30 ways having a baby has changed over the last 50 years

England announced the first successful live birth from in vitro fertilization in 1978. The United States followed suit three years later. During IVF, an egg is harvested and fertilized outside of the female body and then placed inside the uterus. Around 1% to 2% of all births in the United States are through IVF and at least 8 million babies have been born worldwide through the process in the past 40 years. Not everyone has the same access to fertility treatments, though.

An epidural—when pain medication is delivered through a catheter inserted near the spine—has been around for over 50 years, but advances in the 1970s made the procedure safer and more popular among patients. From 1981 to 2001, the rate of epidural use tripled in the United States, with a majority of women choosing this pain-relieving option during labor.

Compared to the 1960s, the length of labor has increased by two hours for first-time mothers, to an average of 6.5 hours. Some attribute the use of epidurals to the longer labor time, but modern-day moms are also older and have bigger babies.

In 1970, about 5.5% of pregnant women gave birth through a cesarean section, a procedure that surgically removes the baby from the uterus. The national rate of C-sections is 32%, which is higher than the target rate of 23.9% recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for low-risk births. While the procedure can help save the life of the mother, doctors and hospitals are working to decrease unnecessary C-sections. One way an individual can lower her chances of having a C-section that isn't required medically is to hire a doula, a licensed professional who can speak on behalf of the mother during labor. Women in labor who have a doula by their side are 60% less likely to have a C-section.

In 1970, a new mom would stay at the hospital around four days. That number has dropped by 50%. Insurance companies are only legally required to cover 48 hours for a vaginal delivery or 96 hours for a cesarean section. Globally, women are often leaving within the first 24 hours, a time frame deemed too short by the World Health Organization.

The Egyptians were using urine to detect a pregnancy back in 1350 B.C., but Americans couldn't pick up a modern pregnancy test until the late 1970s. Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a woman's right to an abortion, the first home pregnancy test was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The e.p.t., short for "early pregnancy test," came on the market in 1976.

Not only can women figure out if they're pregnant in the comfort of their own bathroom, they can use an at-home test to determine the best time to conceive. Over-the-counter ovulation kits test for the luteinizing hormone (LH), which increases 24-to-48 hours before ovulation. This LH surge triggers ovulation, the release of an egg from the ovaries. For best results, test first thing in the morning.

In 1970, the average age of a first-time mom was 21.4. By 2016, women were waiting until 26 to have children. Today, more women in their 30s are having children than those in their 20s.

The birth rate for women 40 and older has increased while the rates for women 20 and under have decreased. With advances in fertility treatments, some women are having children much later in their reproductive years. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and singer Janet Jackson are two women who became mothers in their 50s.

Infant mortality rates have dramatically decreased over the past 50 years. From 1970 to 2015, the United States saw a decrease from 20 to 5.9 per 1,000 births. While the rates have dropped for every race, at 11.2 per 1,000 live births, there is still a large gap between the mortality rates of white and black children.

In 1972, only 22% of women breastfed their babies. That number steadily increased over the decades, with recent figures surpassing 80%. In 1991, the World Health Organization and UNICEF launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative after research showed the health benefits of breastfeeding. The WHO recommends exclusively breastfeeding babies up to six months. Among new moms, there is often a debate of whether to breastfeed or use a formula, with women who give their babies formula sometimes being shamed for doing so—although breastfeeding does not work for everyone.

After advances in IVF, it became possible for a couple to have their own biological baby through gestational surrogacy—when someone else's uterus is used to carry a genetically unrelated child for another person or couple. The first successful birth through gestational surrogacy occurred in 1986. In 2016, a 53-year-old woman was a surrogate for her daughter, giving birth to her own grandchild.

In 2016, a federal judge in Mississippi ruled that the ban on same-sex adoption was illegal. While it is legal for same-sex couples to adopt in all 50 states, some states—like Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma—are trying to pass legislation to allow child-placement services with religious affiliations to restrict adoption by LGBT couples.

A woman might harvest and freeze her eggs—technically called mature oocyte cryopreservation—because she will undergo cancer treatment or because she'd like to delay motherhood. The cost of storing eggs starts around $5,000, but only about 10% of those who freeze their eggs ever actually use them. It's not clear how many women are choosing to put their eggs on ice, but some companies are even paying for the storage procedure for employees.

In the 1960s, most children were born to married parents. About 40% of children today are born out of wedlock, up from 10% in 1970. While some of those numbers represent single mothers, most are unwed couples who are cohabitating.

