Pregnancy
Congratulations! - especially if this is your first baby.
Pregnancy should be a wonderful time, but it can be worrying too: in a few short months you will be responsible for a little baby who will be totally relying on you (and your partner). So you have a relatively short period of time to learn how to cope.
There's plenty of help available to you: your own family, friends, your doctor/nurse/midwife. There's the internet too and we hope you will find this site useful.
On a more light-hearted note: if you don't yet know whether baby will be a boy or girl, try the Chinese Pregnancy Chart! It is supposed to predict the sex of your baby if you know the month baby was conceived. A joke? Well, the ancient chart exists in a museum in China and both our kids turned out as predicted! Clever people those Chinese!
We have several articles that hopefully you will find useful.
How to determine whether you are pregnant
Test to take now you are pregnant
How many? All about twins
Morning sickness - it doesn't last for ever
Things to do while you are pregnant
Amusing facts about pregnancy
All about premature babies
Preeclampsia
The importance of exercise during pregnancy
Baby's kicking!
Is it safe to travel by air while you are pregnant?
Will being a single parent harm your baby?
Latest News
Daily sex keeps sperm healthy and improves the chance of pregnancy
Australian scientists have found that regular sex clears sperm from the testicles and prevents the natural build up of DNA damage. They advise that a man should copulate once a day for a week before their partner is ready to conceive. Go one, force yourself!! But don't get too carried away. apparently having sex more than once a day can risk a man's sperm count falling to a low level.
Hold a Model of your Unborn Baby
Pregnant women can now hold a model of their unborn baby thanks to an invention that uses data from MRI scans and ultrasound. Jorge Lopes, a Brazilian designer, uses 3-D printing technology to create the plaster models, which go on show from today at an exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London.
The invention has already attracted the attention of medical experts. “For doctors this is a fantastic development and it is absolutely unique,” said Stuart Campbell, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at King’s College London and a pioneer of the use of ultrasound diagnosis in the 1980s.
Professor Campbell is keen to use the technology as an educational tool for expectant parents and to help mothers who have difficulty bonding with their babies. It could also allow parents better to understand physical abnormalities that are diagnosed during pregnancy.
Fall in Death RateA new report has found that the number of stillborn babies has fallen steadily since 2002. The latest figures available show that 5.2 babies per 1,000 were stillborn compared to 5.7 in 2002. The number of babies dying in the first month is also at it lowest level since 2000, with 3.3 deaths per 1,000 births.
There are significant differences depending on the age of the mother. Women of 40 or over are most at risk of having a stillborn baby, the figure is 7.7 per 1,000, while women under 20 had the highest number of babies dying in the first month (4.4 per 1,000). The safest age to have a baby is 30-34.
600gm Baby Survives
A premature baby weighing just 600gms and born at 24 weeks gestation has survived. Pune was born in India earlier this year. Doctors created conditions similar to the mother's womb to help the baby develop naturally. Pune was discharged after 87 days. That was one month ago and the baby now weighs 2/65kg and is doing well.
