The core elements of labor and delivery are pretty universal (contractions, dilation, pain!) -- but a woman's childbirth experience, and the postpartum practices that shape her first weeks and months as a mother, are very much informed by cultural traditions and geography, too.
How might delivering a baby be different in Europe or Asia, compared to California or Kansas? From labor positions and pain management techniques to time off and physical rehabilitation, here are nine different birth and postpartum practices from around the world.
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1
Government-sponsored baby showers
Associated Press
2
Sitting up for labor
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3
A laughing (gas) matter
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4
Seaweed soup, anyone?
Stacey Newman via Getty Images
5
Pride of place for the umbilical cord and placenta
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6
A month to rest
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7
Postnatal care down there
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8
Saying "no" to sex
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9
Paid leave, guaranteed
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