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Pregnancy
As soon as most women have a positive home pregnancy test, they call their doctor to set up their first prenatal visit. This doctor is usually the same OB/GYN who has provided their well-woman care, but your options don’t end with your OB/GYN to...
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Pregnancy
When the subject of pain control in labor comes up, most women automatically think of an epidural. While an epidural might provide the most relief, it is not your only choice. There are multiple ways your obstetrics provider can make labor less...
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Pregnancy
Preterm labor is defined as labor that starts between 20 and 37 weeks of pregnancy. Approximately 10 percent of babies are born preterm in the United States. This can be an overwhelmingly scary time, especially if you are earlier in your pregnancy....
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Pregnancy
The term “fetal kick counts” refers to a pregnant woman consciously monitoring her baby’s movements, usually over a specific period of time, to determine whether or not her baby is moving normally or not. This is done to reassure the mother and her...
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Pregnancy
If you just found out you are pregnant and plan to see an obstetrician for your pregnancy and delivery (as opposed to other providers), you may be wondering how best to select the doctor who will be involved in this very important time in your...
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Blog
When the leaves have long since displayed a kaleidoscope of color and have fallen to the ground, it’s time to pull out the sweaters and get in the mood for all things winter! We wanted to give you some great ways to de-stress this winter, for...
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Blog
If you gave birth in a hospital 50 years ago, the chances that your obstetrician was a male were almost 100 percent. That has changed in recent years as more and more women have gone into the field of medicine. In fact, most recently 82 percent of...
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Pregnancy
When it comes to how your baby is positioned in the birth canal, being head down is the best way to be. Other positions (known as “presentations” in the medical community) are known as malpresentations. Some malpresentations may make a vaginal...
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Pregnancy
A preterm birth happens when a woman gives birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy. With this issue complicating about 12 percent of all pregnancies in the United States, many parents wonder how it could affect their future pregnancies. For the woman...
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Pregnancy
Among the decisions facing expectant parents is one that involves cord blood banking, a procedure that takes only minutes to perform and could potentially serve as a lifesaving option later in life for their children. However, just as the cord...
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Pregnancy
Historically, midwives in the United States emerged in the 1920s, though they have been practicing around the world for thousands of years. These types of midwives were usually women in rural communities who had been taught to assist with birthing,...
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Pregnancy
Rhogam, or anti-D immune globulin, is an injection given to certain pregnant women. It’s designed to help prevent immune-system problems related to your blood type and whether it’s “negative” or “positive.” For...
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Pregnancy
One of the most common questions many pregnant women hear is, “When are you due?” While a due date is a carefully calculated and important part of your pregnancy, it is at best an educated guess. Considering that only 5 percent of babies arrive on...
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Pregnancy
If you are planning to get pregnant, have you talked to your obstetrician or midwife yet? Or do you think you don’t need to see an obstetrics provider until you see two lines on a pregnancy test? In fact, getting a clean bill of health before you...
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Pregnancy
Welcome to Week 31! Just nine weeks to go, which means there’s still time to plan for some of those post-delivery things you’ll need to take care of, and better to take care of them now before the baby arrives when it’s easier to carve out time for...
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Pregnancy
While home births account for only about 0.6 percent of all births in the United States, they have gained increasing visibility in recent years, especially in the media. Women opt for home births for various reasons: they want the comfort of being...
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
When you are pregnant and deciding where you want to deliver your baby, most expectant parents think about many of the same things: How close is the hospital to my house? Does the doctor or midwife I like deliver there? Have my friends had babies...
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Pregnancy
Almost every pregnant woman has the same fear: that their bag of water will break in some public place and leave a huge, embarrassing trail of fluid for all to see. Luckily that isn’t the case for many, but here’s a look at what amniotic fluid is...
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Pregnancy
Stillbirth is defined as the loss of a fetus after 20 weeks gestation. This heartbreaking outcome complicates approximately 1 in 160 pregnancies, with 25,000 occurring each year in the United States. Although we don’t always know what causes...
