Maternity's most dangerous time according to the NY Times. People and other animals have been having children for all eternity, and there are of course risks. According to the NY Times, those risks may be higher after you give birth. According to the newest research, most deaths associated with pregnancy occur during the year after you had your baby. The NY Times article suggests that for each woman who dies, there are 50 to 100 who experience severe complications leaving them with lifelong health problems. Also, diabetes and obesity are exacerbating the problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a more expansive look at mothers’ deaths, analyzing them for a full year after childbirth and including deaths resulting from mental health conditions. They also suggest the leading causes of maternal mortality among white and Hispanic women are mental health conditions that lead to suicide or fatal overdoses. Among Asian women, the leading cause is hemorrhage. Read more in the article below Maternity’s Most Dangerous Time: After New Mothers Come Home Recent research shows that most pregnancy-related deaths occur in the year after a baby is born. The discovery is changing how doctors care for new mothers. Roni Caryn Rabin Roni Caryn Rabin interviewed dozens of pregnant women, new mothers, scientists, physicians and public health officials for a series of articles on maternal health. May 28, 2023 Sherri Willis-Prater’s baby boy was 2 months old, and she was about to return to her job at a school cafeteria in Chicago. But as she walked up the short flight of stairs to her kitchen one evening, she nearly collapsed, gasping for breath. At the hospital, Ms. Willis-Prater, who was 42 at the time, was connected to a ventilator that pumped air into her lungs. Her heart, doctors said, was operating at less than 20 percent of its capacity. She had developed a rare form of heart failure that emerges after pregnancy. The diagnosis was the last thing she expected to hear. After giving birth, Ms. Willis-Prater thought “I made it across the finish line,” she recalled in an interview. “I don’t have to worry about anything anymore.” Read more