Homebirth or hospital birth? Choose what's right for you, but educate yourself first | Jessica Valenti

We don’t have to declare doctors monstrous in order to promote midwives. Both choices can and should be made as safe and acceptable as possible

Before I gave birth to my daughter, I had a very specific ideas for how her delivery would go. I wanted as “natural” a birth as possible, so I was seeing a midwife (under the supervision of an OBGYN), I planned to forgo pain medication, my husband and I toured a birth center, and I even eyed the birthing tub in the corner of the room.

A few days later, I was admitted to the hospital and I delivered Layla almost three months early via an emergency C-section. Not everything turns out like you plan – and, lest we forget, pregnancy is not without its dangers to both mother and baby.

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from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/29/homebirth-or-hospital-birth-choose-whats-right-for-you-but-educate-yourself-first

The best iPhone apps of 2014

From SwiftKey and FireChat to Replay Video Editor and Silent Text 2: the best new iPhone apps that the App Store had to offer this year

• The best iPad apps of 2014

• The best iPhone and iPad games of 2014

The most popular keyboard-replacement app on Android made the leap to iOS in time for the launch of iOS 8, with its emphasis on the way it learns your writing style – with Facebook, Twitter and Gmail logins able to give it a head start – to make its predictions even smarter.

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How altruistic egg donors are changing the landscape of IVF

Vanessa Traill’s altruistic decision to become an egg donor has transformed the lives of strangers she may never meet

Vanessa Traill has never had sex, but last week she discovered she has three children: two girls and a boy. One day she’d love to meet them, but that won’t be for 15 or 20 years and Traill, 36, couldn’t be happier about that. She’s never gone a bundle on babies, and much prefers children when they’re older: in fact it was her lack of maternal instinct that led her to where she is now.

Traill is an altruistic egg donor. She’s one of a growing number of women, according to figures just released by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), who are offering to go through the physically demanding process of having their ovaries stimulated, and the medically invasive procedure to retrieve their eggs, in order to help a woman or couple they’ve never met, and never will, to have a baby.

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Nice: mothers-to-be at risk of mental health problems need more support

Vulnerable women planning a child should receive guidance on how pregnancy could affect their mental health, says report

Women at risk of mental health problems or with existing conditions should receive more support at every stage of pregnancy and after childbirth, according to new guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). They spell out how doctors, nurses, health visitors and midwives should help pregnant women, new mothers and those who lose babies deal with mental health issues.

The guidelines come a fortnight after the bodies of Bristol woman Charlotte Bevan and her baby daughter, Zaani Tiana, were found in the Avon gorge after Bevan went missing from a maternity hospital, though they are not being issued in response to the tragedy.

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Pregnant woman's drug use equivalent to 'child abuse', court says

• Tammy Loertscher jailed following disclosure she’d used drugs in the past
  


• Federal civil rights suit planned in Wisconsin case

A federal civil rights lawsuit is being filed on behalf of a Wisconsin woman who was jailed and placed in solitary confinement because she allegedly used methamphetamines while pregnant, an act authorities there said abused her 14-week-old fetus.

Tamara “Tammy” Loertscher, 30, was jailed about a week after she sought prenatal care at a Mayo Clinic branch in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. While trying to have a serious thyroid condition and depression treated, Loertscher disclosed that she had previously used drugs, and doctors there tested her urine for metabolites.

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Phthalates risk damaging children’s IQs in the womb, US researchers suggest

Additives found in plastics and scented products could affect brain development and lower IQ

Pregnant women should avoid additives called phthalates found in common household products, according to US researchers, who found evidence that the substances may reduce children’s IQ.

Children whose mothers had the highest levels of phthalates had IQs on average seven points below those whose mothers had the lowest. The 328 women from inner-city New York who took part in the study had levels of phthalates in urine measured in the last weeks of pregnancy. IQs of the children were tested at seven years old.

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I had postpartum psychosis. More must be done to help mothers like me | Vonny Moyes

Postnatal depression’s bigger, uglier brother hit me. When all eyes are on the beautiful baby, we can forget to look at the mum



• Better care urged for pregnant women with mental health problems

“I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with you.”

The psychiatrist’s words pierced like a bullet. Months of suppressed grief became fat, heaving sobs and one defeated plea, “why are you doing this to me?”, before I ran out and collapsed at my husband’s feet. We’d been cut loose, left alone to career through my delirium. What could we do now?

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Better care urged for pregnant women with mental health problems – study

Deaths from indirect causes such as suicide have remained constant despite overall fall in maternal mortality rate

Urgent action is needed to improve care for mothers-to-be with pre-existing medical and mental health problems, experts said, as a new study showed that the death rate among such women has remained constant despite an overall fall in maternal deaths.

There were 321 maternal deaths – women who died during their pregnancy or within six weeks of giving birth – between 2010 and 2012, equivalent to 10.1 per 100,000 women giving birth, compared with 11.4 per 100,000 in 2006 to 2008, a study led by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University found.

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It’s hard to cope with my pregnant wife being so irritable | Mariella Frostrup

A man with a short-tempered wife, about to give birth to their second child around Christmas, bemoans his lot. Mariella Frostrup rediscovers her own inner grumpy feminist



If you have a dilemma, send a brief email to mariella.frostrup@observer.co.uk

The dilemma I have a fiery and super-short-tempered wife, who loses her cool the moment something doesn’t work the way she wanted. Sometimes she blurts out really nasty things which I fear is beginning to push me away. Sometimes she unleashes her anger at our two-year-old son. But I love her very much and I want to provide and give her a happy life because, when calm, she is an amazing person to be around and we are excited to be expecting a daughter this month. I really don’t know how to approach or calm her down without aggravating her, so I just find myself distancing away from her to give her space, which does work sometimes, but even that at times annoys her because she thinks I am sulking when I stay away and say nothing to her.She is a good person at heart, but I really want to be able to remove the ridiculously short-tempered side of her.

Mariella replies Surgically perhaps? It’s so inconvenient when the love of one’s life turns out to be human after all. It may be that you’ve just written to me on a bad week, but watching the women around me slowly unravel as we approach the “festivities” has definitely aroused the grumpy feminist within. I try to keep it under lock and key.

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We can’t be complacent about pregnant women’s rights in Britain | Rebecca Schiller

A local authority has failed to make drinking in pregnancy a crime, but we should be wary about further attempted incursions

This morning, women stood precariously on the last solid ground in the landscape of UK reproductive rights, looking ahead at an uncertain and treacherous footing. The court of appeal rejected the claim for criminal compensation in the case of CP vs Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Thankfully, following this judgment, we still have solid ground under our feet.

Had the unnamed local authority’s solicitors successfully persuaded the court that excessive drinking in pregnancy was a violent crime against a foetus (now a seven-year-old child with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder), it would have marked a dramatic departure from the way the UK legal system has previously defended the autonomy of pregnant women.

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Mother who drank heavily when pregnant not guilty of crime, court rules

Child born with lifelong damage after excessive drinking by mother is not entitled to compensation, judges say

A mother who inflicted lifelong damage on her child after drinking heavily during her pregnancy did not commit a criminal offence, the court of appeal has ruled.

The unanimous decision sets clear limits on the legal rights of the unborn child and dispels fears that women could become liable to prosecution for their lifestyles during pregnancy.

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New birth guidelines: ‘For midwives, they are preaching to the converted’

Midwives at St George’s hospital in London say outcomes are better for women giving birth in midwife-led centres and at home

Over coffee and hobnobs at their kitchen table, eyed by a greyhound called Jim, first-time parents-to-be Poppy Mardall and Chris Pensa are discussing babies, birth and umbilical cords with a community midwife from St George’s hospital in Tooting, south London.

The couple say they took a while to decide what kind of birth they wanted, before finally deciding on a home birth. Some 2% of all births associated with the hospital are done this way.

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Judge rules mother not guilty of crime for drinking while pregnant

Child born with lifelong damage after excessive drinking by mother is not entitled to criminal injuries compensation, court rules

A mother who inflicted lifelong damage on her child after drinking heavily during her pregnancy did not commit a criminal offence, the court of appeal has ruled.