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Pregnancy
Postpartum depression is a complication of pregnancy that most women have heard about. This is a good thing, since about 15 percent of moms experience it. However, antenatal depression, or depression during pregnancy, is something that tends to be...
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Pregnancy
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is the diagnosis of diabetes, or carbohydrate intolerance, in pregnancy. This condition complicates about 5 percent of all pregnancies, with some ethnic groups being more affected than others. There are a few...
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Pregnancy
Prenatal visits are important for many reasons: to make sure your baby is growing normally, to screen for any concerning symptoms, and to provide education about your pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. There is a lot to cover during...
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Pregnancy
The use of bed rest or extreme activity restriction is a common first-line treatment for many complications of pregnancy, including: preterm labor, being pregnant with multiples, placenta previa, and preeclampsia or high blood pressure, to name a...
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Pregnancy
In October 2013, the American College of Obstetricians/Gynecologists (ACOG) issued an updated definition for term pregnancies. The updated definitions are significant because they change when pregnancies are classified as “full term.” Prior to the...
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Pregnancy
The placenta is a pancake-shaped organ designed to act as an exchange between the mother’s and baby’s blood supply. Not only does it produce the “pregnancy hormones” of chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estrogen, and progesterone, it is also...
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Pregnancy
While most women are familiar with where to find pregnancy tests in your local supermarket or convenience store, many do not know what exactly this test is measuring. Here’s a quick guide on how pregnancy tests work and how best to use them. A...
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Pregnancy
When you go to a hospital or birth center when you are in labor, your baby’s heart rate can be monitored to make sure he or she is tolerating the labor appropriately. This is a longer version of when your doctor or midwife checks on your baby’s...
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Baby
Premature infants are at risk for a variety of lung problems and diseases, in part because infants can survive birth at earlier ages than ever before. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, infants today “consistently” survive birth at...
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Pregnancy
With the growing number of babies and infants suffering from allergies, researchers are increasingly looking for ways to prevent the development of allergies in the first place. Recent studies suggest that babies whose mothers took probiotics, or...
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Baby
When women who are breastfeeding decide to wean before they planned to, the number one reason they give is low milk supply. However, true low milk supply is exceedingly rare, given that humanity had to survive for thousands of years before formula...
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Parenting
After the initial shock of being told you are pregnant with twins wears off, many moms wonder how this will affect their pregnancy and delivery. While each twin pregnancy can vary, there are some general similarities worth reviewing. From the...
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Baby
Group B Strep (GBS) is a normally harmless bacteria commonly found in the human digestive tract. But this little bug has a darker side: in pregnant women, it can migrate to vaginal region where it can cause serious complications in a newborn after...
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Pregnancy
Up to 15 percent of families struggle with infertility, but there is no single cause behind trouble with conception. Infertility can be caused by anything from ovulation issues to medical issues such as diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure....
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Pregnancy
So here you are, now in the beginning of the second trimester. All of the good things that have characterized the last week or two—increased energy, fewer trips to the bathroom, less breast tenderness, less morning sickness—should be continuing...
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Pregnancy
If you’ve had a C-section before and are pregnant again, chances are you have been thinking about what your delivery will look like this time around. The good news is that your options are still open—but you should be aware of what your choices are...
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
Cell-free fetal DNA (cfDNA) screening is one of the newest genetic tests on the market. It involves drawing a pregnant woman’s blood after 10 weeks gestation to detect fetal blood cells. The purpose is to screen for three chromosomal abnormalities:...
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Parenting
Your new baby has arrived, and you are eager to get back into shape. However, losing weight after pregnancy takes time and patience, especially because your body is still undergoing many hormonal and metabolic changes. Most women will lose half...
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Pregnancy
In today’s world, more women are choosing to delay childbearing until after their education is complete and their careers have been established. And we’ve all seen those stories in the media about women having babies even as late as in their...
