Appalachian Birth Expectations and Experiences

This study will use prenatal and postpartum interviews to understand people's birth expectations and desires before they give birth and how their experience matches up to their actual experience. I am interested in how expectations influence how people navigate their prenatal care and how this influences the birth experience. This study will take place in the Appalachian region. Participants will also have the option to provide a hair sample and a urine sample from their infant at 3 months if they wish to look at how these experiences affect stress hormones.