Patron Saints for Moms and Babies
This mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary is invoked by women hoping to conceive.
Who is St. Anne?
This first man and woman's sons were named Cain and Abel.
Who are Adam and Eve?
This is the average length of a full-term human pregnancy, in weeks.
What is 40 weeks?
This breathing technique, developed by a French doctor, uses patterned breathing and relaxation to manage contractions.
What is the Lamaze method?
According to Church teaching, human life — and dignity — begins at this precise moment.
What is conception?
This saint, mother of John the Baptist, conceived in old age and is a go-to intercessor for expectant mothers.
Who is St. Elizabeth?
This matriarch laughed when she overheard she'd have a son, later named Isaac.
Who is Sarah?
This trimester is when a baby's organs are considered fully formed and focus shifts mainly to growth.
What is the third trimester?
This modern option numbs pain from the waist down via anesthetic injected near the spinal cord, while staying awake and alert.
What is an epidural?
This saint and pope delivered a series of 129 talks exploring the meaning of marriage, sexuality, and the human person. BONUS(100 PTS):What were these talks called?
Who is St. John Paul II
Bonus: Theology of the Body
This saint's most famous title is "Patron of Mothers" — she prayed for years for the conversion of her son, later St. Augustine.
Who is St. Monica?
This woman was told her twin sons were "struggling together" inside her — the boys became Jacob and Esau.
Who is Rebekah?
This is the medical term for the waxy, cheese-like coating that protects a baby's skin in the womb.
What is vernix caseosa?
This natural method involves laboring or delivering in a tub or shower, using warm water to ease contractions.
What is hydrotherapy (water birth)?
This sacrament welcomes a newborn into the Church, marking them as a child of God.
What is Baptism?
This modern Italian saint, a physician and mother of four, chose to continue a risky pregnancy and died days after her daughter's birth.
Who is St. Gianna Beretta Molla?
This baby was set adrift in a basket on the Nile and later found and raised by Pharaoh's own daughter.
Who is Moses?
This is the term for a newborn's first, thick, dark stool.
What is meconium?
This self-administered "laughing gas" has long been popular in the UK and is gaining use in U.S. hospitals and birth centers.
What is nitrous oxide?
This phrase, God's first command to humanity in Genesis, is often cited as the biblical foundation for the Church's teaching on openness to life.
What is "be fruitful and multiply"?
This saint was reportedly delivered by an early form of surgical birth after his mother died in labor, and is invoked as patron of childbirth and midwives.
Who is St. Raymond Nonnatus?
This baby was born in Bethlehem, laid in a manger, and visited by shepherds and later by magi bearing gifts.
Who is Jesus?
This is the name for the temporary organ that delivers oxygen and nutrients to the baby during pregnancy.
What is the placenta?
This trained labor-support person provides continuous physical and emotional support through labor, and her presence is linked to reduced need for pain medication.
What is a doula?
This 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI reaffirmed Church teaching against artificial contraception and underlies the NFP movement.
What is Humanae Vitae?