It’s not something that most of us like to think about, but when a pregnant woman is abused by her spouse or partner, she’s at a 50% higher risk of miscarrying at least once, say researchers.
In a study published in this week’s edition of the journal The Lancet, researchers write that after studying more than 2500 women in Cameroon, in Africa, not only were abused women at 50% higher risk of losing one pregnancy, but that pregnancy loss was the result of all types of abuse (physical, emotional/psychological, or sexual), and that psychological abuse resulted in the highest number of …read more

Every so often I report on what I call Duh Studies or Duh Reports. These are kinds of studies or reports that make me think, "what???" Last week, over at Help My Hurt, the Duh (or Huh?) Study was Another “huh?” study: Knee replacements work bests when patients/doctors agree.
Today, Womb Within has it’s own Duh Study: More Staff And More Beds Means Better Maternity Services At Newham University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK. Really? You think?
The gist of the article says that they hired more people, had more beds, and provided more care. And, because they had more people and more …read more

Ok, just after I tell you yesterday that I don’t like to post press releases in their entirety, here I am doing just that for the second day in a row. Again, because the information is there that tells it like it is.
I have my opinion of this, but I’ll put it at the bottom, below the press release:

Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Program Assists Pregnant Women

Pregnancy centers receive funding for new medical technology
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As the nation marked the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion on demand the Knights …read more

I don’t like to post press releases as a rule, unless they’re for drug approvals and recalls of medications or objects. But this is a very interesting one that I couldn’t do justice to if I tried to rewrite it:

Community-based Internet forums are great for new mothers, but could marginalize fathers

Researchers believe that local online forums could play a key role in helping new mothers to share experiences and concerns, according to a study published in the January issue of the UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Professor Wendy Hall from the University of British Columbia and Assistant Professor Valerie Irvine from …read more

How much more do experts have to say or do to convince pregnant women that drinking alcohol while pregnant isn’t a good idea.
There are still those who feel that very moderate drinking during pregnancy isn’t harmful, I can’t believe there is anyone who feels that binge drinking is ok. However, according to this news report. up to 50% of Australian women drank while pregnant, some of them binging in the final months.
Click on the TV screen below to watch the brief news clip:

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Image: iStock
Tags: pregnancy blog, alcohol during pregnancy, drinking while pregnant, binge drinking while pregnant

Thanks to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Womb Within can answer questions you never knew you had. Keep in mind, these numbers are from 2005 as it takes quite a while to gather statistics and compile them.
How many boys are born compared with girls?
In 2005, there were 2,118,982 boys compared with 2,019,367 girls, for a ratio of 1,049 males for every 1000 females.
What day of the week has more births? Which has the fewest?
More babies are born on Tuesdays and Sundays are the quietest. But, this is for the United States where many …read more

As a Canadian, it always astounds me how little maternity leave women in the United States get. Even the leave I got 20 years ago was much more generous than what many American women get now.
There’s a big push *not* to increase maternity benefits from many people who feel that they shouldn’t bear the cost of your children, they managed well without it so why should you get it, and many other similar lines of thought. But, many are fighting back with arguments that show maternity leave is of benefit to everyone.
The newest finding about maternity leave after giving birth …read more

Once again, as I prepare to write something up, I find that another blog – usually a favorite of mine – has written about it in a much better way than I would. So, once again, I thank Our Bodies, Our Blog for writing up a very informative piece on midwives in Afghanistan, called Midwives Risk Death to Help Bring Birth.
All too often, we sit back and complain about our lot in life, forgetting that there are others who don’t know if they’ll see tomorrow, often as they are trying to make the world a better place for others.
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Tags: …read more

If you had an unplanned pregnancy, particularly if you are/were a teen, you have a higher chance of having more unplanned pregnancies, say researchers.
In a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers studied 542 women who had become pregnant unexpectedly. They found that those who had one unplanned pregnancy had twice the chance of becoming pregnant unexpectedly again, and three times as high if they were under 24 years old when the first one happened.
Unplanned pregnancies, especially in younger women, carry risks that include the mother not getting the proper prenatal care and not taking care …read more

I wrote about this in July when Thomas Beatie gave birth to a child ("Pregnant man" gives birth). I said it then and I’ll say it again, Thomas is NOT a man. She was born a female and still has her womb and ovaries. Taking male hormones, growing facial hair and building up muscles doesn’t make you a man. Thomas is still capable of getting pregnant and that makes her a woman still. So the stories of a "man getting pregnant" are false, sensationalistic, and misleading. And I’m afraid that Thomas is the one to blame for a lot of …read more