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
At some point, many pregnant parents-to-be will hear about the potential benefits of banking cord blood. This service is offered through public cord blood banks, where parents can donate cord blood anonymously for general use, or they can bank...
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
Round ligament pain is a common cause of discomfort for many pregnant women. While it does not put you or your baby in any danger, it can still be a nuisance. The round ligaments are support structures in the uterus. They are bands of tissue that...
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Pregnancy
A submersion birth is exactly what it sounds like: giving birth while partially submerged, usually in a bathtub or a special submersion birth tub found in some hospitals and birthing centers. Already popular overseas, submersion births have been...
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Baby
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 500,000 babies are born prematurely each year. Of these tiny patients, about half will be diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP. In ROP, the blood vessels in the...
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Pregnancy
The good news is that, by 37 weeks, only 3–4 percent of babies remain in the breech (bottom-down) position. This means that the majority of the time, babies are head-down in preparation for delivery. But what happens if they remain breech? Here are...
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Pregnancy
If you are pregnant and planning for your delivery, you may or may not have heard of birth plans. A birth plan is simply a document to help expectant parents communicate their wishes during labor and delivery to their healthcare providers. In a...
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Pregnancy
Epidurals are a popular method of pain control for laboring women, but what are the risks? Is the pain relief worth it? Here are some of the specific questions women often have about epidurals. Will an epidural make my labor longer? Having an...
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Pregnancy
Like miscarriages, elective abortions can be managed medically (with medications) or surgically. When done surgically, a procedure called a dilation and curettage (or “D&C”) is performed. Women who have experienced a miscarriage or undergone an...
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Pregnancy
A doula is a type of specialist who has been trained to support a laboring woman before, during, and after her birth. The word doula derives from the Greek term “a woman who serves” and they do just that: they provide emotional and physical support...
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Pregnancy
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Team Member
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Pregnancy
Heading into Week 6, it may seem like little has changed from last week—if you’ve been suffering morning sickness or fatigue, they are unfortunately likely still going strong (conditions like these don’t usually resolve until around Week 13). And...
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Pregnancy
Pregnancy tests work by detecting a hormone called hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the blood or urine. A woman’s body produces hCG in large amounts when she is pregnant. The body starts making hCG once the fertilized egg implants in the...
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Baby
An Apgar score is a general measure of a baby’s health at birth. It measures things like: Heart rate Breathing Color Reflexes Muscle tone Each category is assigned a score ranging from zero to two. The scores are then added together to give a range...
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Pregnancy
Amniocentesis is a diagnostic procedure that is used before birth to look for genetic problems and birth defects in the developing fetus. During the procedure, your doctor removes a small amount of amniotic fluid from the uterus using a long...
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Pregnancy
During amniocentesis, your healthcare provider takes a sample of your amniotic fluid to gather information about the health of your baby. The sample is removed using a fine needle and with the assistance of ultrasound. An amniocentesis can help...
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Pregnancy
Before the pandemic, telemedicine was something that wasn’t used that often in the American healthcare system. All that changed in March 2020, however, when clinics everywhere were left figuring out how to deliver care safely to their patients....
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Pregnancy
Deliveries that are performed with a vacuum extractor or forceps are referred to as “operative deliveries.” They account for approximately 10-15 percent of all vaginal births. Although they used to be somewhat routine, operative deliveries today...
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Pregnancy
If you’re about to give birth, surely your friends and family have told you exactly what their deliveries were like — and how yours should go, too. After reading the books and searching Dr. Google, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction. Here...
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Pregnancy
As soon as some women have a positive pregnancy test, they experience every symptom in the book. Others don’t feel a single twinge and wonder if something is wrong. Here’s a breakdown of what can be normal to experience, but remember: not having...
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Baby
Many women who are breastfeeding and find themselves pregnant again are often told by friends, family members, and even their physicians that they need to wean right away. The supposed risks of breastfeeding while pregnant include an increased risk...
