pregnancy: مارس 2016

الثلاثاء، 29 مارس 2016

All British women have the right to a caesarean – they’re not ‘too posh to push’ | Susanna Rustin

Maternity figures have again prompted stigmatising comment. The rules are clear, and British mothers must defend their hard-won freedom to choose

In Britain a woman has the right to choose a caesarean. This right exists within the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) guidelines, and has done for five years. The rules do not lack clarity. The note on women for whom there is no reason to avoid a vaginal delivery, other than that they are scared or don’t want one, says “if after discussion and offer of support (including perinatal mental health support for women with anxiety about childbirth), a vaginal birth is still not an acceptable option, offer a planned CS” [caesarean section]”. When there is practitioner uncertainty, the guidelines are again perfectly clear. “An obstetrician unwilling to perform a CS should refer the woman to an obstetrician who will carry out the CS,” the note continues.

It is true that older mothers – who are also likely to be richer and more educated – are more likely to have C-sections

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الاثنين، 28 مارس 2016

Joy, fear and hating the word ‘bump’: nine things I learned about pregnancy

Everything you have ever thought, read, watched, heard or been told about pregnancy and birth is a lie

When I was a few weeks pregnant, I had to go for an early scan, during which the sonographer mentioned that I had a tilted uterus. It proved to be a characteristic experience of pregnancy: discovering bewildering things about the body I thought I knew, divulged in such a mundane way that I never asked what any of it meant. I still don’t know what a tilted uterus is, and my son is now two years old.

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السبت، 26 مارس 2016

Gay couple in fight to bring 'triplings' home to New Zealand

Friends of the couple set up crowd-funding page to help pay for hospital fees and travel to obtain passports so they can leave Mexico

Friends of a gay couple from Auckland are raising money to help them bring “triplings” home from Mexico to New Zealand.

Triplings are three babies born from the sperm of one man and one egg donor, but are carried by different surrogates. In this case there were two surrogate mothers and three of the four implanted embryos were successful.

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الخميس، 24 مارس 2016

'When my boss found out I was pregnant, he fired me': your tales of workplace discrimination | Guardian readers and Sarah Marsh

Five of our readers share their stories about workplace prejudice while pregnant or when returning to work

Have you experienced discrimination for being pregnant or a mother at work? If not it might surprise you to hear that despite the laws in place to protect against this, it’s more common than you might imagine.

A report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission found that that three-quarters of pregnant women and new mothers have experienced prejudice, with one in nine women losing their jobs as a result. What’s more, only one in four women affected raised it with their employer, mainly because of the high cost of taking a case to a tribunal.

I decided to leave and the UK to come to work in Scandinavian where there is much more gender parity

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الأربعاء، 23 مارس 2016

Midwife may face criminal charges after mother dies following home birth

Coroner finds Gaye Demanuele did not handle birth appropriately and death could have been avoided

A now deregistered midwife could face criminal charges over the death of a Melbourne woman after a home birth.

Gaye Demanuele was the midwife in charge when the mother delivered her second baby at her home in January 2012.

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الثلاثاء، 22 مارس 2016

‘Fitbit for your period’: the rise of fertility tracking | Moira Weigel

Investors are pouring money into apps that allow women to track their fertility. Can tech companies use data to change the world of women’s reproductive health?

Will Sacks did not plan to go into the menstruation business. When he travelled from Toronto to Reno to attend his first Burning Man festival in August 2009, he only knew that he needed a change. At the age of 29, he was having a personal crisis. “I had forgotten that I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” he told me earlier this year. “I had forgotten that I wanted to create a company that could put a dent in the universe.” He quit his job as an energy efficiency consultant, shut down the small online business he had been running on the side, and booked a plane ticket to the desert.

Before beginning the drive to Burning Man from Reno airport, Sacks posted a message on Craigslist offering a ride in his rental car to anyone who needed one. A young woman named Kati Bicknell answered. Petite and pale, with thick brown hair, Bicknell looks like she stepped out of a pre‑Raphaelite painting. She exudes an intense, slightly mischievous, energy. Sacks comes across as calmer. He locks eyes when he talks to you, pausing every few sentences to check in: are you still with him? Does his optimism sound naive?

Fertility awareness apps have an enormous potential market: women from puberty to menopause

In the future, analysis of our blood, our genes, our saliva will be done through the phone

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Surrogate mother who sold same babies twice sentenced for fraud

French woman known only as Aurore given suspended sentence for defrauding two gay couples who hired her

A French court has given a one-year suspended jail sentence to a woman found guilty of defrauding two gay couples who hired her as a surrogate mother. The woman has been named only as Aurore.

