The obsession with ‘natural’ birth is just another way to judge a woman | Hadley Freeman

Judgments rain down on pregnant women – not least when they opt for a little medical assistance

Few things drive the British press quite so demented as the thought of a pregnant woman with a choice. Illegal immigrants eating swans? This week’s most dangerous woman in Britain? Mere side issues to the spectre of horror that is a pregnant woman making a decision about what suits her best as an individual. An individual! After all, we know that as soon as conception happens, a woman stops being her own person but is instead generic “mum”, and should be talked to accordingly.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here (typical bloody woman). “Mothers ‘risk losing ability to give birth’” screamed the front of the Sunday Times last weekend. Various other papers eagerly seized on the story, too, based on the latest book from French doctor Michel Odent, who claims that because childbirth has become so medicalised, women are no longer able to go through it without intervention. Odent writes that the use of synthetic drips of oxytocin means women will no longer be able to produce “the hormone of love” naturally. That’s right, women: not only are you foolishly allowing doctors to divest you of your ability to give birth, but you soon won’t even love the few kids you manage to produce. You disgust me, women.

Saying you’d opt for a c-section is like admitting you’d give your kids heroin to keep them quiet during EastEnders

Related: The cult of natural childbirth has gone too far | Eliane Glaser

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Bereaved father uses his art to show how men share the pain of miscarriage

Artist stages ‘joyous and thought-provoking’ exhibition to raise awareness of how fathers deal with loss

An artist whose wife lost three children during the early stages of pregnancy is raising awareness about the impact of miscarriage on men and that their grief is often ignored.

His latest exhibition, Labour of Love, is a celebration of the lives the family would have led had those children been born, and includes a 75ft scroll painting depicting them enjoying everyday activities such as playing in the park.

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Caesarean rates are too high. We should not treat birth as a medical procedure | Kim Lock

Unnecessary caesareans can put women and babies at risk. In the ongoing fight for women’s reproductive rights, reducing the rate of c-sections should be an urgent priority

Australia has one of the highest caesarean rates in the world. And it’s not good for us.

Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that caesarean sections should only be performed when medically necessary – no more than about 10%-15% of all births. Above that rate, there is no evidence of improved mortality.

Related: Caesarean sections should only be done out of medical necessity, WHO says

A lot of issues would be resolved through continuity of care with midwives as primary carers. This has been proven time and again through studies and in practice.

For a long time, medicine was a men-only sphere where women’s bodies were believed to be inherently flawed

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Avoiding baby blues: how to tell your boss you're pregnant

When you’re expecting a baby, telling your boss can be tricky. Speak to them face-to-face and don’t apologise when negotiating your return to work

You’re expecting a baby and you could not be more excited about it. Whether it was a planned pregnancy or a complete surprise, and whether it’s your first or your sixth, juggling a baby and a career is no mean feat. Before you even get to that point, you will have to let your place of work know about your big news, so here are some ways to tackle that first hurdle.

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Paracetamol use in pregnancy may harm male foetus, study shows

Researchers investigating reproductive defects in baby boys identify possible link between low levels of testosterone and paracetamol intake

Taking the painkiller paracetamol in pregnancy for a week or more could potentially have effects on a developing male foetus, according to research.

Paracetamol is the painkiller considered safest for pregnant women. However, researchers investigating reproductive defects in baby boys such as undescended testes say there may be a link between low levels of testosterone and paracetamol intake.

Pregnant women who have been taking paracetamol to ease discomfort should not panic as a result of this research

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Natural childbirth pioneer Elisabeth Bing dies at 100

German-born co-founder of Lamaze International taught breathing and relaxation techniques to generations of expectant mothers

Elisabeth Bing, the Lamaze International co-founder who popularised what was known as natural childbirth and helped change how women and doctors approached the delivery room, died on Friday at 100 in her New York apartment, the organisation said on Saturday.

The German-born pioneer became interested in childbirth techniques in the 1950s, when women were often heavily medicated and dads were generally nowhere near the delivery room. The cause of her death wasn’t immediately known.

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Miscarriage misconceptions boost feelings of guilt and shame, study says

Fifth of people believe lifestyle choices cause loss of pregnancies while two in five women who had a miscarriage feel like they did something wrong

Feelings of guilt and shame in women who experience miscarriages are exacerbated by misconceptions over the causes, a US study suggests.

An online survey of 1,084 people, which formed the basis for research published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology journal on Monday, found that almost half of those who had a miscarriage felt guilty. Two in five said they felt like they had done something wrong, and the same number reported feeling alone.

Related: Needs of women who suffer miscarriage are not being met, says report

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Before I had even left university I was told I may be infertile

As a student I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome – making me question what the future would be like for me

My mum stuffed a sanitary towel into my hand as I jumped out of the car on the way to school. “Knowing our family, you might not need it for a while, but it’s always good to be prepared,” she said, winking as I closed the door.

I was 15 when I had my first period, just like my mother, my aunties and my grandma. Although the red arrival was meant to mark a watershed moment of diary-marking and tins stuffed with pads, my 28-day count soon fell by the wayside, as my periods became nothing more than an annual event. I shrugged. Noticing the cramps and moans of my peers, my absent period appeared to be a blessing of genetics.

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Paraguay senator says pregnant 10-year-old denied abortion 'became a uterus'

Leading clergy member says country is divided over ‘killing of an innocent’ as official says debate has ignored girl’s own mental and physical health

Related: Pregnant 10-year-old rape victim denied abortion by Paraguayan authorities

One of Paraguay’s leading churchmen acknowledged on Sunday that the nation has been split over the case of a pregnant 10-year-old girl who was denied an abortion.