Handing down the judgment, Lord Justice Treacy said the central reason for dismissing the appeal was that: “a mother who is pregnant and who drinks to excess despite knowledge of the potential harmful consequence to the child of doing so is not guilty of a criminal offence under the law if her child is subsequently born damaged as a result.”

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Call the midwife - no surprises for this mother who says home birth is best

Kate Edgely was amazed to be asked if she would consider a home birth for her second child after having had complications with her first, but she was very glad to have been given the option

Today’s news that women are less likely to suffer complications if they give birth away from doctors and hospitals comes as no surprise to me. When I went into labour with my first child, after a healthy pregnancy, my husband drove us to our local hospital.

Seven hours later, I was told she was stuck, a heavy metal monitoring belt was strapped around my contracting belly and her heartbeat dropped to 60 beats per minute, about half what it should be.

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Have you been 'mommytracked' by your employer? Share your story

Peggy Young took her employer to court for placing her on unpaid leave when she was pregnant, but what about women who suffer in silence? We want to hear

When Peggy Young got pregnant while employed by UPS, her bosses placed her on unpaid leave.

Young was a part-time driver for the shipping and logistics giant. Her doctors advised her against heavy lifting, and even though heeding this would not interfere with her everyday duties, UPS placed her on leave. The company argued it could only make accommodations for people hurt on the job, which didn’t include pregnancy.

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Should pregnant women be encouraged to shun hospital labour wards? | Milli Hill, Ellie Gibson, Joseph Harker

Nice guidelines now suggest that 45% of births are more suitable for midwife-led care. Our writers discuss their experiences

Choices cannot be fully free if they are rooted in fear, not fact. Nowhere is this illustrated more vividly than in the 21st-century birth room. Here is a place where the power dynamic is weighted heavily in favour of the experts, where information is not always given in an unbiased way and where fully grown women still talk in terms of what they are “allowed” or “not allowed” to do.

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The US is still the only developed country that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave

The US supreme court is hearing a pregnancy discrimination case that could have far-reaching effects for American women who work through their pregnancies

The US supreme court on Wednesday is hearing the case of 42-year-old Peggy Young, who sued her employer, UPS, for pregnancy discrimination. Young claims the shipping company refused to accommodate her pregnancy by giving her a temporary assignment to avoid lifting heavy packages.

But as the case unfolds, the US continues to shirk an even more basic pregnancy accommodation: maternity leave.

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UPS pregnancy discrimination case weighed by US supreme court

Justices begin hearing case of UPS employee Peggy Young with potential to affect many American women who continue to work throughout pregnancies

• Analysis: US only developed country that doesn’t offer paid maternity leave

The US supreme court is taking up a pregnancy discrimination case with the potential to affect many American women who continue to work throughout their pregnancies.

The case before the justices on Wednesday involves a former driver for UPS who wanted a temporary assignment to avoid lifting heavy packages after she became pregnant in 2006.

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If we truly valued motherhood, we would actually do something to help pregnant women | Jessica Valenti

For all of the court cases and conservative rhetoric, we’re failing global norms on nearly every policy that would support mothers, parents and families

• UPS employee takes pregnancy discrimination case to supreme court

We’ve all heard the platitudes: Motherhood is the most important job in the world. If mothers made a parenting salary – we’re chefs, chauffeurs, housekeepers and office managers! – we’d be bazillionaires.

Come on. We’re not even willing to let a pregnant woman hold on to a job.

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Low-risk pregnant women urged to avoid hospital births

NHS guidance from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence suggests 45% of births ‘unsuitable’ for labour wards

Women with low-risk pregnancies are to be encouraged to have non-hospital births under new NHS guidelines, which could see almost half of mothers-to-be planning to deliver their baby away from traditional labour wards.

Guidance from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says that midwife-led care has been shown to be safer for women and recommends that all women with low-risk pregnancies – 45% of the total – should be advised that giving birth in a midwifery-led unit, whether attached to a hospital or not, is “particularly suitable”.

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Gender selection: Australian couple spent $50,000 and travelled to US to have baby girl

Couple sought out gender selection treatment, which is illegal in Australia, after having three boys

With three sons already, Jayne Cornwill and her husband Jon were intent on having a baby girl to complete their “family puzzle”.

So much so, when it came to a fourth child, the couple decided to travel to the US for gender selection treatment – a controversial procedure banned in Australia.

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Eating for two ‘increases risk of obesity in babies’

Overweight mothers can affect child’s weight and health from very early age, warns new report

Health experts have highlighted a new approach in the fight against obesity: they want to target future mothers and advise them how to avoid giving birth to overweight children.

By helping women even before pregnancy, a key step could be taken to tackle Britain’s rising levels of obesity, according to a report published by the Infant and Toddler Forum last week.

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from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/30/eating-for-two-pregnancy-risk-obesity-babies

Christmas fashion: a guide for pregnant women

Dressing for the festive period is always tricky. When you’re pregnant, it is a minefield. Here are some top tips to see you through every seasonal occasion in style

Just because you’re shaped like a bauble, it doesn’t mean you have to look like one.

There are lots of exciting things about being pregnant. But maternity wear is certainly not one of them. Despite more fashion-forward brands than ever before, we mothers-to-be are still faced with a homogeneous sea of dark jersey and horrendous nana bras. And at no other time of year will those of us lugging a bump around feel the injustice of this more keenly than in the runup to Christmas. When the shops are awash with sparkly sequins, jewel colours and jolly jumpers, we’re left to forlornly nose through a couple of racks of black stretchy dresses and maternity jeans.

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We don't know why a mum abandoned her newborn baby. But we do know that the system fails mothers | Amy Gray

As crimes go, abandoning a newborn in a drain is awful. Cases like this are exceedingly rare, but our society’s neglect of mothers makes them possible

A woman has been charged with the attempted murder of her newborn son, whom police say she left for dead in a drain on Tuesday before he was found on Sunday by passersby. As crimes go, it’s horrific. Babies are fragile, dependent on the care of others for their every need. No matter how bad things get, we are still shocked when someone callously disregards a newborn’s safety.

There’s a temptation to dismiss this crime as a rarity. But crimes don’t happen in isolation. Australia routinely fails to provide critical psychiatric and prenatal care for new mothers. The fate of this newborn boy has a place within Australian society, with blame we must shoulder.

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My frozen sperm donation, my choice

Louise Bridge keeps her only chance of a child stored frozen in a London sperm bank. But will she ever use it? She can’t decide and time is running out

Somewhere, in an isolated room in a London hospital, is a small, frozen container, stored within a nitrogen tank, which has my name on it. Whether my name appears in a literal sense is debatable. I have never seen it. Its hold over me, however, is personal and continuous. It contains the frozen sperm of an anonymous donor of my choice.

In autumn 2012, I began in earnest to consider becoming a single mother.

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‘I can’t think of a time when it was worse’: US abortion doctors speak out

Curtis and Glenna Boyd have worked in US abortion clinics ever since Roe v Wade made the practice legal in 1973. Forty years on, restricted rights mean they have to practise under FBI protection

A couple emerge from a silver Sedan into an empty parking lot in north-eastern Dallas, Texas. They are carrying multiple bags and an elegant, three-tiered white cage, temporary home to their West African parrot, Tutu. The pair, in their late-60s and 70s, share a courtly, gentle manner and a Southern drawl, although his is more pronounced.

It is a Sunday morning, and the smart brick and smoked-glass clinic they have parked outside is closed. There are none of the protesters who, in the US, have come to signal the type of healthcare provided here: from the religiously motivated to abuse-hurling zealots, who gather outside abortion providers, particularly in the Bible belt. It is difficult to imagine the couple, Curtis Boyd, a silver-haired preacher-turned-physician, or his wife, Glenna Halvorson-Boyd, a psychologist and counsellor, on an FBI watch list as potential domestic terrorism targets. But they are.

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Childbirth simulator shock pads help men experience mothers' pain - video

A hospital in eastern China offers fathers-to-be a chance to experience the pain of childbirth using pads that induce an electric shock. Free sessions are held twice a week at Aima maternity hospital in Shandong province, and about 100 men have signed up. Pads attached to a device are placed above the abdomen, giving electric shocks that induce pain Continue reading...