Surrogacy is illegal in France and the couples who paid for her services also faced charges.

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Too many mothers having early caesareans, report warns

Findings reveal large number of hospitals in England carrying out elective C-sections before 39 weeks despite risk posed to child

Many mothers are having their baby by caesarean section before they are 39 weeks pregnant even though hospitals should avoid such procedures because they pose a risk to the child, according to a report into maternity care. In some hospitals, more than 40% of all women giving birth are undergoing a C-section before their pregnancy has reached full term even though there is no medical reason for doing so, the report says.

Official NHS guidance tells hospitals not to deliver by C-section in such circumstances because it can lead to the infant needing to be admitted to intensive care with breathing problems.

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Pregnant at work: have you experienced discrimination? We’d like to hear your stories | Sarah Marsh

A report has found that one in nine women lose their jobs as a result of pregnancy and maternity discrimination. We’d like to hear your stories

According to a new study, a large proportion of pregnant women face prejudice at work. The research also found that mothers were being overlooked for promotion and, in some cases, even threatened with dismissal.

The report, commissioned by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and the government, revealed that three-quarters of working mothers have been affected by pregnancy and maternity discrimination and one in nine have lost their jobs as a result.

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Fifth of women harassed at work over pregnancy or flexible hours, report finds

Government urged to act after research finds nearly 400,000 women have experienced discrimination

Three-quarters of pregnant women and new mothers experience discrimination at work and one in nine lose their job as a result, government-commissioned research has found.

The report suggests that pregnancy discrimination, which is illegal, has risen significantly since 2005, when 45% of women said they had experienced such discrimination.

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الاثنين، 21 مارس 2016

The secret life of a midwife: I feel like I work in a factory, not on a maternity ward

The postnatal ward is mentally, emotionally and physically draining – but coaxing a smile from an anxious new mother is the best part of my job

My decision to become a midwife came from a deep-seated desire to care for others and a natural curiosity about pregnancy and birth. The idea of being the one to welcome new life into the world seemed idyllic and heartwarming.

As the last link in the chain, the pressure is on you to work fast and clear the beds

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الأحد، 20 مارس 2016

NHS England publishes advice on preventing stillbirths for first time

Hopes information for medics and parents, such as monitoring foetal movement, will help to halve stillbirth rate by 2030

Advice for parents, doctors and midwives to help prevent stillbirths has been published for the first time by NHS England.

The Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle includes information about quitting smoking during pregnancy, monitoring foetal growth and movement, and monitoring the baby during labour.

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الثلاثاء، 15 مارس 2016

Overweight mothers have larger babies, research suggests

Obesity during pregnancy and higher blood sugar increase birth weight, while hypertension makes babies smaller

Mothers who are overweight or obese during pregnancy give birth to larger babies, new research claims. The study, led by the universities of Bristol and Exeter, found that mothers with higher blood sugar – even within a healthy range – also tended to have bigger babies.

By contrast, having higher blood pressure during pregnancy causes babies to be born smaller, the international research collaboration suggested.

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Secret aid worker: My child has a life-limiting illness, was I right to go back to work?

As an aid worker and mum, I felt torn balancing my maternal instincts for my family with my humanitarian principles to help those less privileged than me

Working for a humanitarian agency, I had often imagined the challenges of having children, particularly in the precarious contexts in which I work, including Afghanistan, Gaza and Lebanon. Soon after giving birth to a girl, my husband and I joked that the biggest unanticipated difficulty was navigating hilly Middle Eastern capitals with a buggy.

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الاثنين، 14 مارس 2016

Taking a baby from its mother is a horrific job for a midwife

No training can prepare you for a mother’s animalistic howl as her child is removed, but it’s my job to protect newborn babies

Some days I feel like I live on the dark side of the moon.

I am a safeguarding midwife. I work with a group of midwives and nurses and liaise closely with doctors, children’s services, health visitors, GPs and other agencies to protect our most vulnerable clients – unborn and newborn babies.

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الأربعاء، 9 مارس 2016

Twins 'with different fathers' born in Vietnam

DNA test confirms the twins have the same mother but different fathers, according to scientist

An extremely rare set of twins with different fathers has been born in Vietnam, according to a scientist in the country.

Prof Le Dinh Luong, president of the Genetic Association of Vietnam, said DNA testing at his Hanoi lab had confirmed the twins had different fathers, the first such case that he knows of in Vietnam. Only seven cases of bi-paternal twins had been reported in the world as of 2011.