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Pregnancy
There are few things as exciting for an expectant parent as seeing the first ultrasound images of their developing baby. Ultrasound is a simple and safe technology that uses sound waves to visualize the baby in the uterus. Ultrasounds are routinely...
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Pregnancy
Although pregnancy can be an exciting time for future parents, it can also cause anxiety and raise concerns. While parents-to-be can feel reassured in knowing that most babies are born healthy, they may still want additional information about the...
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Pregnancy
By definition, recurrent miscarriages (also known as recurrent pregnancy loss) is the loss of two or more pregnancies. A single miscarriage may be devastating for hopeful parents-to-be, and this emotional toll usually increases as more losses...
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
Ideally, all women who are planning for pregnancy should have a preconception check-up to make sure they are in good health and have all the information they need to get their pregnancy off to a good start. However, if that is not possible, it is...
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Pregnancy
With the various types of obstetric providers that can care for you during your labor and delivery, some women choose to be seen by a midwife. Different categories of midwives exist, but the bottom line is that they all care for low-risk women....
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Pregnancy
Preeclampsia is defined as high blood pressure that develops in the second half of pregnancy and is associated with too much protein in your urine, along with other concerning findings such as headaches, vision changes, or pain coming from your...
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Pregnancy
Getting enough calcium during pregnancy is important to support both you and your baby. Your body always needs calcium, but many moms don’t realize that calcium requirements go up significantly during pregnancy, when calcium is used to help build...
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Pregnancy
A cervical exam is when your doctor or midwife inserts two fingers into your vagina to assess your cervix. This can be done at a prenatal visit if you are having contractions or are close to your due date, or when you are in labor to see how your...
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Pregnancy
Congratulations! You’ve almost made it through your first trimester. Hopefully some of the worst symptoms you’ve experienced so far are beginning to ease up as you’re entering the “happy trimester.” Your Body © Medical-Artist.com Your uterus is...
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Pregnancy
Prescription painkillers are a class of drugs that are used to treat pain. Among the most popular prescription painkillers is the group of medications known as opioids. Common opioids include morphine, oxycodone, and codeine, among others. These...
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Pregnancy
One of the less glamorous symptoms of pregnancy is an increase in vaginal discharge. This can happen at any time, but many women notice it more in the second and third trimesters. However, not all discharge is created equal, and knowing what is...
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Pregnancy
Welcome to Week 8! Now that you’re at the two-month mark—almost two months into your pregnancy—your abdomen will likely finally start showing your pregnancy. This isn’t because of the size of your uterus or baby (they are still tiny and well under...
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Pregnancy
An episiotomy is a type of surgical cut that is made at the vaginal opening during childbirth. Episiotomies are usually done to help make delivery easier, instead of letting the vaginal tissue tear naturally during delivery. If your doctor is using...
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Pregnancy
Medicine is rarely so straightforward that it can offer a “one size fits all” pattern. In fact, there is a reason it is called the “practice” of medicine or the “art” of medicine — because oftentimes a doctor or midwife needs to carefully consider...
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Pregnancy
An amniotic fluid embolism, or AFE, is thankfully an extremely rare complication of birth. It only occurs in about 1 in 40,000 deliveries, but it can be deadly, with a 20 to 60 percent mortality rate. Here we will break down what it is and how it...
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Pregnancy
When preparing to give birth, many expectant moms have heard about episiotomies and wonder if they will have one performed when they deliver their baby vaginally. A common question that they may ask their OB/GYN or midwife is if it is better to do...
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Pregnancy
While the media seems to focus on how quickly celebrity moms bounce back after pregnancy, we are covering the more realistic way your body goes back to its pre-pregnancy state (hint: it’s not a matter of days, or even a few weeks!) and what you can...
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Pregnancy
Pregnant moms have been told for years to take extra calcium to protect their bones. Now, research is showing that it’s also important to get enough fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin D and vitamin K, not only for their effect on calcium metabolism...