorce drinks? Your partied-out guests may have festivity fatigue

Why must childbirth be such hard labour?

New evidence about why women give birth when they do has turned received opinion on its head, writes Alice Roberts

The pregnant Duchess of Cambridge and I are in (almost) the same boat

Naomi McAuliffe: Not even a private hospital wing serving champagne can shield women from the messy indignities of pregnancy and birth

Duchess of Cambridge to give birth at Lindo Wing of St Mary’s hospital

Royal baby will be born in same private maternity facilities as Princes William and Harry, it is understood

Natural birth: ‘I felt brilliant. I was in utter ecstasy’

Once Britain's best-known midwife, Caroline Flint says doctors have become obsessed with risk in childbirth. She tells Susie Steiner why natural birth can turn a traumatic experience into something mind-blowing … even orgasmic

Independent midwives – and home births – are under threat

Jo Marchant: For some women there are small extra risks involved in having a natural home birth, but the benefits far outweigh them

What makes a country a good place to be a mother?

Natalie Hanman: Debate of the day: Save the Children uses five indicators to rank the best and worst nations to be a mother. But tell us your criteria

Let’s celebrate the miracle of birth but be honest about hard choices

Yvonne Roberts: The Turner quadruplets remind us both of the wonders of science and the need to determine our priorities

Listen to mother: time to change NHS practice on umbilical cord-cutting

Christina Patterson: Pregnant women need to feel medical staff are on their side – the nation's health suffers if people don't have faith in doctors

Fathers-to-be, trust me, watching your children being born is not traumatic

Ally Fogg: Media misrepresentation of research into life-threatening labour complications has real and harmful consequences