Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with RetroPod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

I remember the day my son Sam was born almost 12 years ago, like it just happened. I wore a life as good shirt.

It seemed appropriate to throw that on when my wife, Megan, went into labor.

My parents and in-laws sat in a waiting room watching General Hospital.

We all waited. For hours and hours, we waited.

And then, when the moment arrived, when Sam came into the world with a burst of cries, the delivery

room turned into a scene of organized chaos. I looked over and a nurse almost immediately

whisked Sam to a table, listening to his heart with a stethoscope, checking his skin, tapping

around. I had just witnessed the miracle of birth,

and now I was observing a series of tests

that have been performed on millions of newborns

since the early 1950s.

The Apgar test.

Apgar.

A-P-G-A-R. It's a remarkable word because it's both an acronym and a name,

the last name of one of the most important physicians in medical history. Dr. Virginia Apgar.

Dr. Apgar is the creator of the Apgar score, a clinical evaluation made within 60

seconds of birth that determines the baby's overall condition and chances for survival.

The Abgar score is standard procedure in virtually every country in the world.

That's the actress Catherine Crosby, honoring Apgar at a March of Dimes event in 1973.

Cosby also praised the doctor for making the world a better, less painful place for infants.

Like my son Sam, just about every baby born in the United States since the 1950s has undergone the Apgar test,

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