Hi! Welcome to Expecting More. My name is Jocie, and I’m the Research Manager and Curator of the Expecting More website and campaign and a member of the Delivery Decisions Initiative team at Ariadne Labs. We are so glad you’re here.
This project was born from a recognition that many of the conversations about maternal health in the United States focus exclusively on the moment of childbirth. When we set out to design the Expecting More campaign and website, we wanted it to highlight the role that every individual and institution has in supporting families along the spectrum of their reproductive experience and choice to start or grow their families.
My own path to and through public health has brought me to the halls of a high school, to the side of sexual assault survivors, into the depths of bistatistics classes, and to several continents and rural health clinics. Through these experiences, I’ve found that public health and maternal health represent the intersection of countless professions, ideologies, and sectors. We hope to highlight this wide spectrum of perspectives and bring these sometimes disparate conversations together in one place so we can collectively address our responsibilities for growing families. We will strive to explore the historical, political, and clinical foundations of the problems we see today and how we can use these lessons and deep histories to uncover solutions.
On this website, you will find two sections of content:
OBservations is a narrative series authored by Neel Shah, with new content every few weeks that draws from his experiences caring for families as an obstetrician and working with researchers, policymakers, and other public leaders.
Voices will feature blog posts and transcribed interviews with our colleagues across the country who share the Expecting More mission. Through this section of the website, we plan to draw attention to the myriad factors that affect the health of growing families and provide a platform for these perspectives to coexist.
Please explore our first few posts in each section. Neel introduces the OBservations series with a narrative about his first experience on a labor and delivery unit in medical school and how this has shaped his vision for growing families in the United States. In the Voices section, check out a list of the media our team has been reading, watching, or listening to and how it has influenced our work. We also feature a transcript of a conversation between Neel, fellow obstetrician Dr. Laura Riley, and Atlantic staff writer Olga Khazan at the Atlantic Pulse event last April. In addition, we look forward to engaging with you on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
We look forward to continuing to share blog posts, interviews, and narratives with you through this website and our social media channels. Sign up for updates on our homepage, and receive an email alert every time we post new content. And please let us know what you want to see here! Is there a perspective, concept, or person that you think should be included? Reach out on social media or send us an email. We want this platform to be driven by you.
Thank you for following along, and we look forward to working together to highlight the role that we all have in supporting growing families.