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Lasting effect of foetal alcohol damage | @guardianletters

I helped promote abused childrens entitlement to criminal injuries compensation and a local authoritys duty to make application on behalf of children in their care. Both your editorial (6 November) and Simon Jenkins (Opinion, 7 November) assert that any compensation received would alleviate the burden on the council and be to their benefit. The implication is that councils are pursuing these applications in their self-interest. Upon what evidence are these statements based? My understanding is that any award would be directly to the child concerned. While it may be put in trust until the child achieves majority, it could not simply be used by the council to offset any costs of its statutory duty of care.

In raising the matter as far back as 1988, I sought to highlight the parlous situation of many children leaving care with little support, financial or otherwise. Would your writers not wish to pursue any avenue that might benefit a child who has suffered harm at the hands of another person? The issues of whether a foetus can have a legal identity and whether a crime has been committed are difficult, but its wrong to criticise a council for seeking to further the interests of a child in its care if there is an arguable case. For them to do otherwise would truly be a proper cause for concern.

Peter Ferguson

Castle Heather, Inverness

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Confessions of watching window cleaners | Emma Brockes

Im transfixed by New Yorks high guys, whether outside my window or cheating death above the World Trade Centers 68th floor

The apartment block opposite mine in New York is having its balconies refurbished, and every day men in a three-sided window-washing cart are hoisted up the side of the building to work on it. I see them now outside the 18th floor, struggling to anchor the rig to the wall with only a thin plastic mesh between them and oblivion.

Yesterdays footage of two men dangling in a broken cart outside the 68th floor of the new World Trade Center was a reminder of how dangerous a job this still is. According to Adam Higginbotham in the New Yorker last year, most of the window washers are South American. Its a close-knit community, passing down family lines, like fire-fighting. The first window-washing scaffold was introduced only in 1952. Before that, men would simply stand on a ledge and hang on by their finger tips.

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Pregnant schoolgirl mannequin display sparks debate on teen pregnancy in Venezuela video

Mannequins dressed as pregnant schoolgirls causes a stir at a shopping mall in Venezuela's capital, Caracas. The display, setup by two local charities, is intended to spark debate around sex education, with the country's teen pregnancy rates among the highest in South America. The charities involved say 23% of births in Venezuela are from women under 18 Continue reading...



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One in seven pregnant women could die in Ebola-hit countries, say charities

Fears that maternal death rates in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea could increase 20-fold as health facilities collapse

One in seven women in countries hit by the Ebola epidemic could die in pregnancy or childbirth because hospital services are overwhelmed, say charities.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea were among the countries with the highest maternal mortality rates in the world before Ebola broke out, but they were improving - women were more likely to go to a health facility to give birth and be delivered by a skilled health worker or midwife and their care was free of charge.

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Our addiction to criminalising human behaviour makes a mockery of private responsibility | Simon Jenkins

From drinking while pregnant to urinating on a war memorial, the laws ambition has no limits

If poisoning your foetus with alcohol is a crime, why is it not a crime to abort it? If alcoholism in pregnancy is attempted manslaughter, as a QC told the court of appeal this week, surely abortion is murder. Indeed if alcoholism before birth criminally harms a babys life, what about alcoholism and a dozen other cruelties after birth? How many are the misdeeds we inflict on our children to which Britains cult of criminality should now turn its attention?

We need a philosopher as Raymond Chandler would say and we need one fast. All we get are bloody lawyers. The motive for this weeks court case in London had nothing to do with the health of mother or child. It was blatantly financial. A local council is acting on behalf of a seven-year-old girl CP who suffers from acute foetal alcohol syndrome. The claimed cause was her mothers drinking during pregnancy. The suit is intended to shift the cost of caring for her from the council to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority on the grounds that the girl is victim of violence against the person.

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Dont turn mothers who drink into criminals | Joanna Moorhead

Women with a drink or drug problem need support not condemnation. But are we prepared to help them?

Should women who drink excessively while pregnant be criminalised? That question is at the root of a legal test case whose ruling is expected later this month: it concerns a seven-year-old child with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Lawyers acting on her behalf are arguing that she is entitled to a payout from the government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme because her medical condition is directly linked to her mothers drinking habits during pregnancy.

Since in UK law foetuses have no rights, its hard to imagine that compensation will be granted to do so would change the whole basis of the way the unborn are regarded in our society. But leaving that aside, and given that FAS is entirely preventable, and leaves a child with a severely compromised life, is this something we should be open to rethinking?

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The Guardian view on criminalising drinking in pregnancy: no cheers | Editorial

Who will benefit from the bid to criminalise a woman who damaged her baby by drinking in pregnancy?

The law takes some odd turns, but claiming that a woman who drinks during pregnancy might be behaving criminally towards her unborn child is reaching for the absurd. Yet that is more or less where lawyers in the court of appeal are heading by arguing that a pregnant womans alcoholism is equivalent to attempted manslaughter of her unborn daughter. The aim is to win a payout from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, which would lift a burden from the council that pays for the childs care now. It would also risk making any woman who drinks to excess in pregnancy a potential criminal.

The legal case rests on the argument that a foetus has an existence as a person with rights that can be balanced against its mothers. This is an argument that, in recognition of the unique biological relationship between a mother and her foetus, has always been denied. But if it were accepted, then the local authority could claim that a mothers drinking amounted to a criminal act against her daughter, for which the child could get compensation. There are said to be 80 similar cases in the pipeline.

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Is alcohol during pregnancy harmful?

The NHS advises pregnant women to avoid alcohol altogether, though a 2010 study suggests it is safe to drink in moderation



Mothers drinking like attempted manslaughter, court told

Binge-drinking in pregnancy is harmful to the baby in the womb that much is undisputed. Foetal alcohol syndrome is well-studied and talked about and can lead to facial deformities, liver, kidney and heart problems, cerebral palsy and other serious health issues.

The damage occurs in the early weeks of a pregnancy and only if the woman is drinking very heavily. But the existence of this fairly rare syndrome, with devastating effects on the unborn child, influences much of the debate around whether it is safe for pregnant women to drink alcohol at all, although experts also focus on an increased risk of miscarriage in the first three months.

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Foetal damage caused by alcohol equivalent to attempted manslaughter

Lawyers pursuing compensation claim on behalf of child, say mothers heaving drinking constitutes crime of poisoning

Severe damage inflicted on an unborn baby by her mothers heavy drinking during pregnancy was equivalent to attempted manslaughter, the court of appeal has been told.

Opening a claim for compensation on behalf of the girl, now seven, lawyers argued that she was entitled to payments from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

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Dont judge Robbie Williams for live-tweeting his little angels birth | Ally Fogg

Theres an awful lot of hanging around involved in childbirth, and Ayda Field didnt seem to mind, so whats the problem?

Any fathers or fathers-to-be who have sat through the ritual of antenatal classes should be well versed in the litany of dos and donts we are expected to observe in the final crucial hours leading up to the birth. Do be patient and understanding. Dont get in the way of the midwife. Do be prepared to offer lots of backrubs and massages. Dont pop to the pub for a couple of hours to watch the match, that kind of thing. I dont recall anyone telling me not to live blog the whole messy business to 2.3 million Twitter followers, but then Im not Robbie Williams.

Over the course of 24 hours yesterday, Williams shared about a dozen photos and videos, mostly about 20 seconds long, of him and his wife, the actor Ayda Field, goofing around in the delivery suite. The eighth and final video shows the two of them happily and proudly announcing the birth of their second child, as yet unnamed, but a healthy 8lb 2oz boy.

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'Stop singing Frozen!': Robbie Williams sings as wife gives birth video

Robbie Williams has uploaded a video of himself singing Let it Go from the Disney film Frozen as his wife goes through labour. Visibly in pain, Ayda Field eventually tells him to 'stop singing Frozen!'. The singer tweeted his way through the birth and liveblogged and uploaded videos to his YouTube page. Field gave birth to a baby boy Continue reading...



