Mom Plans Live Birth on the Internet

Want an unedited, raw look at childbirth? You’ll soon get one.  A first-time mom-to-be is planning to show her entire birth live online later this month.

She’s telling us only that her name is Lynsee (she’ll show us her hoo-ha, so it makes sense that we’re on a first-name basis) and she’s twenty-three, a teacher married to Anders. Continue reading »

Feverish Dad Misses Daughter’s Birth

When Brandie D’Orazio showed up at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center in labor with her first child, hospital staff checked her in, got her ready and then sent her labor partner — husband Dan — packing.

Dan had a fever and the hospital wasn’t taking any chances. The D’Orazios, though sad to see Dan go, weren’t either. Continue reading »

They Say: Pregnant Lesbians Treated Differently

Swedish researchers are calling for special training after a new study found midwives there treated lesbian patients and  pregnant women with male partners differently.

These findings appear in the November issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Ten lesbians from 30 to 46 years of age, all of whom had experienced pregnancy and childbirth in the Swedish healthcare system, were interviewed about the care and treatment they received prenatally, during the birth and afterward. The study concluded that, too often, the midwives  focused more on their lesbian patient’s sexuality than the fact that she was expecting a baby. Continue reading »

Women Without Kids Want Maternity Leave Too

A survey of 2,000 women in the United Kingdom found that women who aren’t mothers want maternity leave, too.

In related news:  74 percent of women also claimed to want stretch marks and sleepless nights. Continue reading »

Dad Gropes Maternity Nurse, Misses Child’s Birth

It’s easy to get caught up in celebrating the moment of your child’s birth, but a new dad in Utah offered up a “what not to do” as his wife was being wheeled into the delivery room.

Alex Manning has been arrested for grabbing the maternity nurse’s breast and proclaiming her “cute.” Continue reading »

Childbirth Doll a Little Too Accurate

Of course this is on Etsy, where else would it have been?! Based on everything I know of Etsy crafters I want to hang with those ladies because they are CRUNKED. They are like the Tony Starks of knitting. Except instead of getting hooched and flying around blasting their repulsers, they slam the purple drank, pick up some needles and do some damage.

Who ever made this is the Andy Warhol of crafting. Check out this latest epic squeezed out of the factory.

Continue reading »

The Perils of (Bad Reporting on) Home Birth

Just when you think we’ve gone beyond safety issues with regard to homebirth — what with the findings in this study and, more recently, this one, among others — the Today show goes and airs “The Perils of Home Birth,” a seven-minute segment so poorly reported, so one-sided and salacious, that instead of feeling defensive and outraged — I laughed. Out loud. Alone!

Here’s what I learned: women choose home birth because it’s “hedonistic,” and the equivalent of a spa treatment. Furthermore, reporter Peter Alexander suggests that women choose home birth because famous people like Meryl Streep and Demi Moore had some babies at home. Home birth, Alexander says, is “fashionable, trendy and the latest cause celebre.”

Spa treatments? Cause celebre? (Demi Moore?!) Continue reading »

Romanian Mom Gives Birth to a Baby (Gorilla?)

Prepare to cross your legs!

A Romanian woman has given birth to an enormous baby girl, Luciana Munteneau. She’s more than twice the size of many newborns and several inches longer. Luciana joins her eight other siblings, all of whom were on the bigger side but none of whom reached her epic proportions.

So, how about the stats. Continue reading »

The Childbirth Song

For every woman out there who’s pushed out a baby, only to have her husband turn to her and say, “Well.  That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” I give you Helen Austin’s “The Childbirth Song.”

You’ve bags under your eyes
You’ve got boobs to your knees
Your hand’s full of poo and your bra’s full of cheese

Watch it, and I dare you not to laugh:

Continue reading »

They Say: Induction Lowers Risk of C-Section. Really?

In Tuesday’s issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine , a review of randomized trials concludes that elective induction at or after 41 weeks of pregnancy does not increase a woman’s risk for c-section.

In fact, inductions at or after 41 weeks lowered the risk of surgery by 22 percent (lowered!), according to the report.

Does this mean inductions have been unfairly fingered as one reason the c-section rate in Canada and, more so, the U.S., is so high? Aren’t inductions a part of the cascade of interventions that lead to c-section? Continue reading »