As a surrogate, I’ve seen at first hand why Britain’s outdated law needs to change | Kim Barrett

Politicians must accept the new Law Commission report, which recommends that those who are going to raise a child be its parents from birth

Last year, I carried a child as a surrogate for a couple I met through a surrogacy organisation. It was a wonderful experience that I am proud and honoured to have gone through, but current laws around surrogacy made it much more complicated than any of us wanted it to be.

I had a beautiful home birth, which both parents attended. The baby’s mother had the first skin-to-skin contact with her new daughter, then the family bonded together for a few hours before they introduced the baby to me. We all spent the rest of the day together and I got my first cuddle, then the baby went home to live with her parents.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/Run6ZPC

Mothers and babies being put at risk due to unsafe NHS maternity services, expert warns

NHS ombudsman says more tragedies will occur unless decisive action in taken

Mothers and babies are being put at risk because maternity services are still providing unsafe care, despite a series of scandals that have cost lives, the NHS ombudsman has warned.

More tragedies will occur unless the health service takes decisive action to put an end to repeated and deeply ingrained problems which lead to “the same mistakes over and over again”, he said.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/DgnFXPH

The links between pollution and miscarriage: ‘This is the stuff nightmares are made of’

Journalist Isabelle Oderberg has spent years researching the links between pollution and early pregnancy loss. What she has learned keeps her up at night

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Exactly 10 years ago this year, I sat in a Melbourne auditorium, listening to a lecture about conspiracy theories. One of the key points made by the speaker was that many of the great revelations in our world were once conspiracy theories confined to the fringes of society; think round earthers v flat earthers.

That’s not to say that every conspiracy theory will be proven true. Clearly not. I don’t for a moment believe Elvis is working in a 7-Eleven in Tucson, Arizona.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/HGrAXce

Winning the lottery sends women rushing off to the divorce court. Men stay married | Torsten Bell

Small grants give expectant families a boost, but the impact of larger sums depends a lot on the recipient’s gender

We think of our family as outside the financial world. But two new studies show that it’s not so simple.

The state provides support for those of us lucky/silly enough to have children. Child benefit starts from birth, but you’ll probably know this phase called pregnancy exists.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/P9oHLFK

US mothers face uncertainty as lone, unproven drug for preterm birth pulled

FDA granted accelerated approval for Makena in 2011 to address issue of preemies, but major study says drug doesn’t work

Makena is the only drug approved specifically to prevent premature birth, a major health issue facing children and families, in the US. In the 12 years since it was fast-tracked by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), hundreds of thousands of patients in America have received injections of Makena, which is about 5,200% more expensive than generic versions of the same medication.

There was just one problem: there’s no evidence Makena actually works.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/BK74RAP

Conference highlights racial disparity in UK maternal healthcare

The Motherhood Group event hears that black women suffer effects of unconscious bias within system

Unconscious bias in the UK healthcare system is contributing to the stark racial disparity in maternal healthcare outcomes, a conference has heard.

The Black Maternal Health Conference UK also heard that black women not being listened to by healthcare professionals was also a contributing factor.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/nDhfSsl

US maternal mortality is more than ten times higher than in Australia. Why? | Moira Donegan

What do we make of a nation that has made giving birth so dangerous – yet forces more and more women to do it?

America is in a maternal health crisis. According to new CDC data released this week, the rate of maternal mortality – defined as deaths during pregnancy or within 42 days of giving birth – rose by 40% in 2021. At a rate of 33 deaths for every 100,000 live births, 1,205 women died of maternal causes that year. That rate was more than twice as high for Black women, whose maternal mortality rate was 70 deaths for every 100,000 live births. The latest federal compilation of data from reviews of maternal deaths suggests that 84% were preventable.