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High-fliers have more babies, according to study

Growing wealth divide allows career women who can afford childcare to have families, say US economists

It has long been considered a fact of modern life that highly educated women have fewer children. Received wisdom has it that women with university degrees go on to pursue careers and often end up starting their families later than other women. As a result they tend to have fewer children than average.

However, a study to be published in the Economic Journal suggests that this view no longer holds true, and that there has been a significant increase in the fertility rates of highly educated women in the last three decades.

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Three stories of how digital payments are changing healthcare delivery

Projects from Pakistan to Tanzania are showing how mobile money is facilitating both access to finance and to healthcare

According to a 2013 USAid report, public health schemes rely heavily on cash: to make payments for medical services, to pay health workers, to buy drugs at pharmacies. Yet it is becoming increasingly apparent that digital payments in rural, remote areas settings are quicker, easier, and safer. The likelihood of fraud drops as fewer hands are needed to transfer the money. And the transaction costs decline, making it cheaper for providers to reach rural populations. This translates into scale - a sought after goal in most public health projects - enabling organisations to cover larger areas with their services.

A digital trail also allows for easy data collection, auditing, and transparency, all of which is essential in health programming. Ultimately, USAid suggests programmes could create sustainable business models, becoming less dependant on donor funding and build relationships with new corporate partners. But what is the evidence?

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More than 1,000 pregnant women could lose Newstart under budget plan

Pregnant women not exempt from proposal to take unemployed people under 30 off income support for six months at a time

More than 1,000 unemployed pregnant women could be stripped of Newstart for months at a time under the governments planned earn or learn policy, new figures have revealed.

Pregnant women are not exempt from the governments proposal to take unemployed people under 30 off income support for six months at a time, a budget measure which is likely to be blocked in the Senate.

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Sad state of support for new families | @guardianletters

Your report (£8bn cost of mental illness in maternity, 20 October) made me very sad. I have been involved for 13 years in Home Start, a charity that supports young families, many of which suffer from postnatal depression, by supporting them with trained volunteers in their homes until they feel able to cope. Our small branch supported 68 families with 159 children last year. However, earlier this year, our funding from the county council and health authority ceased after 17 years and weve been unable to attract other funding to continue supporting young families in this area. We have been turned down by some funders as we are not considered a deprived area. We still have a team of trained volunteers and referrals from health visitors but are unable to respond without funding. Government and local authority policies are shortsighted and by cutting costs this way create more problems.

Susan Eden

Denford, Northamptonshire

As is suggested in the Maternal Mental Health Alliances report, the cost of £8bn a year is likely to be an underestimate with considerably greater expenditure if the calculations include the cost of educational intervention and support. Children who, through no fault of their own, do not experience good care in the early stages of life very often later require specialised staff and resources in schools. In over 25 years of working in some of the most deprived parts of the north-east, Ive witnessed the disastrous effects of poverty and poor care on childrens wellbeing and education. As you also report in the same issue (Council asks: what would you cut?) the effects of austerity (aka extreme poverty) on the capacity of key agencies to make a difference is increasing. Thus, at the present rate we should, sadly, be expecting an above-inflation rate of increase on the £8bn already cited. When will we start to join up the dots?

Dr Simon Gibbs

Reader in educational psychology, programme director for initial training in educational psychology, and head of education, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, University of Newcastle

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Underwater pregnancy in pictures

Florida-based photographer Adam Opriss latest project features pregnant women underwater, giving them the appearance of mermaids

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By removing photos of childbirth, Facebook is censoring powerful female images | Milli Hill

Birth is a fundamental feminist issue right now - womens bodies should not be sanitised. Facebook should let us see it as it is

If I say a woman giving birth, what is the first image that comes into your head? Give me details: is she upright or on her back, covered or naked, calm or in distress? What are her surroundings? Who attends her and are they touching her? Who is delivering her baby?

In western culture we have a certain set of presumptions about birth that are so tightly set out they would feel restrictive, if only we could notice them. Like a swaddled baby, we feel the comfort of the familiar, and often do not have a reference point for any other way of being. So birth is difficult, painful, to be feared. It is necessary to be on our backs so that our attendants, who understand the process better than we do, can see. It takes place in hospital. There is machinery, a sense of panic. The first hands to touch the baby are those of the expert attendants, for it is they who deliver it.

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Judge approves caesarean for mentally ill woman

Woman, who is in her 30s and suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, had childlike vision of babies popping out

A judge has given doctors the go-ahead to perform a caesarean section on a mentally-ill woman who is 39 weeks pregnant.

Mrs Justice Roberts said on Tuesday she was satisfied that a planned caesarean section was in the womans best interests and satisfied that the woman did not have the mental capacity to make decisions about treatment.

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Gaps in mental health care for new mothers cost UK £8bn a year study

Maternal Mental Health Alliance says NHS would need to spend £337m a year to bring care up to recommended levels

Substandard mental health care for pregnant women and new mothers is creating long-term costs of more than £8bn every year, according to a pioneering study of the effects of maternal depression, anxiety and other illnesses.

The report, produced by the London School of Economics and the Centre for Mental Health charity, represents the first time academics have sought to quantify not just the direct economic impact on affected mothers, but the effect over decades on their childrens prospects, both in terms of development in the womb and during the crucial early years.

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Postnatal depression: I went downhill very fast

Joanna Friend was given tranquillisers and antidepressants, and spent a week on a psychiatric unit when she relapsed

Joanna Friend, from Woodbury, near Exeter, Devon, first experienced depression and anxiety five days after the birth of her first son: I started feeling an intense anxiety, and I went downhill very fast I was lying on the floor crying and asking for people to help me. It got so bad a friend said I needed to call the mental health crisis team.

With no specialist care available Friend, now 36, was given tranquillisers and antidepressants, which required her to stop breastfeeding. After six months she was able to go off medication, only to relapse 18 months later, when she became pregnant with her younger son.

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More than half of babies born to women over 30 for first time, figures show

ONS statisticians cite increased female participation in labour force as one reason for trend in women delaying childbirth

More than half of babies in England and Wales are born to women aged at least 30, according to the latest figures.

Just over 50% of the 698,512 children born last year had mothers who were 30 or older, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, the first time since records began in 1938.

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My baby will be mixed race. So why did I automatically think of him as 'black'? | Victoria Bond

I picked a black baby to represent my unborn child on a cake because of my own adherence to the one-drop rule

My 87-year-old grandmother has a very specific way of saying the word black: she drags out the a and makes the k extra hard for an effect that drowns the c. Blaaaak out of my grandmothers mouth is an admonishment, not a color. Blaaaak out of my grandmothers mouth travels a step beyond being a pejorative to having the hair-raising resonance of a word that damns as well as describes damnation itself.

Blaaaak out of my grandmothers mouth is a curse.

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Lets talk about miscarriage

Women and men often feel reluctant to discuss what is a distressing and bewildering - but far from rare - experience, writes Claire Daly in the run-up to International Baby Loss Awareness Day

One in five pregnancies are thought to end in a miscarriage, yet though it is commonplace, such a loss can be emotionally paralysing. Many women and men feel reluctant to talk about what is often a distressing and bewildering but far from rare experience.

After I wrote an article for the Guardian about a miscarriage I had in 2013 I was shocked at the scale of the response. Everyone wants to talk about, but no one wants to be the one to bring it up, one woman told me.

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Pregnant women shouldnt be policed by media hype on binge drinking | Lola Okolosie

If women are seeking abortions because of fears they have damaged their foetus, it shows how ingrained the message is that were unfit to control our pregnant bodies

The day before I discovered I was pregnant with my son, Id shared nearly two bottles of red wine with a good friend. It was more than three glasses or six units; Id thus been binge drinking.

As the faint blue line of the white stick deepened in intensity, my mind raced back. Visions of midweek drinks followed by longer weekend sessions filtered through, and I was mortified. Weeks had gone by where I was ignorant of my pregnancy. Had I caused the foetus irrevocable harm? Luckily for me, I had friends whod been in exactly my position. My worries were assuaged. I was told it would be fine; rather than fretting, I should enjoy this new reality.

