A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
Suhad Abu Fiad gets a prenatal ultrasound at a clinic in the West Bank city of Nablus.
During a routine sonogram, Suhad Abu Fiad immediately tears up at the sight of her unborn baby’s tiny feet and fingers. She’s hoping for a girl but, as she’s only four months pregnant, it’s still too soon to tell.
Continue reading… “Palestinian prisoners smuggle sperm out of jail”
Exercise during pregnancy alters the fetal brain.
According to new research, moderate exercise during pregnancy may boost your baby’s brain development. The research involving 18 moms-to-be and their babies found that “at 10 days, the children have a more mature brain when their mothers exercised during the pregnancy,” said study researcher Elise Labonte-LeMoyne, a Ph.D. candidate in kinesiology at the University of Montreal.
Continue reading… “Exercise during pregnancy may improve baby’s brain development”
Home pregnancy test
Thanks to ultra-sensitive home pregnancy testing kits, more than 200 women who discover they are expecting are having their pregnancies ended by mistake because hospital scans cannot pick up the earliest signs of life, doctors warn.
Twin birth rate rose 76 percent from 1980 through 2009.
Over the past three decades, the number of twins born to American women has risen dramatically, a new government study shows.
Researchers say health records of 50,000 women link over-the-counter anti-inflammatories and deaths of fetuses.
Use of common anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen if taken early in pregnancy may increase the chance of miscarriage, a new study suggests.
Continue reading… “Anti-inflammatory drugs double risk of miscarriage”
The changes in the rules will be the biggest shake-up in a generation.
The Department of Health in Britain is to announce plans for a new system of independent counseling for women before they finally commit to terminating a pregnancy. The move is designed to give women more “breathing space”.
Continue reading… “Abortion laws to be tightened in Britain”
The unplanned pregnancy rate among women with incomes below the federal poverty line jumped by 50 percent between 1994 and 2006.
Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned and they are increasingly concentrated among low-income women, according to a new study.
Continue reading… “Unplanned pregnancies increase among low-income women”
The test analyzes fetal DNA found in the mother’s blood and can establish sex weeks earlier than other options.
A baby’s sex can be determined as early as seven weeks into pregnancy by a simple blood test. The test is highly accurate if used correctly, a finding that experts say is likely to lead to more widespread use by parents concerned about gender-linked diseases, those who are merely curious and people considering the more ethically controversial step of selecting the sex of their children.
Continue reading… “Blood test can determine fetal sex at seven weeks”
Between 2002 and 2009, the number of cesarean deliveries rose significantly, from 27 percent of births to 34 percent, finds a new report based on information from 19 U.S. states.
Continue reading… “C-sections in U.S. climb to all-time high”
More accurate blood test could spare many women the need for an amnio or CVS.
When she saw the results of the blood test she threw up even though the test only revealed a risk. Now she needed to find out for sure.
Continue reading… “Ethical Debate Surrounds Prenatal Blood Test for Down Dyndrome”
More babies could be saved if the mothers had better medical care.
Worldwide, more than 2 million babies are stillborn every year. About half of the babies born stillborn could be saved if their mothers had better medical care, according to researchers’ estimates.
Continue reading… “More Than 2 Million Babies are Stillborn Every Year: Study”
Women could have womb transplants as early as next year.
Womb transplants that would allow childless women to have babies could be available as early as next year, a leading researcher said last night.
Continue reading… “Womb Transplants for Childless Women Could be Available Next Year”