Divorce is often nasty but once in a while, the details of a particular breakup grab ahold of the soul and won’t let go. One such case involves Alaina Giordano, a mother of two who is battling Stage 4 breast cancer. On April 25 Giordano lost custody of her children, when a judge ruled that they would need to relocate from their Durham, …
Pregnancy
True or False? 20 Common Myths About Pregnancy
Forming a new human being is the most complicated thing a person can do without really having to think about it. But that doesn’t mean women don’t fret over it.
Should Radiation from Japan Scuttle Spring Break in Hawaii? A Mom Agonizes
There’s something about having kids that can turn a fairly rational person into a neurotic worrywart. So it was with our spring break trip to Hawaii, planned long before Japan trembled, flooded and announced that the
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A New Health Site in Beta Testing for Pregnant Women, New Moms
Getting pregnant and having a baby can turn the most confident woman into an uncertain, anxiety-wracked ball of nerves. There are questions like this: is the pain in my belly a sign of my uterus expanding or of impending …
When Mom Exercises in Pregnancy, Her Baby’s Heart Benefits
One of the great things about pregnancy is that it offers a seemingly plausible excuse to indulge — eat a little more dessert (why not, when you’re going to gain so much weight anyway) and dial down that hard-core exercise …
Are Oxycontin Babies This Decade’s Crack Babies?
In the late 1980s and early ’90s, it was almost impossible to avoid hearing about the plight of “crack babies” — infants born to mothers who had used crack cocaine during pregnancy. These offspring were predicted to become a …
Obese Women Are More Likely to Miscarry or Endure a Baby’s Death
Women are counseled not to be too thin or too heavy before getting pregnant, and new research gives even more reason for women to watch their weight: obese pregnant women stand a much greater chance of miscarrying or burying …
Maker of Prematurity Drug Slashes Price in Response to Critics
The saga of the prematurity-prevention drug Makena and the outrage over its pricing continues: on Friday, the maker of the drug, a subsidiary of KV Pharmaceutical, announced it would reduce its price 55%, from $1,500 to $690 per dose.
A High-Tech USB Pregnancy Test? Really?
We live in a techie world where ovulation, pregnancy, even baby’s diaper changes can be charted via a multitude of apps. So it’s about time someone developed a pregnancy test that not only tells you whether you’re about to put on …
Longer Pregnancy + Breast-Feeding = Bigger Brains, Longer Life
Advice around breast-feeding can drive new mothers mad, but a new study suggests that the long pregnancies and lactation periods of our prehistoric mamas are responsible for the relatively big brains that differentiate humans …
FDA Will Allow Cheaper Version of Pregnancy Drug to Be Sold
Following the uproar over the pricing of a drug to prevent premature birth — which went from about $10 per dose to $1,500 after the FDA approved a branded product to replace an older, unapproved version — the agency said …
Mothers Abused in Childhood More Likely to Have At-Risk Babies
Increasingly, a whole body of research indicates what happens early in childhood — even in utero — affects the rest of your life. Now, a new study reinforces that perspective, finding that women who were abused as children …