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Surgeons behind womb transplant: 'it was like having your own child' - video

The surgical team behind the first successful womb transplant say they are delighted with the result. The Swedish mother who received the womb gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Vincent. 'No one could really believe it,' says Liza Johannesson, one of the surgeons who helped carry out the procedure. 'It was like having your own child' Continue reading...



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Womb transplant birth worth the risk, says mother

First woman to give birth from transplanted uterus says pregnancy option was perfect idea despite lack of guarantees

The first woman to have given birth from a transplanted womb has said the reward made the risks of the procedure worthwhile.

The 36-year-old Swede and her partner have named the baby boy Vincent, which means to win in Latin. The mother learned at the age of 15 that she was born without a womb a condition that affects one in 4,500 women.

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British woman dies after botched caesarean in France

Public prosecutor says the Belgian anaesthetist, who has been charged with manslaughter, appeared drunk during operation

An anaesthetist has been charged with manslaughter after a British woman died following a botched caesarean operation to deliver her first child.

The baby boy was delivered safely last Friday night, but the 28-year-old mother, who was living in France, was rushed to hospital in a coma from which she never recovered.

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Designer babies? It looks like racism and eugenics to me | Julie Bindel

The case of a lesbian couple suing a sperm bank over their black donor has laid bare the ethical minefield of the gayby boom

The designer baby trend has been laid bare with the case of a lesbian couple who are suing a sperm bank after one of them became pregnant with sperm donated by an African American instead of the white donor they had chosen. The birth mother, Jennifer Cramblett, was five months pregnant in 2012 when she and her partner learned that the Midwest Sperm Bank near Chicago had selected the wrong donor. Cramblett said she decided to sue to prevent the sperm bank from making the same mistake again, and is apparently seeking a minimum of $50,000 (£30,000) in damages.

I understand concerns about mixed-race babies being raised by white parents in white neighbourhoods. Suffering racism at school or in the streets and having to go home to a white family that cannot properly understand or offer informed support can make it significantly worse. But those that make use of commercial services in order to reproduce should be prepared to move house if something unexpected arises. After all, a child can be born with a disability that requires care that is unavailable locally.

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Should egg-freezing be available to all women? | Poll

With many women delaying pregnancy then subsequently having problems conceiving, some experts are recommending the option of early egg freezing to all. Is this a sensible solution? Continue reading...



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Low postpartum oxytocin levels linked to poor mother-daughter bond

Australian study finds women with troubled relationship with their mother may struggle to bond with their own children

Women who have trouble bonding with their mothers are more likely to suffer from low levels of the hormone oxytocin after they give birth, leaving them struggling to bond with their own children, landmark Australian research has found.

It is the first time a link has been made between oxytocin, bonding and separation anxiety, a condition where people constantly check on their loved ones and worry something bad might happen to them.

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Lifestyle changes could prevent half of all cases of diabetes during pregnancy

Smoking, poor diet, inactivity and being overweight increase risk of developing gestational diabetes by up to 48%, says study

Nearly half of all cases of diabetes during pregnancy could be prevented if women ate well, exercised regularly and stopped smoking before and during pregnancy, according to a study.

Gestational diabetes is a common pregnancy complication that has long-term adverse health implications for both mothers and babies.

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Hyperemesis gravidarum: 'Kate Middleton's ongoing condition is much worse than just morning sickness'

Doctors can be slow to realise how debilitating the condition can be for pregnant mothers, as I know from experience, says Miriam Phillips

So, it would seem the whole world knows about hyperemesis gravidarum now it is a royal problem too. Earlier this month Kate Middleton was forced to cancel her visit to Malta, her first solo royal tour, because, due to her second pregnancy, she is again suffering from the condition. For those of you who havent been briefed yet: no, it is not just morning sickness and no, drinking flat coke or eating a ginger biscuit wont make it stop.

Quite frankly, the comparison of hyperemesis to morning sickness is like breaking your arm in several places and then being told youve just knocked your funny bone. Hopefully, this increased media attention will help the poor expectant mums, who like me, were wiped out by the condition.

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Are you a good mother? Stop asking and just enjoy being a parent | Jessica Valenti

Youre sure to get two things when you become a mother: a cute baby and a brutal inferiority complex

I came across a parental treasure trove recently: a batch of videos of my daughter that I had previously thought lost. She was about one year old at the time, when I was still a postpartum mess because of her early and traumatic birth. I dont have a lot of clear memories from that period, but I had been figuring that I was a terrible mom back then. I was so emotionally checked out and in turmoil, I thought, how could I possibly be anything but?

But when I watched these videos of me singing to Layla, doing the alphabet with her, or somewhat embarrassingly trying to get her to dance to A Tribe Called Quest a different picture started to emerge. The unkind image of myself as a bad mom, which Id built up in my head for three years and counting, fell apart with every smile from her, every laugh from behind the camera. I hadnt been a bad mom at all. Actually ... it sort of seemed as if I was great.

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Surrogacy boom in Mexico brings tales of missing money and stolen eggs

Gestational mothers and new parents tell of dark side of industry that operates in legal grey area

Five days after her caesarean section, Nancy boarded a night bus in the southern Mexican city of Villahermosa and made the 10-hour journey back to her home in the capital. Instead of a baby, she nursed a wad of bills buried in a blue handbag she never let out of her sight.

The cash was the final instalment of her 150,000-peso (£7,000) fee to be a surrogate mother for a gay couple from San Francisco. After a traumatic year that included being all but abandoned by the agency supposedly looking after her, and being falsely accused of demanding additional cash to hand over the baby, Nancy was not so sure it had been worth it. I just wanted to get my money, go home, rest and forget about it all, said the 24-year-old, sitting in her tiny apartment in a poor barrio of Mexico City. And now the money is all gone.

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Caesarean section rates in South Africa recklessly high, warn experts

Up to 90% of pregnant private hospital patients opt for C-section in parts of Cape Town, far exceeding WHO limit of 15%

More than two in three South African mothers in private hospitals give birth by caesarean section, way above the international average, research has shown.

Experts estimate that in wealthy areas 80% choose to have a caesarean, and in some hospitals in Cape Town the rate exceeds 90%, despite the cost being higher than a natural birth. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises a maximum of 15% caesareans per country.

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Giving birth and boozing? The risks of drinking during pregnancy

With new research published about the harms of binge drinking while pregnant, what is the evidence around what, if any, is too much alcohol?

Deciding whether to drink alcohol during pregnancy is a confusing business. Anecdotally, viewpoints on the matter range from testimonies of I drank through the whole of my pregnancy and my child turned out fine to reports of bartenders refusing to serve alcohol to pregnant women. Recommended guidelines from health professionals are highly variable, with some doctors recommending complete abstinence and others suggesting that occasional light drinking is unlikely to cause harm to the baby.

The evidence base for the detrimental effects of alcohol abuse during pregnancy is well established, but less is known about the impact of light or heavy social drinking in pregnancy. This week, a new study published in the journal of European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found evidence that drinking during pregnancy might be a risk factor for later childhood problems. It therefore seems timely to ask; when it comes to social alcohol use in pregnancy, how much is too much?

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Poorer women experience worse care during pregnancy, says study

Women less likely to have seen doctors and have higher chance of hospital admissions and unplanned caesarean deliveries

Women in low-income groups experience worse care during pregnancy, with the most deprived being 60% less likely to have received any antenatal care when compared with the least deprived, according to a study.

Researchers from Oxford University's National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit also found that the most deprived women in England were 38% less likely to have been seen by a health professional prior to 12 weeks' gestation and 47% less likely to report being able to see one as early as they desired.

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Male birth control: if you build it, will they come? | Jessica Valenti

A scientific breakthrough has gone viral, and it works. Except for one thing: guys who already hate wearing condoms have to get a needle in their penis first

Do you know how hard it is to get a man to wear a condom? Its so difficult that the Gates Foundation launched a contest last year for people to create a next-generation condom to increase pleasure in the hopes that men would actually use it. Planned Parenthood even provides people with a script of thing to say when your partner refuses to wear one.

So youll have to excuse my trepidation when Im told that the next revolution in male birth control doesnt involve something guys have to wear, but something theyll happily inject ... and not in their arms.

