The best of the Long Read in 2017

Our 20 favourite pieces of the year

Every year, it seems like the world gets even worse and the Guardian publishes a hundred long reads about it. But this is only an illusion. In fact, we publish 150 long reads each year – there are three every single week! – and most of them are not about the failures of globalisation or the ecological devastation caused by mankind.

Catching up with all of our stories from this year would take about 36 hours, if you finished each one in 15 minutes didn’t take any breaks. But for those of you who can’t spare that kind of time, we have chosen our 20 best articles of 2017 – designed to provide you with at least a few hours of excellent holiday reading.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2C5wmly

Mary had a baby. So did I. Neither of us needed wise men | Nell Frizzell

The nativity tale always dominates the season – but for far too many women even today, there’s still no room at the inn

The tale of the nativity changes after you’ve had a baby. No longer is this the seasonal story of a prophecy-made-man on a hillside in Galilee. It is not the visitations of angels or shining stars or even the immaculate conception that strikes you as miraculous. Rather, what amazes you now is how, in the name of all that’s holy, Mary did it. This is a story of a young woman wading through insane government admin while hobbling more than 70 miles to her in-laws’, in the final stages of her first pregnancy, before facing an accommodation crisis and the prospect of childbirth without a health service.

Related: Jesus, Mary and Joseph! How do you tell kids their nativity play is rubbish? | Brian Logan

The very idea of rumbling through the night on the bony haunches of a recalcitrant donkey makes me weep

Related: What would be your ideal present this Christmas?

Related: Carols and a nativity play are all part of Christmas nostalgia | Emma Brockes

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BUsILr

Baby survives after being born with heart outside her body - video

Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who had her first surgery within an hour of delivery, is believed to be the first baby in the UK to survive the extremely rare condition ectopia cordis, where she is born with her heart and part of her stomach growing externally. Her parents, Naomi Findlay and Dean Wilkins, were advised to consider terminating the pregnancy, but they decided against it. Vanellope has had three operations to place her heart in her body 

Baby girl survives after being born with heart outside her body, in UK first

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BitV13

Baby girl survives after being born with heart outside her body, in UK first

Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who had her first surgery within an hour of delivery, is believed to be first baby in UK to survive with the extremely rare condition

A baby girl born with her heart outside her body is believed to be the first in the UK to survive with the extremely rare condition after undergoing three operations, the first within an hour of her birth.

At a nine-week scan, Vanellope Hope Wilkins was discovered to have the condition ectopia cordis, with her heart and part of her stomach growing externally.

I felt guilty for thinking negative thoughts because here she is fighting. I’m glad I stuck to my guns not to terminate.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2AdFm6r

New South Wales closes Australia's last loophole allowing pregnant women to be sacked

Coalition state government to abolish sections of Anti-Discrimination Act, as Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi had urged

New South Wales will close a loophole allowing employers to sack a woman who knew she was pregnant when hired.

The NSW attorney general, Mark Speakman, and minister for women, Tanya Davies, announced on Sunday they would abolish two subsections in the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977.

Related: The Letdown shows the darker side of motherhood – and it's a relief | Amy Corderoy

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2Aq5Aa9

‘I never knew whether I’d take my two premature babies home’

The premature birth of twins Albie and Reuben set off four traumatic months as they struggled to survive and their parents fought to cope. Giulia Rhodes talks to the boys’ mother, Courtney Bryant, as this gruelling time finally ends

Holding a new baby for the first time is, for any parent, a very special moment. It was one for which Courtney Bryant and her partner, Daniel, had to wait five weeks.

Albie and Reuben, the couple’s twin boys, are two of the 60,000 babies – one in every 13 – born prematurely in the UK each year. When they were delivered on 6 August this year, 13 weeks too soon, they weighed only 750g (1lb 10oz) and 1.05kg (2lb 5oz) respectively. “They were smaller than my hand, so tiny, like little birds,” recalls Courtney. “They had to be rushed away. I barely saw them, let alone touched them.”

Related: Survival of premature babies more likely now than in mid-1990s, study shows

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2kFGWuR

Better medical care could slash UK mortality rate during pregnancy

A new report claims two in five deaths could be prevented and that expectant mothers taking medication should seek advice before stopping

Up to two in five deaths among UK mothers who die in pregnancy or shortly afterwards could be prevented with better care, a new report suggests.

A detailed examination of 124 maternal deaths found 41% may have been prevented if they had received gold-standard care. The findings prompted researchers to warn all pregnant women not to stop taking medication without seeking expert medical advice.

Related: Four out of five full-term baby deaths in UK could be prevented, says study

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

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2j1fZBp

Air pollution harm to unborn babies may be global health catastrophe, warn doctors

New UK research links toxic air to low birth weight that can cause lifelong damage to health, raising fears that millions of babies worldwide are being harmed

Air pollution significantly increases the risk of low birth weight in babies, leading to lifelong damage to health, according to a large new study.

The research was conducted in London, UK, but its implications for many millions of women in cities around the world with far worse air pollution are “something approaching a public health catastrophe”, the doctors involved said.

Related: Global pollution kills 9m a year and threatens 'survival of human societies'

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BL5Ddv