US teenage birth rates fall again but still among highest in developed world

• US teen birth rate drops 8% to 22.3 births per 1,000 females
• ‘We are still way up there in terms of teen pregnancy and births’

Teenage birth rates continue to fall in the US, though the country’s rate remains much higher than those in other developed countries, according to new data released on Wednesday.

In 2015, the teen birth rate dropped 8% from the previous year’s, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Related: Less sex please, we're millennials – study

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Births led by midwives rather than doctors linked to greater risks – NZ study

Study of more than 200,000 births over five years in New Zealand, where midwives are the dominant care-givers, produced ‘unexpected’ results

The health outcomes for babies born in New Zealand where primary care is led by midwives are significantly worse when compared with care led by doctors, a major new study has found.

New Zealand and the Netherlands are the only two western countries to operate under a midwife-led birthing system. Midwives are the dominant care-giver for four out of five births in New Zealand – from pregnancy through to delivery and post-natal care.

Related: World's first baby born from new procedure using DNA of three people

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World's first baby born using three-parent IVF technique

Experts welcome news though concerns raised controversial procedure carried out in Mexico which is beyond regulations

The world’s first baby to be born from a new procedure that combines the DNA of three people appears to be healthy, according to doctors in the US who oversaw the treatment.

The baby was born on 6 April after his Jordanian parents travelled to Mexico where they were cared for by US fertility specialists.

Related: ‘Three-parent’ babies explained: what are the concerns and are they justified?

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I’m pregnant and want this second baby – but not the man

A woman with an unplanned pregnancy says she is not sure about her relationship with the father. Mariella Frostrup questions how ‘unexpected’ the conception was

The dilemma I’m a 38-year-old single mother to a wonderful six-year-old girl. I was on my own for three years before meeting someone who I’ve since been seeing for eight months. Now I’ve found out that I’m pregnant – it was unplanned. I’m terrified this relationship isn’t stable enough to last raising a child. To make things worse, I had been contemplating ending it because, as kind, smart and lovely as he is, I’m not sure I enjoy his company enough. I dearly want another child – and a sibling for my daughter. I know my chances of conceiving are diminishing and if I met someone else it would take time to get to know them. Should I take this chance of having a baby and run with it?

Mariella replies I can’t dissuade you. Nor would I want to. The depth of your desire for a second child isn’t for me to gauge and so my opinion is irrelevant. If you’re ready and willing to do it again, there’s little I can say to convince you otherwise.

Teenagers and virgins can feign surprise. In maturity, unplanned pregnancy has less of an authentic ring to it

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Experience: I didn’t know I was pregnant until I went into labour

I had aches and pains and felt tired all the time. Drinking made me sick. But the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong

I was 20 and working in a shop when, one Monday afternoon, I started getting stomach pains. I assumed it was to do with the medication I was on; about a year before, my periods had stopped and I had been in and out of hospital to find out the problem.

I’d had blood and urine tests and endless scans. I was told it could be endometriosis or cancer, or that I might never be able to have children. I’d had aches and pains, felt tired all the time and had stopped drinking because it made me sick. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me.

Related: Experience: I had a 90-degree bend in my penis

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Women above 35 who give birth account for 40% of maternal deaths in Australia

The country has the second highest rate of births to older women among 14 developed countries and the highest rate of C-section births, study reveals

Of the Australian women who give birth, 23% are over 35 but these older mothers account for 40% of maternal deaths across the country, a study has revealed.

Australia has the second highest rate of births to older women among 14 developed countries – behind only Spain, where 35% are above that age – and the highest rate of caesarean section births, a study in the Lancet says.

Related: Maternal deaths worldwide drop by half, yet shocking disparities remain

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New Zealand's serious sperm shortage: 'It has become a continuous drought'

New legislation making donation less attractive and a rise in demand from women has resulted in a two-year wait for sperm

When New Zealander Kathryn Heape realised the fairy tale of marriage and kids was taking its sweet time she took out an insurance policy and applied for donated sperm.

“Since I was 10 years old, I just expected to have a baby when I grew up,” she says.

Like climate change, [the sperm drought] has become the new normal.

Related: What is it really like to live in New Zealand?

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Paralysed, pregnant Claire Lomas finishes Great North Run in five days

Wearing bionic suit, former event rider began half-marathon on Wednesday and finished Sunday to raise funds for charity

A paralysed pregnant woman wearing a bionic suit has completed the Great North Run five days after she started it.

Claire Lomas, from Leicestershire, was paralysed from the chest down in a riding accident in 2007, which left her with a fractured neck, dislocated back, fractured ribs, a punctured lung and pneumonia.