Open contributions: Why or why not?

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I dont love my colleague, but shes having my baby | Mariella Frostrup

A man who feels he was tricked into getting a colleague pregnant doesnt know what to do, especially as she wants to get married. Mariella Frostrup says he should focus on the child

If you have a dilemma, send a brief email to mariella.frostrup@observer.co.uk

The dilemma I have a female colleague who has, over the past three years, told me she loves me and would like to marry me. The problem is that I do not love her and I have told her that. I used to be in a relationship with another girl, but we recently broke up. In April I was at a low point and my colleague visited me and we had sex, and now she is pregnant. The dilemma I have now is that she insists that I marry her because the child will need a father and a mother. However I cannot marry her because I do not love her. At the same time I do not want to lose my child. I also feel betrayed because I think she took advantage of my stresses and now she has leverage. I am not sure if I can forgive her for that. Please advise what I should do.

Mariella replies Leverage? Thats hardly the best way to describe an unborn child. No matter what the history behind your present conundrum, theres now a third persons wellbeing you need to add to the equation. This child youve created is not a bargaining chip but a human being. Remember that no matter how much both of your behaviour suggests flaws in the description, you are the adults here.

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I craved Monster Munch when I was pregnant

The singer recalls being pregnant on a butchery course and reveals why she likes airplane food

My parents had me young and Id often go to restaurants and dinner parties with them and their friends and Id be the only child there. Id draw on napkins and say Im bored! and be told Well, you have to suggest topics to talk about, Sophie.

I remember when I was four going to Kenya with mum, when she was doing Blue Peter, and I was shown a live lobster which was then cooked for our supper, which is quite a dramatic moment when youre four.

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Were naming the baby after Noel Edmonds!

As Stuart Heritage and his girlfriend get ready for parenthood, he explains why the TV presenter is his guiding light

My child hasnt been born yet, but I already know that Im going to be a terrible parent. The worst. Im going to be fussy and overattentive. Im going to micromanage the hell out of everything it ever does. Im going to live in a constant state of panic. Theres a pretty good chance that Im going to name it after Noel Edmonds, too. My child is bound to hate me for all this but, to be frank, its probably got it coming.

Weve already come quite close to losing our baby and the thought of going through anything like that again has already sent me into a death-spiral of emotional suffocation that wont let up until it moves out. Having kids, Im starting to discover, is going to be a right pain in the arse.

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Prenatal alcohol consumption linked to mental health problems

Children whose mothers drink four units of alcohol even once are more likely to suffer from hyperactivity, study shows

Children of mothers who drink as little as four units of alcohol in a day even once while pregnant are at greater risk of developing mental health problems and doing less well at school, new research claims.

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New Jersey mother fights for removal from abuse registry over prescribed methadone use during pregnancy

Woman in appeals after being found culpable of abuse and neglect of unborn baby despite being supervised by doctor

A mother in New Jersey is fighting to have her name removed from the child abuse register after she was found culpable of abuse and neglect of her unborn baby because she took methadone during pregnancy, even though the treatment was prescribed and supervised by a doctor.

The woman, identified only as YN in court documents, has protested the abuse finding to the New Jersey supreme court, the highest judicial panel in the state. On Monday the courts six justices considered the legal arguments behind her censure.

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Anti-abortion websites masquerade as pregnancy counsellors

Womens health groups concerned that women are being misled about mortality rates, suicide and drug taking

Anti-abortion websites posing as objective pregnancy counselling websites are telling women mortality rates for women 10 years after having an abortion are much higher than for women who give birth to children and linking it with rises in suicide and drug taking. The claims have no credible scientific backing.

The websites, easily found through Google, say they are run by independent or non-biased organisations but have an anti-abortion agenda.

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Panda accused of faking pregnancy for more buns and bamboo was maligned

Claims that Ai Hin was faking pregnancy to get better treatment have been debunked by leading panda expert

Claims that a six-year-old panda faked signs of pregnancy in order to receive better treatment from her conservation centre carers have been dubunked by one of China's leading panda experts.

China's state newswire Xinhua reported on Tuesday that Ai Hin may have deliberately demonstrated tell-tale signs of panda pregnancy, including "reduced appetite, less mobility and a surge in progestational hormone".

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Six reasons why women should fake a pregnancy | Naomi McAuliffe

A panda in China has duped its keepers into giving it more food by appearing to be pregnant. You too can reap the benefits of a faked foetus

There we were thinking pandas were stupid, that they were an evolutionary dead-end that could not even reproduce without the help of the Chinese state. But it seems we have underestimated them. A giant panda by the name of Ai Hin fooled her keepers into thinking she was pregnant to get more food. Perhaps humans have something to learn from Ai Hin that if more women faked a pregnancy we too could reap the benefits. If pregnancy and childcare are going to continue to hamper womens career progression, earning potential and ultimate equality, perhaps we need to play it more to our advantage. Its a high-risk, short-term strategy, but here are some of the benefits you might receive before people start realising there is no bun in your oven.

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Commercial overseas surrogacy more dangerous, Australian study finds

Higher levels of multiple pregnancies and premature births overseas sparks calls for Australian ban to be lifted

Australians entering into commercial surrogacy arrangements overseas experience high levels of multiple pregnancies and premature births, placing the health of the surrogate and their children at risk, new research has found.

It has prompted leading surrogacy experts and researchers to call for an urgent review of Australias commercial surrogacy laws, and follows calls last week from high-profile family lawyers for the ban on commercial surrogacy in Australia to be lifted.

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Interpol investigates 'baby factory' as man fathers 16 children

Lawyer for Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, says the businessman simply wants a large family and has the means to support it

Interpol has launched an investigation into an alleged "baby factory" after it emerged that a Japanese businessman had fathered 16 surrogate children and expressed a desire for many more.

Police raided a home in Bangkok earlier this month, finding nine babies with nine nannies. Mitsutoki Shigeta, 24, has been identified as the father of each of them, as well as seven more. Authorities are looking into his motives, which he says are benign.

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When surrogacy delivers a happy outcome: the story of baby Roman

Were not ashamed, were not embarrassed, and I dont think it should be something thats frowned upon

When Roman Samaras is old enough to understand, his parents will show him a book they are putting together about how he came into the world. Therell be the usual things like ultrasound scans and photographs of him as a newborn. Therell also be pictures of a Thai woman, Romans surrogate mother, at various stages of pregnancy, and copies of contracts between his parents Peter Foster and Sam Samaras and their surrogacy agency, Talent IVF.

Were going to tell him the truth, says Foster. He and his partner of 12 years brought Roman home to the tiny West Australian town of Tom Price in March. Its important that he knows. Were not ashamed, were not embarrassed, and I dont think it should be something thats frowned upon.

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Ireland and abortion: the law is failing women

The latest case of a woman denied an abortion and forced to have a caesarean shows the situation for vulnerable women is still dire



'Ireland's abortion laws made me feel like a criminal'

A young woman, variously described as "suicidal", an "immigrant", and a "rape victim", tried to demand an abortion under Ireland's widely promoted but ultimately useless abortion legislation. What she got was a state-mandated caesarean section at 25 weeks and a premature infant placed into the care of the state.

People often ask why I set up Abortion Support Network, an almost entirely volunteer-run charity that helps women living in Ireland and Northern Ireland have access to abortions. The story that's been splashed over the news in the past few days is a pretty good reason. As are many of the 345 calls or emails we've received this year asking for our help.

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Maternal mortality? Its just poor African and Asian women dying | Liz Ford

With 500 days until the millennium development goals expire, targets on maternal and reproductive health will not be met

Esther Worae believes a key part of her job is to preach the message of contraception. Along with her team from the Marie Stopes clinic in Accra, she goes to places that attract a crowd the beach, the marketplace to talk to people about the value of family planning, the dangers of early marriage and the importance of women having access to all of the healthcare services they may need to prevent them dying from pregnancy or childbirth.

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Man arrested after allegedly punching his pregnant partner in the stomach

16-year-old girl miscarries, following the incident in Oldham, Greater Manchester

A man in Greater Manchester has been arrested on suspicion of "child destruction" after he allegedly punched his pregnant partner in the stomach, causing her to lose the baby.