Pampers were first introduced in 1961. By 1980, American parents were going through 1.93 tons of disposable diapers; look for those to biodegrade around year 2500. While some parents might prefer cloth diapers, these reusable options actually might not be better for the environment.

Between 1971 and 2011, mothers having multiple births doubled in the United States because of increased use of fertility treatments. From 1998 to 2011, the number of triplets or more rose from 36% to 45% because of fertility drugs like clomiphene citrate (brand name: Clomid) and injectable hormones, not IVF. It's risky to have more than one child at a time, for both the mom and the children. The risk of premature birth, cerebral palsy, and developmental delays all increase.

In 1989, midwives were the lead care providers for 3% of births in the United States. That number is now close to 9%. States that support midwives have better birth outcomes than states that make it harder for midwives to care for pregnant women and deliver babies. If a woman uses a midwife, she is twice as likely to breastfeed at least six months than new mothers attended to only by an obstetrician.

Because of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, companies with 50 or more employees can't fire someone for taking up to three months off after the birth of their child. Millennial parents value parental leave—which employers don't have to pay for—more than previous generations, with more dads viewing paternity leave as a necessity. Fathers also spend about three times more on child care than dads in the 1960s. That cost is eight hours a week, though, usually still much less than moms.

CRISPR is a molecular tool that scientists can use to cut sequences from DNA. American scientists have edited human embryos, but the technology hasn't gone mainstream. A Chinese scientist faced ethical questions after he edited the genes of twin girls while they were embryos, which he said was to protect them from contracting HIV.

Using ultrasound technology to confirm a pregnancy started in U.S. hospitals in the 1970s and early '80s. Image quality improved in the 1990s. Now parents can look at images in 3D and 4D—which may not be medically necessary—to see what the baby is doing in real time. The tests can identify the sex and the number of fetuses, and detect fetal abnormalities, such as microcephaly (an abnormally small head), absence of kidneys, and spinal problems.

The first baby radio was invented in 1937. Since then, monitoring technology has advanced dramatically. The babies of 2019 not only have monitors in their rooms, but their parents can watch them on a video or monitor their breathing and movement from their smartphones.

In 1914, women advocated for "twilight sleep," a controversial method that combined morphine to dull pain with scopolamine, a medication that erased a new mom's memory of the experience. Twilight sleep went out in the '70s with the rise of the Lamaze method, a breathing and relaxation technique that became well known in the '60s.

In 1983, the first successful egg donation occurred at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2017, an Indian woman 20 years past menopause—she claimed to be around 70—gave birth to her first child using donated eggs. While it's possible to have children at older ages, there are more complications.

In the early 1970s, doctors started doing amniocentesis, a relatively safe procedure during which a needle is inserted into the abdomen and a small amount of amniotic fluid from the sac around the fetus is removed and tested for genetic abnormalities like Down syndrome. In the 1990s, chorionic villus sampling (CVS) became possible. CVS detects chromosome abnormalities earlier—10 weeks after conception—than can be achieved through amniocentesis. The test itself, however, may cause miscarriage or limb deformities of an otherwise normal baby. A myriad of other tests are also available today.

Couples experience infertility because of male issues about one-third of the time. Today, sperm count and motility can be analyzed. A transrectal ultrasound can also look at the health of ejaculatory ducts.

Sperm banks became popular in the 1970s. A lack of regulation, however, is creating large genetic families across the country. One fertility doctor also claimed to use anonymous sperm, but inseminated women with his own genetic material instead.

In the late 1950s, after most women started having hospital births, fathers were resigned to pacing around the waiting room. Much like surgery, doctors didn't want anyone other than the patient and nurses in the room. Starting in the 1960s, fathers could be present during labor. In the 1970s and 1980s, they got to stay for the birth. Now, most fathers are alongside mothers when their babies are born.

The fertility rate in 1972 fell to 2.136, a number lower than the 2.235 rate during the Great Depression. The rate often drops during periods of economic uncertainty, like the energy crisis of the 1970s or during a recession. Current fertility rates are at historic lows in the United States, with the number of births each woman is expected to have in her childbearing years dropping to 1.76. The rate to replace the population is 2.1.

People may be having fewer children because it costs an average of $233,000 to raise a child born after 2015, excluding college costs. Adjusted for inflation, that number was more like $203,000 in 1960. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a calculator to help parents determine child-rearing costs based on how many kids they have and where they live.