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'We felt cursed': how altruistic surrogacy can give hope after years of heartbreak

Jessie Thomas says while she would recommend altruistic surrogacy to others, there should be room for some commercialisation of the industry

Giving back is something Jessie and Marty Thomas have done their fair share of. Between them they have volunteered at various roles within their children’s sporting clubs and school environments and they help out where they can in their community of Rockhampton in Queensland.

But it was a news segment Jessie saw in early 2015 about someone’s experience as a surrogate that led her to embark on one of the most selfless acts of all.

Related: Fertility expert attacks critics of 62-year-old first-time mother

It was our third second-trimester loss. We named them all – Pat, Pip and Rose.

Related: All surrogacy is exploitation – the world should follow Sweden’s ban | Kajsa Ekis Ekman

As it’s such an emotional issue, people are very private.

Related: Cambodia proves fertile ground for foreign surrogacy after Thailand ban | Sarah Haaij

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IVF isn’t working – should I leave my girlfriend to pursue a ‘perfect fantasy’ family?

We are keen to marry but having my own biological children is very important to me. Maybe I should save us both time and move on

My girlfriend and I have been dating for eight months and enjoy a good emotional, intellectual and physical connection. She is 40 and I am 38, and we are keen to marry and start a family. We have started IVF after failing to conceive the natural way. The early medical signs are not encouraging, though, and we may not be able to have children of our own. It is possible that having my own biological children is non-negotiable for me. My girlfriend feels very upset when I express these fears, and feels that I am making a commitment conditional on her bearing my children when it should be about us wanting to be together. I don’t know whether to move ahead or whether to save us both time and take a chance that I could have my “perfect fantasy” family with someone else.

• When leaving a message on this page, please be sensitive to the fact that you are responding to a real person in the grip of a real-life dilemma, who wrote to Private Lives asking for help, and may well view your comments here. Please consider especially how your words or the tone of your message could be perceived by someone in this situation, and be aware that comments that appear to be disruptive or disrespectful to the individual concerned will be removed.

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We should not rely on Nicola Sturgeon to break the silence around miscarriage

We are lucky to have women like her speaking out, but we need to challenge the stigma around miscarriage as a society – after all, one in six known pregnancies ends in one

Last Saturday, the Times teased an extract from Nicola Sturgeon’s new book which its sister title the Sunday Times was running the next day, promising that it would “reveal a tantalising secret about her private life”. This “tantalising secret”, it emerged, was the fact that Scottish first minister Sturgeon had experienced a miscarriage in 2011.

To describe a miscarriage in this way is sensationalist and insensitive, but it is also unsurprising: the story is “tantalising” to a press with a deeply gendered view of political women, and had remained a “secret” as a result of the ongoing stigma around miscarriage.

Related: Sunday Times criticised for portrayal of female politicians without children

The subject is so rarely discussed that many people are unaware just how common miscarriage is

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Twins delivered at 37 weeks most likely to survive – study

Review of 35,000 births concludes that delivery earlier than 36 weeks is not supported by evidence, while waiting until 38 weeks increases rate of stillbirth

Twins should be delivered at 37 weeks – short of full term but not too short – for the best chance at survival, according to a study that analysed more than 35,000 births.

The evidence did not support routine delivery before 36 weeks from the date of fertilisation, said research published in the BMJ medical journal.

Related: Babies born by caesarean more likely to be obese as adults, study suggests

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Babies born by caesarean more likely to be obese as adults, study suggests

The way we are born may have a lasting impact on health, possibly because babies born by C-section miss out on exposure to vital bacteria in the birth canal

Babies born by caesarean section are more likely to be obese as adults, according to a study that suggests the way we are born could have a lasting impact on health.

Birth by caesarean was linked to a 15% higher risk of obesity in children compared with vaginal birth.

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Prevenge review – a mother of a serial-killer film

Sightseers’ Alice Lowe writes, directs and stars in this grisly revenge fantasy, as a woman who believes her unborn child is telling her to kill people

For her writing-directing debut, showing here in Venice in the Critics’ Week sidebar, Alice Lowe returns to the grisly territory of Sightseers, the black comedy she made with Steve Oram for director Ben Wheatley. Only this is a more macabre and explicitly violent serial-killer movie, with a fainter tint of queasy humour. It provides a nightmarish satirical twist on post- and antenatal depression: its tone is bizarre, its pace a remorseless, heavy tread.

Related: On my radar: Alice Lowe’s cultural highlights

Related: Alice Lowe: ‘I don’t mind being the evil weirdo who murders people’

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