Fertility & Pregnancy

Pregnant women 'okay to exercise' Reported September 24, 2007 Women can safely participate in moderate activity during pregnancy unless they have experienced complications, an obstetrics expert has said. Andrew Shennan, professor of obstetrics at baby charity Tommy's, recommends that pregnant women take steps to maintain their … [Read more...]

Unused Embryo DilemmaReported December 08, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Currently there are about 500,000 frozen, stored embryos in the United States. The debate about what to do with a frozen embryo after a couple is finished having children may be more complicated than it appears. In the largest study of its kind, 1,000 fertility patients shed light on the dilemmas … [Read more...]

IVF with donor eggs less successful in black womenReported May 08, 2009 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) using donated eggs vary by race and ethnic background, investigators said this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists in Chicago. The research team, headed by Dr. Tarun Jain at Chicago … [Read more...]

Disappointment with a baby's gender is a struggle few moms talk aboutReported November 10, 2009 LAS VEGAS — My good friend just found out she is pregnant with a boy. It is her first child, and instead of celebrating the good news, she cried during her ultrasound. That's because she really wanted a girl. Good mothers are supposed to say they are happy with a boy or a girl, … [Read more...]

Woman’s Diet Linked to Child’s Puberty Reported June 20, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) – A woman’s diet during pregnancy could have an impact on when her child goes through puberty. A new report from New Zealand finds a high fat diet during pregnancy and while a woman is nursing may cause early puberty in her children. That could lead to obesity when they get older. The study … [Read more...]

Early Labor Epidural, No Increase in Cesarean Delivery Risk Reported February 17, 2005 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Women who receive epidural anesthesia early in labor -- when the cervix is dilated less than four centimeters -- do not have a greater risk of cesarean delivery than women … [Read more...]

First-time Moms Prone to Postnatal PsychosisReported February 10, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study shows first-time mothers are at the greatest risk of developing psychosis in the month following the birth of their child even if they have never been hospitalized for mental illness. Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm conducted the study. They looked … [Read more...]

New ovarian transplant offers hope to infertile Reported July 05, 2009 PARIS (AFP) — French doctors on Monday unveiled a new technique in ovarian transplant that had helped a young woman who had been menopausal for two years to give birth to a healthy baby girl. Using a two-step process, they restored fertility to the woman after she had undergone chemotherapy treatment … [Read more...]

Health Check for Embryos Reported June 29, 2009 ENCINO, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Fertility doctors have been screening embryos for genetic disorders for several years, but the number and type of diseases they can test for has been limited. With a new genetic test, doctors can screen for thousands of traits all at once. Some couples are paying big money for a chance at … [Read more...]

Hundreds of NYC Patients May Have Been Exposed to TBMarch 19, 2007 Hundreds of babies and adults in New York City may have been exposed to tuberculosis by an infected hospital worker who was diagnosed with active TB on Jan. 30, said city health officials. The infected employee worked at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx and … [Read more...]

Maternal deaths in India higher than any other country in the world Reported September 30, 2008 In spite of some of the best medical institutes and practitioners, the rate of death of women during child birth is the highest in India. 1.17 lakh of the global 5.36 lakh women who died during child birth were from India in 2005. In deed, the state of … [Read more...]

Is Breech Birth in the Blood? Reported April 09, 2008 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study suggests being born breech is inherited. The study finds a baby is twice as likely to be born bottom first if either or both the parents were themselves breech deliveries. Most babies are delivered head first. Fewer than one in 20 babies is delivered bottom first, known as a breech … [Read more...]

Women's pre-pregnancy weight linked to risk of birth defects 07 August, 2007 TUESDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) — Women who were obese before they became pregnant had a higher risk of having babies with certain birth defects, including missing limbs, malformed hearts and underdeveloped spinal cords, a new study … [Read more...]

Study: Abortion Pills Don't Bring RisksReported August 16, 2007 ATLANTA (AP) -- Women who use abortion pills rather than the more common surgical method seem to face no greater risk of tubal pregnancy or miscarriage in later pregnancies, according to a new study. The federally funded research -- based on nearly 12,000 Danish women -- is considered the best study to date of … [Read more...]

Pre-eclampsia May Be Autoimmune DiseaseReported July 29, 2008 ScienceDaily (July 29, 2008) — Biochemists at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston say they are the first to provide pre-clinical evidence that pregnancy-induced high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia may be an autoimmune disease. Their research could provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic … [Read more...]

