Pregnancy

Home Birth: It’s not even an option in some parts of the UK

Up to 76 per cent of pregnant women in some regions of the UK are not even being given the option of a home birth, and a similar proportion is not offered NHS antenatal classes. more »

Pre-eclampsia: Scientists discover what it really is

Scientists are beginning to suspect that pre-eclampsia – which affects 8 per cent of all pregnant women – is not a cardiovascular problem at all. Instead, it is an inflammatory disease. more »

Pregnancy: Having an abortion doesn’t affect the outcome second time around

Women who have an abortion don’t increase the risk of a problem pregnancy later on. more »

Slimming: Lose too much weight after the first birth and you may have problems with the second

Women, who go on a dramatic weight-loss programme after the birth of their first child, are far more likely to have a pre-term birth the second time around. more »

Caesareans: Give the mother the facts, and the rate drops

Caesarean rates in the USA and UK have rocketed to around 25 per cent of all births, usually because of a cautious ‘just-in-case’ approach. more »

Pregnancy: Maybe it’s OK to drink coffee after all

Women have for years been warned off coffee – or any drink containing caffeine – while they are pregnant. more »

Smart Babies: They’re made by mums who eat plenty of fish, study claims

A diet that includes plenty of fish isn’t just good for ‘ze little grey cells’, as smart detective Hercule Poirot often observed, it’s also good for the brain of your unborn child. more »

Labour: Acupuncture reduces the ‘active phase’, new study finds

Acupuncture can speed labour, a new study of pregnant women has revealed. It dramatically reduced the active phase of labour, although the women did not deliver the baby any sooner. more »

Touching the life force

At this writing, the one of our two children I gave birth to has just turned 17, which caused a renewed reflection about how she chose to come into the world. Those memories were ignited again by our... more »

C-section aftershocks

In late September of this year, researchers in the US dropped a bombshell onto the cosy world of obstetrics. After analyzing the records of nearly six million births, they advised that mothers should... more »

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