Incidence of Epidural Hematoma, Infection, and Neurologic Injury in Obstetric Patients

From Waking Up Costs, a study in the journal Anesthesiology attempts "to quantify some of the less common risks of having an epidural during labor: epidural hematoma, infection, and neurologic injury." He writes:

It contains an interesting tidbit others might find interesting, too. There are 4 million births in the United States each year and 2.4 million involve epidural analgesia. Wow. That's three fifth of all live birth get an epidural! (And some call nights, it seems every single one does...)

Birthing study backs kneeling position

MSNBC, of all things, reports on a Swedish study, Birthing study backs kneeling position:

First-time pregnant women who give birth in a kneeling position experience less pain than those who deliver in a seated position, researchers in Sweden report.

However, the duration of the active phase of labor (the time spent pushing) is similar with the two approaches, according to the study, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

That was the position I chose for Andrew's birth, by the way. Intense, but effective.

Solid Foods and Allergies

Feeding solid foods to infants before 6 months of age can increase the risk of allergies

Smoking in Pregnancy

Children of women who smoke during pregnancy can develop hearing problems.

Waterbirth Photo

I'm just sticking this photo up on my blog because I want to get it online somewhere for reasons that do not concern you.

And it's a great photo. Someday I will write Andrew's birth story, with photos to go along with it. Someday

You may think that the boys are looking at their baby brother, but actually DS5 is reading the writting on the side of the tub to DS3.

Is Breastfeeding Safe With Pierced Nipples?

Apparently there is some debate.

Can't they just remove the jewelry while breastfeeding? I am completely ignorant of such matters.

Pump Mom

Pump Mom, a blog devoted to moms who pump. With sidebar links to other pumping bloggers.

The Shape of a Mother II

A little bit slicker though.

Ezzo Week 2006!

It's Ezzo Week 2006 over at Tulip Girl.

Yahoo! Answers

This is really, really awful.

Like I didn't have enough to do already besides sit in front of the computer and answer the world's problems questions.

The Shape of a Mother

This is interesting:

Becoming a mother changes everything in your world - including your body. Here we share images of our bodies during and after pregnancy so we can see what real women look like.

Benefits of Breastfeeding Apparently Extend to Bed-wetting

Even I, who think that Breastmilk is the wonderdrug, think that this one is a little bizarre:

"There is biological plausibility in inferring that breast-feeding protects against bed-wetting and our results show a strong statistical association" although not enough to prove a direct cause-effect, the study said.