Related: To make a 10-year-old give birth isn't just horrifying – it's life threatening | Jessica Valenti

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Cutting risk of mother-to-baby transmission of HIV – video

Treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, or PMTCT, reduces the risk of expectant mothers passing on the virus to 5% or less. The PMTCT process involves antiretroviral drugs for the mother, and then diagnostic tests for the child every six months after birth until a final test at 24 months. We follow three HIV-positive mothers from South Africa and Malawi through pregnancy and delivery as they share their experiences of the treatment process, as well as their hopes and fears Continue reading...

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It’s dehumanising for surrogates to be ‘an oven’ for someone else’s baby | Catherine Bennett

The case of the surrogate forced to give up the child she bore shows how such arrangements can fall apart

Nick Loeb, a wealthy American, is trying to compel his ex-fiancée, the actress Sophia Vergara, to allow their fertilised embryos to continue what he calls “their journey towards life and birth”. That Loeb, not having a womb of his own, will have to find another individual to help the embryos achieve personhood appears to be the least of the obstacles he anticipates in forcing motherhood upon Vergara. After all, he explained, the couple tried surrogacy a couple of times during their relationship, although without success. “We actually went through the process of going through in vitro, creating life, putting it into a surrogate once, putting into a surrogate a second time.”

All Loeb needs, assuming Vergara’s protests can be dealt with, is another human receptacle, a “gestational carrier”, as Nicole Kidman once referred to the woman who gave birth to her second daughter, or “oven”, as a fellow celebrity styled his and his partner’s surrogate. In many US states, the law supports this unsentimental view of the transaction. In contrast, British reproductive law identifies any surrogate to be the legal mother of a child (pending the transfer of parental status), and, uneasily for the intended parents, allows a six-week pause before she relinquishes the baby.

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High court orders surrogate mother to hand baby to gay couple

Ms Justice Russell rules girl should live with genetic father and his partner and criticises woman for offensive language during hearings

A mother who agreed an informal surrogacy arrangement with a gay couple then denied them access to the child has been ordered by the high court to hand the baby over.

In a case which may lead to calls for more formal rules surrounding surrogacy, the judge ruled in favour of the two men after finding that the woman had agreed to be a surrogate before conceiving.

Related: Our surrogacy laws are putting children at risk | Afua Hirsch

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Why is my period late? You asked Google – here’s the answer | Rose George

Every day, millions of people ask Google some of life’s most difficult questions, big and small. In a new series, our writers answer some of the most common queries

I don’t know my uterus as well as I should. Who does? We are not, as girls, much encouraged to peer into our interiors or to learn properly about fallopian tubes and eggs. I don’t mean that this wasn’t taught in biology classes, but that it’s not taught in a way that is meaningful or that sticks. Or, if it is, then the meaningfulness of it is weakened and diluted by the everyday context where women’s periods live: in taboo and embarrassment. Even a BBC guide for young women describes periods as “uncomfortable, and [not] very pleasant generally”.

Related: Social media is protecting men from periods, breast milk and body hair | Jessica Valenti

Related: My period may hurt: but not talking about menstruation hurts more | Rose George

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UK behind Greece, Spain and Slovenia in list of world’s best places to be a mother

Britain, where women are twice as likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth as those in Poland, Austria or Belarus, comes 24th in Save the Children’s annual list

Women in the UK are more than twice as likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth as those in Poland, Austria or Belarus, according to Save the Children.

For the third year in a row the UK failed to make the top 10 of the charity’s annual State of the World’s Mothers report, coming 24th – up from 26th last year – in the list of the world’s best places to be a mother.

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Can you be pregnant and still be stylish?

Yes – as long as you don’t mind looking like the Duchess of Cambridge and spending a fortune on a dress you’ll only wear for a few months

A few weeks ago, you wrote about how hard it is to look good while pregnant. But is there a way to look stylish?

Name withheld, by email

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Premature-birth researchers appeal for photographs of newborn babies

Images to be used in app to help doctors determine gestational age of children born in isolated regions and reduce unnecessary deaths

Parents are being asked to donate pictures of their newborn baby’s feet, eyes and ears to help create a ground-breaking app that could save the lives of hundreds of children born prematurely in developing countries every year.

Medical care for pregnant women in isolated areas of developing countries is often non-existent. This makes it impossible to determine the gestation of a baby which means countless premature children die because they haven’t received the specialist care they need.

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I froze embryos to have reproductive choice, but I nearly lost my reproductive autonomy | Adrienne Munsdorf

Like Sofia Vergara, my ex and I signed paperwork to give us equal rights our frozen embryos. After we broke up, he wanted to dictate when I could parent

Eight years ago, I unthinkingly gave a man – who I loved at the time – the ultimate right to decide whether or not I would become a mother. I thought, and was encouraged to believe, that what I was doing was fair to him; what it became was a way for him to control the course of my life long after I’d decided he no longer deserved to be a part of it.

In June 2007, my long-distance boyfriend decided to leave a teaching post in Korea six months early, travel around Southeast Asia for a bit and finally return to share to my Chicago bungalow. At the end of July – with him back in the states, but not by my side – a team of surgeons removed a golf-ball sized tumor from my back and I prepared to start aggressive chemotherapy treatment for extraosseous Ewing’s Sarcoma (a rare bone cancer that, in my case, was found in soft tissue) in August.

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