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الثلاثاء، 8 مارس 2016

Domestic violence 'doubles risk of premature birth'

Survey into detrimental effects of abuse on pregnant women highlights importance of swift preventative action, says survey

Domestic violence by a partner or ex-partner during pregnancy doubles the risk of pre-term birth and low birth weight, according to a study.

Researchers from the University of Iowa also found that domestic violence, which includes physical, sexual, financial, psychological or emotional abuse, slightly increased the risk of a baby being small for gestational age.

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الاثنين، 7 مارس 2016

Scientists identify cause of multiple miscarriages for first time

Researchers at University of Warwick name reduced number of stem cells in womb lining as likely cause

Hopes of preventing women from suffering multiple miscarriages have been boosted after UK-based scientists have for the first time identified a cause.

Research into developing a treatment will be undertaken by the same academics behind the breakthrough research, which discovered that a lack of stem cells in the womb lining is causing thousands of women to suffer from recurrent miscarriages.

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Woman who had first uterus transplant in US will have chance to get pregnant

Lindsey is the first of 10 women who will have uterine transplants as part of a clinical trial by the Cleveland Clinic and will undergo IVF after healing

Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic on Monday introduced the 26-year-old woman who received the first uterus transplant carried out on US soil.

The woman, who chose to share only her first name, Lindsey, was wheeled into the room by her husband, Blake. She expressed her thanks to the eight-person team that transplanted the uterus on 24 February, and to the family of the donor, a woman in her 30s who died suddenly.

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الأحد، 6 مارس 2016

Thalidomide 'caused up to 10,000 miscarriages and infant deaths in UK'

Former head of the Thalidomide Trust says many mothers would not have known drug was the cause of miscarriage or stillbirth

The thalidomide scandal may have led to 10,000 miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths in Britain, according to the former director of the trust that oversees payments to hundreds of people disabled by the drug taken by their pregnant mothers.

Martin Johnson said many families would not have known their babies had been affected by the drug.

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From Rosemary's Baby to Bridget Jones: a quick scan of pregnancy on film

For years, pregnant women on film have either been neurotic, placid or walking grossout gags. Alice Lowe, who directed and starred in her own horror film at seven months, says we should expect more

Pregnant heroines can be fascinating, funny, complex characters, though few have been as memorable as Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, the mother of all pregnancy movies. Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror was notable for showing events from the pregnant woman’s point of view as Farrow began to suspect her neighbours of sinister designs on her unborn. A nativity story it was not.

The fearful expectant mother is a familiar horror movie trope – and many of them have good reason for concern. From Charlize Theron in The Astronaut’s Wife to the women in Village of the Damned, the prospect of an alien on board is terrifying. More recently, Twilight: Breaking Dawn played on the fears of teen mothers – and took a radically pro-life stance – as Kristen Stewart opted to die in childbirth rather than abort the vampire baby that was consuming her from within.

There is still the idea of 'confinement' – that pregnant women should not be seen or heard

Crazy pregnant lady, screaming giving birth, demanding things, eating like a pig, waters breaking everywhere…

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الخميس، 3 مارس 2016

Continuing to limit access to birth control would wreak economic havoc

Virtually all women in the US who are able to get pregnant use some form of contraception at some point in their lives. Despite that, subsidized contraception is under attack – and this has unanticipated consequences

“You want me to discuss that?” Donna Crane, vice president of policy at NARAL Pro-Choice asks me, her voice rising. Yes, I do. I want to know what will happen if the current attacks on free or subsidized birth control in the US continue until only the well-off can afford family planning. “It would be a world none of us would want to live in,” says Crane. “Women would be forced to get pregnant against their will ... it would be an unjust, dystopian place.”

The idea of restricting subsidized family planning services – that is all the various forms of available birth control covered by insurance or free clinics – may seem an odd idea. After all, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention named contraception one of the 10 most important advances in public health in the 20th century, right up there with access to clean drinking water.

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الثلاثاء، 1 مارس 2016

My fertility problems made me feel like a failure | Sarah Fletcher

After two years of struggling to conceive and an ectopic pregnancy, I finally became pregnant. Women must not be made to feel that infertility is their fault

When I started trying to conceive aged 26, I knew it wouldn’t be easy – I had endometriosis, polycystic ovaries and periods so infrequent that if everyone were like this, the birth rate would plummet. For a year, nothing happened. My initial (misplaced) optimism gave way to nervousness, and then dejection crept in. One by one, my friends got pregnant, while I still hadn’t even had a period.

I got married, went on honeymoon, and then I began to bleed. The pain was so acute that I couldn’t stand up straight. I bled for a month. I thought it was just my endometriosis again. One morning, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was having an ectopic pregnancy.

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