photo © Alden Gewirtz

Marisa Cohen, a former senior editor at Glamour, has written for several health and women’s magazines, including Elle, Self, Fitness, More, and Prevention. In the summer of 2001, after the birth of her first daughter, she turned her focus to parenting topics and has contributed to Fit Pregnancy, American Baby, Parents, Parenting, and Conceive. Her interactions with the moms she meets in the playground, music classes, and preschool corridors—each of whom has a unique and riveting birth story—inspired her to delve more deeply into the topic of childbirth. Cohen lives in New York City with her husband and their two children.