Experts believe that 2021’s spike in maternal mortality can be attributed at least partly to the Covid-19 pandemic, though it’s not clear exactly how. Perhaps infection and exposure to the virus made pregnant women more vulnerable; perhaps the pandemic caused some women to delay or forgo prenatal care as hospitals strained to treat the surge of virus patients and shutdowns made all kinds of care harder and riskier to get.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/Tfv1Ij0

At long last, some recognition of the pain after childbirth. Why is women’s suffering so ignored? | Agnes Arnold-Foster

Research shows opioid painkillers are unlikely to harm breastfed babies – but history shows how often women have been expected to sacrifice their own health

New research just published in the BMJ has found that women should not be denied opioid painkillers after childbirth as the drugs are unlikely to harm breastfed babies. This is a welcome step for new parents who are all too often left to deal with painful recovery from childbirth without adequate relief.

But it also highlights a much larger problem. As an historian of women’s health, and someone who is currently pregnant and dealing with severe back pain, it is clear that pain during pregnancy, childbirth and afterwards has been, and remains, routinely dismissed and diminished.

Agnes Arnold-Forster is a writer and historian of medicine and healthcare

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/sQmef74

SNP leadership candidates urged to commit to abortion clinic buffer zones

Concerns that Scotland lagging behind rest of UK as anti-abortion protests continue outside clinics

Pro-choice campaigners are urging all Scottish National party leadership candidates to commit to accelerating the imposition of protest-free buffer zones around abortion clinics as healthcare professionals describe the “remorseless” impact of anti-choice activity on their working lives.

Amid growing concern that Scotland is trailing behind the rest of the UK, after safe access zones passed their final parliamentary hurdle in the Commons last week, there was a protest and counter-protest outside the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow at the weekend. The clinic offers a range of services including abortion, support for sexual assault victims and transgender healthcare.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2h6j75s

Seaweed, sardines and sauerkraut: the best diet for your brain at every stage of life

It’s never too early or late to use nutrition to improve brain health. From iodine intake to avoiding ultra-processed foods, here’s what to bear in mind

While the foundations of brain structure and function are laid during pregnancy and early life, the brain is constantly being fuelled and shaped by the food and drink we consume daily. We should be thinking of brain health like a pension plan; it is best to start as early as possible so that you have more to draw from when you need it. That said, it is never too late to invest in your brain health. Here is how to use nutrition to aid the brain at each stage of life.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/VmJrGlW

The rigorous care I received while pregnant ceased after birth – right when I needed it most | Sarah Kendell

Australia offers world-class prenatal care but at the most difficult transition of our lives – after childbirth – it leaves us to fend for ourselves

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

In my nine months of pregnancy, I had more medical appointments than I remember having in my previous 35 years of life. When I told my GP I was pregnant, I received a stack of blood test and ultrasound referral forms, and once I selected an obstetrician this stack of forms became a weekly occurrence.

Despite the fact I never returned an abnormal result on any of the dozens of tests I had between conceiving and giving birth to my son, the tests just seemed to beget more tests, like some kind of medical Tough Mudder course full of elaborate obstacles I had to jump over – or waddle over with increasing difficulty – to earn the ultimate prize of having a baby.

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/SURnpfO

Having a baby after pregnancy loss is a joy. But it may never wipe the slate clean | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

A revealing new book challenges the notion of miscarriage as a blip in the past, rather than an experience that can reverberate in the present

“It’s the idea that everything is healed.” Jennie Agg is talking to me about miscarriage. Or, specifically, how it feels to have a baby after miscarriage – or miscarriages, plural; Agg had four before she gave birth to her boy. Life, Almost – her book detailing her experiences and investigating why miscarriage still remains such an under-researched and under-acknowledged experience – has just come out, and it’s a vital new examination of the subject, with each chapter given the title of some of the false, trite or dismissive things people say: “It’s just nature’s way”, “it’s not a real baby yet”, “everything happens for a reason”.

In a book full of insights, perhaps one of the most affecting is the dawning understanding of the legacy that pregnancy loss can have. There is still an absurdly prevalent notion that finally getting a healthy baby – as most couples who experience miscarriage will – somehow wipes the slate clean, and makes everything that has happened in the past melt away. “Any residual grief, trauma or yearning is supposed to be washed away by the arrival of a longed-for child,” she writes. “After all – you got what you wanted, didn’t you?”

Continue reading...

from Pregnancy | The Guardian https://ift.tt/egm9jAb