Smoking while pregnant harms baby's blood vesselsReported November 20, 2008 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke during pregnancy may cause permanent blood vessel damage in their children that may become evident as early as young adulthood and raise the risk for heart attack and stroke, Dutch investigators reported today. The study involved 732 young adults, born … [Read more...]

Many women as they head into their final weeks of pregnancy wonder whether their own obstetrician will deliver the baby or whether the doctor will be someone else on call at the time. A study of deliveries at a Montreal hospital attempted to answer the question, and also looked at how outcomes might vary. Almost 77 per cent of deliveries were by the patient's own … [Read more...]

Milk Supplement Saves PreemiesReported October 09, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Very low birth-weight (VLBW) newborns who received the milk protein lactoferrin alone or in combination with a probiotic had a reduced incidence of late-onset sepsis, according to a new study. "Infections are the most common cause of death in premature infants and a major threat for poor … [Read more...]

Legal Abortion No Longer a Distant Goal for Activists   July 17, 2007 MEXICO CITY - Mexico could join Cuba and Guyana as the only countries in Latin America where abortion is legal in cases other than those involving rape or a threat to a pregnant woman's life. Two draft laws apparently enjoy … [Read more...]

New Warning on Mercury-Contaminated Fish Reported March 8, 2007 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new warning is out about the health risks of fish contaminated with mercury. "The Madison Declaration on Mercury Pollution" comes from the latest scientific information about the dangers … [Read more...]

Preeclampsia Raises Risk of Serious Kidney Disease Reported August 20, 2008 WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Women who've experienced the pregnancy complication known as preeclampsia face a much greater risk of end-stage renal disease, new research suggests. In fact, says the report in the Aug. 21 issue of theNew England Journal of Medicine, the … [Read more...]

Online Birth Class Reported January 29, 2008 CLEARWATER, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Most women are busy -- especially when they are pregnant. For many moms-to-be, they are working and don’t have the time to go to weeks of childbirth classes. Now, pregnant moms and dads have a new option. Many moms and dads to-be take childbirth classes … [Read more...]

New research shows the drug fluconazole can help protect preterm babies from fungal infections in the first 30 days of life. Preterm babies are born when a pregnancy lasts fewer than 37 weeks. There are many risks to preterm infants, and one of those is the risk of infection. Infection is a bigger threat to preemies because they're not as able to fight off germs causing … [Read more...]

More Abortions Than Births in Russia — Health Official 23-08-2005 Russians, whose lives are shorter and poorer than they were under communism, have more abortions than births to avoid the costs of raising children, Bloomberg.com reported Tuesday quoting the country’s highest-ranking obstetrician. About … [Read more...]

Nearly 50 percent of abortions carried out in Spain are on immigrant womenNovember 09, 2007 The increase in the immigrant population in Spain has resulted in more abortions being carried out in the country. Half of the women who currently undergo the process are now of foreign origin, according to a new report presented by the … [Read more...]

Study: Breastfeeding Reduces Breast Cancer RiskReported August 12, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) – According to a new study, women with a family history of breast cancer were 59 percent less likely to develop breast cancer themselves if they breastfed their children.   "This is good news for women with a family history of breast cancer," Alison Stuebe, assistant professor of … [Read more...]

Foreigners allowed to have abortions in Sweden   Reported November 15, 2007 STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Foreign women will be allowed to have abortions in Sweden from January under changes to legislation passed by the Swedish parliament on Thursday. "The abortion law is going to be changed so that foreign women will be allowed to … [Read more...]

Big increase in home births across UK Reported December 10, 2008 More women are giving birth at home, according to official new data provided by the Office of National Statistics, The General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The biggest increase - more than 14% - has been in Scotland, where 872 … [Read more...]

Seizure Drug May Be Harmful During PregnancyMonday, March 21, 2005 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who take the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy may be raising their baby's risk of severe birth defects, according to reports in the medical journal Neurology. In contrast, another drug, lamotrigine, appears to be safe. The … [Read more...]

U.S. Gets a 'D' For Preterm Birth RateReported November 30, 2009 (Ivanhoe Newswire) – For the second consecutive year, more than half a million of our nation's newborns were born prematurely and failed to get the healthy start they deserved. In the 2009 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card, seven states improved their performance by one letter grade, though two fared … [Read more...]