A transgender man Thomas Beattie, who made headlines after announcing he was pregnant, has given birth to a baby girl at a hospital in Oregon,the U.S. the People magazine reported.

Delaying childbirth has substantially contributed to recent rises in caesarean section rates, according to a paper published this week by scientists at Cambridge University.

Seventeen year old Jamie Lynn Spears gave birth to a healthy 7 lb. 11 oz. baby girl at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning at Mississippi Southwest Regional Center in McComb, Mississippi.

Several French press outlets have reported that 32 year old Angelina Jolie has given birth to her twins at a Catholic clinic in Aix-en-Provence. Partner Brad Pitt, 44, was reportedly present for the delivery.

During labor, the continued presence of a doula – an experienced non-medical female companion who provides continuous labor support – has significant beneficial effects for middle- and upper-class women in childbirth, even when they have their male partner or other family member with them, according to a new study in the journal Birth.

The percentage of United States cesarean births increased from 20.7% in 1996 to 31.1% in 2006. Cesarean rates increased for women of all ages, race/ethnic groups, and gestational ages and in all states.

Cesarean sections account for nearly all of the increase in U.S. singleton preterm births, according to an analysis of nine years of national birth data.

The end of California’s 15-year decline in teen pregnancy and birth rates couldn't come at a worse time for a state already in fiscal crisis. According to the No Time for Complacency: Teen Births in California report released today by the Public Health Institute (PHI), rising teen birth rates are costing California taxpayers $1.7 billion dollars a year, levying an average taxpayer cost per county of more than $29 million.

Relatively inexpensive interventions were effective in helping health care providers in Latin America improve the way they treat mothers during labor and delivery, reducing bleeding and sometimes saving lives of women during childbirth, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In Australia more than one woman dies every fortnight as a result of childbearing – some could be preventable - according a study in published by Wiley-Blackwell in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Women who have a Caesarean delivery for their first child go on to have fewer children than women who give birth in the traditional way. This is shown in a study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) and University of Bergen.

A baby is twice as likely to be born bottom first if either or both the parents were themselves breech deliveries, according to a study published ahead of print on bmj.com. The results suggest genes are a contributing factor.