The 16-year-old girl was seven months pregnant when she miscarried on Thursday this week, following the domestic incident at Copster Hill Park in Oldham.

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Surrogate children's parents must prove custody when they leave Thailand

Authorities demand documents from foreigners as clampdown sees two Australian and two US couples detained

Thai authorities are now asking all foreign couples leaving the country with surrogate children to produce proof of custody after a recent spate of surrogacy scandals has forced police to clamp down on the largely unregulated industry.

The news follows the detainment of four couples two Australian and two American who tried to fly out of Bangkok this week but were held by immigration authorities amid sudden plans to overhaul existing surrogacy laws.

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'I was fired for having a miscarriage': the truth about pregnancy and work

Six out of 10 mothers believe their careers suffered after they became pregnant. How have you found managing pregnancy, motherhood and work?

What was it like, returning to work post-baby from maternity leave? Did the icy finger of dread work its way down your spine as you opened up your inbox, or slipped back into your uniform? Did you have to take your seat alongside your "temporary" - perhaps male - replacement, unsure of your place in the organisation? You're not alone.

This week, London law firm Slater & Gordon published the results of a survey looking at the lives of working mothers. The figures are pretty stark: six out of 10 mothers think their careers were derailed after they became pregnant, believing that they were denied opportunities and had to work to prove themselves all over again once they returned to work. Nearly half of mothers polled said less maternity leave would have meant they were taken more seriously, and 60% also said they felt their career options were limited as soon as they declared their pregnancy.

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Australians hit by Thai surrogacy ban are 'pawns in a disastrous game'

Lawyer says baby Gammy case affects up to 200 Australian couples as four couples are stopped at Bangkok airport

Up to 200 Australian couples affected by Thailand barring surrogate babies from leaving the country without a court order in the wake of the baby Gammy case are now pawns in a disastrous game, a leading surrogacy lawyer says.

ABC reported that two Australian homosexual couples and two American couples were stopped by police at Bangkok airport on Thursday afternoon amid plans by the country to overhaul its surrogacy laws.

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Thailand to ban commercial surrogacy in wake of Gammy scandal

Military government approve draft law that will effectively stop foreign couples paying for pregnancies in the country

Thailand's military government gave preliminary approval for a draft law to make commercial surrogacy a criminal offence, following a spate of dramatic surrogacy scandals in the past two weeks.

The case of an Australian couple accused of abandoning their Down syndrome son with his Thai surrogate mother unleashed an international outcry over the "wombs for hire" business that rights groups say preys on poor and vulnerable women in countries such as India and Thailand.

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Alps rescue team eschew helicopters for foggy mountain climb to deliver baby

Tyrol team of 17 ascend 2,350 metres on foot to aid woman in premature labour and deliver her son on mountainside

A team of 15 mountain rescuers accompanied by a doctor and a gynaecologist climbed 2,350 metres on foot up the Austrian Alps to help deliver a baby.

The mother of the baby had been staying at a mountain hut in the eastern Tyrol region when she went into premature labour at 7am Tuesday morning, reportedly 24 weeks into her pregnancy.

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Baby Gammys sad story is not the only side to surrogacy I know it can work | Bonita Dordel

International surrogacy could do with some regulation, but its all too easy to pass moral judgment

I have three daughters. The youngest, twins Kiara and Francesca, were born through surrogacy. The tragic case of baby Gammy, a twin born through surrogacy with Downs syndrome and a heart condition, led me to despair. Not only because of the story itself, but also over the incredible lack of understanding of the issues involved and the reactionary language used by some commentators.

Surrogacy usually features in the media in one of two ways. When it involves celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker or Elton John, it is presented in the fawning style favoured by Hello magazine. Either that, or it hits the headlines because either the intended parents or the surrogate has reneged on the agreement, with tragic consequences for all.

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Gammy's mother says she is concerned about adoptive father's history of child abuse - video

At a press conference, Pattaramon Janbua, the Thai surrogate mother of baby Gammy, says she is worried that Australian court documents are reported to show the adoptive father of the twins has previously abused at least three girls under the age of 13. She is concerned about Gammy's twin sister and has asked for her to be returned to her care Continue reading...



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Gammy's mother demands his sister's return over child abuse allegations

Thai surrogate mother wants the girl she says is Gammys twin back over claims the alleged Australian father has convictions

The Thai surrogate mother of baby Gammy has asked for the baby she says is his twin sister to be returned to her after it was reported that the Australian alleged to be the father of both children has a criminal record for child abuse.

Pattaramon Chanbua claims she was left to care for Gammy after the Australian and his wife took their daughter home but abandoned him. Gammy was born with Downs syndrome and a hole in his heart.

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Baby Gammy needs our support. So do women coerced into surrogacyy | Sonia Allan

Commercial surrogacy is not the answer. While we rally to support baby Gammy and his Thai family, we should also ensure that women are protected from exploitation

Commercial surrogacy has once again captured the attention of the world with the story of baby Gammy, a twin conceived as a result of a commercial surrogacy arrangement between a Thai national (whose family was in significant debt) and an Australian commissioning couple who reportedly offered her $11,700.

When it was discovered baby Gammy had Down Syndrome, the surrogate mother was told to abort. She refused on religious grounds, and was allegedly left to care for the child, without financial support, while his healthy twin sister was taken by the commissioning couple to Australia. Details concerning whether the Australian couple knew of baby Gammy, and the role the agency and others may have played in the events are evolving, but public outrage ensued and donations for Gammy soon came flooding in.

Here is a little secret for all of you. There is a lot of treachery and deception in IVF/fertility/surrogacy because there is gobs of money to be made.

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Baby Gammy may be given Australian citizenship, government suggests

Campaigners also say infant with Down's syndrome 'abandoned' to Thai surrogate should have right to Australian healthcare

The Australian government has suggested that a child apparently abandoned to its surrogate mother in Thailand after being born with Down's syndrome may be given Australian citizenship.

The seven-month-old child, who is currently in hospital in Thailand for treatment of a life-threatening lung infection and will need further operations for a heart condition, has sparked a worldwide debate on the rules surrounding international surrogacy.

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The case of baby Gammy shows surrogacy for the repulsive trade it is | Suzanne Moore

Pattaramon Chanbua is another victim of this twisted version of slavery, in which poor women are disposable receptacles for the privileged

At the age of 21 Pattaramon Chanbua already has two children, aged six and three. She works on a food stall in a small seaside town south-east of Bangkok. It is an extremely hard existence. When offered A$16,000 (£9,000) to become a surrogate mother for an Australian couple she saw a way out: The money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children; two, we can repay our debt.

We only know about her because of a baby boy called Gammy, one of the twins she gave birth to seven months ago. Gammy has Downs syndrome and a congenital heart condition, and according to Chanbua, the Australian parents took Gammys twin sister but left him. The outrage this has provoked has resulted in donations being made online to fund medical care for Gammy.

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Surrogacy campaigners fear Australia ban after Down's syndrome case

Thailand surrogacy trade investigated after woman claims Australian parents refused to take baby with Down's syndrome

Surrogacy campaigners have called for clearer regulations after claims by a Thai woman that she was left with a baby with Down's syndrome after his Australian parents refused to take him but instead took his healthy twin sister.

An online campaign to raise funds for urgent medical treatment for the seven-month old boy, named Gammy, reached £175,000 as fears were expressed that the case could lead to Australia banning international surrogacy.

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More than 1,500 UK babies born addicted to drugs each year

NHS figures show increase of 22% in number of cases over last 10 years from 1,192 in 2004-5 to 1,536 in past 12 months

More than 1,500 babies are born addicted to drugs every year, NHS figures show.

They include cases where doctors have been forced to give opiates to babies in order to wean them off heroin.

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Criminalising pregnant women who drink is a ploy to restrict their freedom | Rebecca Schiller

If the UK apes the US and punishes pregnant women, we will be heading towards a dystopia akin to that in The Handmaids Tale



Alcohol abuse in pregnancy could become a crime

Margaret Atwoods 1985 novel The Handmaids Tale seems to have moved from fiction to prophecy, with news of a court case in England that could lead to the prosecution of women who drink alcohol while pregnant.

