Gynecology Blog

They skulk at the entrances of maternity hospitals every day - pregnant women puffing on filthy gaspers. Some of them look guilty, averting their eyes when people stare. It's a pathetic and sad sight.

Others are more defiant, inhaling the toxic smoke as if their lives depend on it. But one thing's for sure. Pregnant women who smoke make me feel sick and mildly depressed.

Seeing an expectant woman in her dressing gown and slippers suck on a smoke is beyond pathetic when it's impossible to escape the gruesome images of the dangers of cigarettes. So, I'm all for the British plan to test every pregnant woman for smoking. More...

Those who're pregnant or trying to conceive are surrounded by a long list of dos and don'ts, but most of them are myths. Do you really believe that the missionary position can increase your chances of getting pregnant? Well, women trying to conceive are often surrounded by such questions as there are so many urban myths and wives tales that make it difficult to know whether a person is doing the right thing, the wrong thing or simply wasting time.

Now, Heidi Murkoff has just released the latest in her popular What to Expect series, titled What to Expect Before You're Expecting. The book is aimed at women who are trying to conceive, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. More...

According to statistics over 40% of first marriages and almost 70% of first live-in relationships fail to reach the 15-year mark. A new study has revealed that pregnancy loss or stillbirth makes it even more difficult to keep up the marriage for long. Although it's also true that such tragedies can also bring the couple together.

It has been revealed by a study that in contrast to couples that had successful pregnancies, ones who had a miscarriage have 22% separation chances, and ones who experienced a stillbirth have 40% chances to do so. It has been said that the risk of separation or divorce can be up to 10 years after the event. More...

A new US study suggests that acupuncture specifically designed for depression may reduce symptoms during pregnancy: although the study was small, the researchers say it is the first of its kind and hope that it raises awareness about depression in pregnancy and helps patients and doctors consider an alternative to antidepressants. More...

Pregnancy and the postpartum period are peak times for women to experience depression, and routine screening for the condition should be a priority, say the authors of an opinion paper issued today in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

An estimated 14% to 23% of pregnant women experience depression, while 5% to 25% will have postpartum depression. The illness carries serious repercussions for both mother and baby, noted the authors of the paper. More...

Birth weights in the United States are on the decline, a study has found. The report, released Thursday, found a small but significant decrease in average birth weights from 1990 to 2005, for reasons that scientists say are unclear. The numbers, published in the February issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, mark a shift from earlier reports that noted a rise in birth weights in the latter part of the 20th century. More...

Parents will soon be able to determine the gender of their unborn accurately at early stages of pregnancy, a new study finds. Ultrasound performed in the second trimester had long been the easiest method to detect the gender of the fetus.

In cases, in which the determination of the gender needed to be performed in earlier stages due to medical reasons, however, invasive tests such as amniocentesis, associated with a small risk of miscarriage, were inevitable. More...

Nyree Paten gained so little weight during her recent pregnancy that some of her neighbors did not even realize she was expecting. A few days before her due date, she weighed only two pounds more than she had at her first prenatal visit.

But Ms. Paten, 35, of the Bronx, was under doctor’s orders to gain no more than 10 or 15 pounds — she was already about 100 pounds overweight. More...

Repeat teen pregnancy is much lower than average among mothers who participate in the University of Kentucky’s Young Parents Program, according to a study. The study followed 1,386 teen mothers who took part in the program and showed that less than 1 percent had a repeat pregnancy within three years, compared with 18.7 percent of teen mothers statewide, according to a UK release Thursday. The study was published in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology last year. More...

Gynecology is the surgical specialty dealing with the health of the female reproductive system. A hysterectomy is an example of a commonly performed gynecologic surgery. Many gynecologists are also trained in obstetrics, the specialty that deals with the time before, during and after childbirth.