Nothing changes instantaneously, wrote Atwood, in a gradually heating bathtub, youd be boiled to death before you knew it. She was referring to the gradual deterioration of an imagined liberal society where an increasingly draconian state imposes laws on womens sexual, reproductive and basic human freedoms. Her prescience was startling.

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Baby born by emergency caesarean after mother dies in Gaza shelling

Doctors save newborn after woman who was eight months pregnant was buried by rubble at her home in Deir al-Balah

When the doctors gently pulled the tiny newborn from the womb in an emergency caesarean, her mother had already been dead for an hour.

Shayma al-Sheikh Qanan, 23, was eight months pregnant when an Israeli tank shell hit her home in the central Gaza strip town of Deir al-Balah, reducing it to rubble. She was left in a critical condition. Her husband, a local radio journalist, was also badly wounded.

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Mother could be forced to pay damages to child for drinking during pregnancy

Advice groups join forces in bid to combat ruling which they believe could criminalise the behaviour of pregnant women

An unprecedented court hearing to decide on the right of a child whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy to receive compensation could pave the way to the criminalisation of pregnant women's behaviour, according to legal papers lodged with the judge.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service and legal charity Birthrights have applied to address the court on the case. They believe the ruling could undermine women's freedom to make decisions for themselves while pregnant.

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The anti-abortion activists waging war on vulnerable women

US clinics now provide escorts for patients attending women's centres to protect them from militant protesters, whose tactics now threaten to infiltrate the UK

It's not yet 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning in New York and I'm confronted by a group of people standing in front of a nondescript doorway, waving four-foot high placards and shouting: "They murder babies here!" There are already a dozen anti-abortion protesters outside the clinic and the day has barely started.

Here to act as an "escort" ensuring patients, whether they are having abortions or not, enter the clinic safely I already feel intimidated. So, imagine that you're a woman who has miscarried and someone shouts at you: "Carrying babies in your uterus is a gift from God"; or imagine simply going to the doctor and being told you're "going to hell". Imagine being an African-American woman on your way to a women's health clinic and being surrounded by people screaming: "They want to kill black babies."Can you imagine how upsetting and emotionally traumatising that is for patients?

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20 best iPhone and iPad apps this week

Glow Nurture, Lingua.ly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Swords & Poker Adventures, Overcast, Shakespeare300 and more

It's time for our weekly roundup of the best new iPhone and iPad apps and games to have emerged on Apple's App Store.

As ever, prices are correct at the time of writing, but may have changed by the time you read this. (Free + IAP) means in-app purchases are used within the app.

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Questioning women with depression about having children isn't babying them | Hannah Jane Parkinson

Doctors are being encouraged to speak to women with depression about pregnancy risks. This is not intrusive it's necessary guidance

If there's one thing that people with experience of depression fear most in life, it's depression coming back. The thought of being dragged again into a moribund swamp of emptiness, ennui and self-hatred is terrifying. Depression often returns, so its handy to learn how to fend off the black dog before you find yourself staring at the back of its open throat and being knocked to the ground. It can take a hell of a long time to get up.

To this end, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) has issued new guidelines to GPs treating women with depression. It suggests doctors ask female patients whether or not they want children as a prelude to discussing the complications which can arise when women with depression or history of it become pregnant.

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Number of babies born falls by more than 4% in England and Wales

Office for National Statistics says welfare reforms may have influenced childbearing decisions as data coincides with average age for motherhood reaching 30 for first time

The number of babies born in England and Wales fell by 4.3% last year, the largest percentage annual drop for almost 40 years, and the average age of mothers has risen to 30 for the first time, new figures reveal.

Benefits changes, uncertainty about employment and restricted career and promotion opportunities because of temporary, part-time and zero-hour contracts, could be factors in the drop in live births, the Office for National Statistics says.

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Women are second-class citizens when pregnancy makes us potential criminals | Jessica Valenti

A world in which all women of child-bearing age are considered 'pre-pregnant' is the stuff of nightmares

Late in my pregnancy with my daughter, Layla, I had a glass of red wine every once in a while. And while I took prenatal vitamins, I'm sure I missed a day somewhere in there. I definitely absolutely, without-a-doubt ate more junk food than is recommended by most health organizations. Does that mean I should go to jail? It may sound ridiculous, but that's the very real slippery slope we're on, thanks to laws criminalizing pregnant women and treating their personhood as secondary to their pregnancy.

Earlier this month in Tennessee, 26-year-old new mother Mallory Loyola became the first person arrested under a new law that makes using narcotics while pregnant a criminal offense. Loyola is facing charges of assault against her fetus she was arrested two days following birth, after she allegedly tested positive for amphetamines.

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The pull of my daughter's phantom child still drags her down | Jane Green

We all agree she shouldn't get pregnant, but she tells people that she is, and posts pictures of babies on her Facebook page

Jess is due to have her contraception injection today. She has them every three months to prevent pregnancy and ensuring she has them is always a strain.

After much discussion I have established that she is seeing the nurse at 3pm. But then she calls me to say that the nurse could not get to work because of the rain. This is unlikely. It has rained, heavily, but people are getting to work. They usually do in the rain.

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I have struggled with depression and anxiety it doesn't have to be the end | Ariane Sherine

A former boyfriend attacked me nine years ago, destroying my mental health but I am no longer ashamed. I want people to know life can get better

Nine years ago I was newly pregnant when I was violently attacked by my boyfriend at the time. We were having an argument; he hit me in the face causing my ear to bleed, then clamped his hand over my mouth, suffocating me, and told me repeatedly that he would kill me. He said afterwards that the incident only lasted 20 seconds, but those 20 seconds were to change my whole life irrevocably.

It doesn't matter who he was. He could have been anyone. I don't want to identify him, but he was probably different to the man you're imagining: he was more than 10 years older than me, well-spoken, intellectual, ex-private school, cruel, abusive; he was also funny, smart, kind, affectionate, and I was deeply in love with him and thrilled to be carrying his baby. People are complex, and to demonise him and paint him in black and white doesn't make sense that isn't how real life works.

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Infant hospital visits down as fewer women smoke while pregnant

Australian medical study finds a 10.5% drop in the number of infants under a year old being re-admitted to hospital

A drop in the number of women who smoke while pregnant has helped push down the number of infants going into hospital, according to researchers.

A study of all 788,798 children born in New South Wales between 2001 and 2009, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, shows a 10.5% drop in the number of infants under a year old being re-admitted to hospital, from 18.4 per 100 births in 2001 to 16.5 in 2009.

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KGoal: introducing the fitness tracker for your vagina

Wearable technology conquers the final frontier with KGoal, a device to help women the world over exercise their pelvic floor muscles better

It can already stream the internet straight to your face, vibrate around your waist when you're slouching and track your health using only your wrist. Now, wearable technology is getting even more intimate and attempting to conquer the final frontier: the vagina.

Recently launched on Kickstarter, the KGoal Smart Kegel Trainer, produced by San Fransisco-based sexual health startup Minna Life, describes itself as a Fitbit for your vagina, an interactive device to guide, measure and track pelvic floor muscle exercise. It takes the form of a squeezable silicone pillow, connected to a smartphone app, that measures your clench strength and feeds the data back to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. It also has an internal motor for real time vibrational biofeedback.

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Mother who abandoned baby in park had severe depression, rules judge

Woman avoids custodial sentence but Birmingham court told dog finding newborn outdoors in carrier bag was 'stroke of luck'

A mother who abandoned her newborn daughter behind shrubs in a public park while suffering from post-natal depression wept as she avoided prison.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on Thursday handed a six-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, at Birmingham crown court.

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Home-birthing pools recalled after baby falls ill with legionnaires' disease

NHS and Public Health England ban certain types of heated pool and question suppliers over safety precautions

Hired home-birthing pools across the country have been recalled and hire companies put under scrutiny after a baby born using one of the heated pools developed legionnaires' disease.

The NHS and Public Health England (PHE) have banned certain types of home-birthing pools until further notice, after the child who remains in hospital with severe pneumonia became unwell.

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