‘Numerous Children’ Dead In US Plane Crash
A plane has crashed and burst into flames in Montana killing 17 people, including numerous children, US authorities say. SMH

Actor Needed Only ‘Simple Operation’
The Australian neurosurgeon who coined the term “talk and die” for delayed-onset brain injury has described how actor Natasha Richardson could have been saved by a relatively simple operation. The Australian

GPs Urged To Measure Up
Tracking statistics on how effectively patients of GPs are being treated — a prospect that has drawn dramatically closer with the recent draft report of the federal Government’s main health advisory body — does not have to be onerous or controversial. The Australian

Parents Lose Fight To Keep Alive Chronically Ill Son ‘Baby OT’
A chronically ill nine-month-old baby boy died yesterday morning after judges ruled treatment must be withdrawn. His parents were said by their lawyer to be too upset to face the media. Independent

Madonna’s Nanny Quits… Then Is Told To Leave Immediately
The nanny in sole charge of Madonna’s adopted son David Banda has left suddenly – despite plans for the star to adopt another baby from Malawi. Daily Mail

Parents Lose Fight To Keep Alive Chronically Ill Son ‘Baby OT’
A chronically ill nine-month-old baby boy died yesterday morning after judges ruled treatment must be withdrawn. His parents were said by their lawyer to be too upset to face the media. Independent

The Man Who Transformed A School System
Brother Kelvin Canavan knows how to get a message across – to pupils, prime ministers and popes. SMH

Test-Tube Baby Report Will Scare Parents Of IVF
Couples will be encouraged to use in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment sparingly after a new study revealed it could leave babies with a greater risk of genetic health problems. Independent

The Ages Of Motherhood
The number of women giving birth in their late thirties and forties has doubled in the past decade. What’s it like having a baby in your forties compared with your twenties – or even doing both? To celebrate Mother’s Day, Anna Moore speaks to three women to find out. Telegraph

My son is chasing a balloon on the grass outside our apartment and I’m thinking about my little foetus, wondering how on earth it’s possible for two miracles to occur. Can I really be so lucky to give birth to another healthy, chubby-cheeked cherub again?

There’s no reason why I shouldn’t. But talking to other mums, there seems to be a universal thought that perhaps we are tempting fate by heading down the bumpy road to parenthood once more

That’s not the end of my anxieties. Lying next to my son, patting him off to sleep with a lullaby and looking at the wispy blond tendrils of hair curl next to his perfect ear, I am scared that even if this second baby is perfect, that there is no way I can love it as much as I love my first. Even the pregnancy still feels abstract at this point. Sure, my stomach is swelling and I’ve seen the ultrasound, but a pesky anterior placenta is blocking any kicks that will constantly remind me of the squirming little creature I carry inside.

This is another common anxiety and really has no rational basis. We are able to love our parents, siblings, friends, partners… why can our hearts not stretch to accommodate another child?

I know from experience that the bond may not occur the minute the baby is born. Even though you know you would protect your little bundle with your life, actual love can take weeks, even months to develop, as Lisa Emmerich wrote about for Babble only last week.

So I’m hoping that even though my first and I will share a special, knowing bond, that some time in the hectic days and weeks after the birth of number two there will be a point I’ll gaze into his or her eyes and feel that magical rush of emotion that signals he or she is mine.

And until then I’m just waiting for that first kick.

Many a cliché is built around pregnancy cravings but, I’m one of the 54% of pregnant women who experiences the opposite: food aversion.

This time is started early. I hadn’t had time to miss my period before I woke up feeling hungover and unable to stomach much other than Vegemite on toast. And corn chips.

While I have been lucky enough in both my pregnancies to keep my food down, the sudden aversion to one of my biggest pleasures in life – preparing and sharing meals – came as a major disappointment.

Just walking past a BBQ chook shop would have me dry heaving. Meals were perfunctory, preferably vegetarian and served out of a packet. Luckily, my son’s daycare provides a hot, nutritious, home cooked meal every day, so I didn’t feel so guilty serving up another bowl of pasta for dinner.

This time, horror of horrors, I even went off coffee. That, however is not so unusual. While researchers still don’t know why pregnant women have cravings, they have identified an intensified perception of bitterness during the first trimester. They think this might be an evolutionary protection, because many toxic plants and fruits taste bitter. This taste change helps warn pregnant women against consuming poisons, such as alcohol, during critical phases of foetal development, and interestingly, the aversion to bitter tastes typically lessens by the third trimester, when the crucial phases of foetal development have ended.

Another theory, yet to be proven, states that pregnant women subconsciously crave what they need. For example, you crave milkshakes when you’re iron deficient. Nice theory, but where do sour Coca Cola lollies fit on the food pyramid? And why can I still not stomach leafy greens or red meat?

There’s also the irrational craving. I once knew a woman who insisted her husband drive to the other side of the city to collect take away from a certain Thai restaurant. I have made sudden and immediate demands for MdDonald’s burgers just for the pickles, even though I usually can’t stand the place.

It can’t be my inner-nutritionist speaking, can it?

Personally, I think it must be the hormonal equivalent of a chocolate and red wine craving when pre-menstral. The same hormones make us pregnant women cry at television commercials and cause inexplicable feelings of road rage.

Many a man has taken on a hormonal woman and lost. If she wants ice-cream, buy her ice-cream. Pickles at 2am? No problem. Let’s face it, there are so many restrictions on what pregnant women can eat these days, if you do want something, and it’s on the safe foods list, go for your life.

Next week: what if I don’t love my second child as much as my first?

If nothing else, your dog getting awfully chummy all of a sudden might clue you in – you’re pregnant.

There’s been no scientific proof that dogs can sniff out a pregnancy – just a tonne of circumstantial evidence. Take Peter Huoppi, who just wrote a column over at The Day about his pooch Remy’s transformation to “Velcro dog,” attached very suddenly to his wife, Jen. Three weeks after Remy couldn’t keep the paws off of her, Jen found out she was pregnant. Or the series of mothers talking about this subject last month at Cafe Mom – they’ve got pups with pregnancy-sensing powers, or so they say.

Besides the heightened sense of smell that could be picking up on hormonal changes, dogs can pick up on emotional changes. Most animal trainers say the dogs will sense a pregnancy and the protective side kicks into overdrive.

So if your dog has taken to sticking his snout anywhere YOU are, maybe it’s time to pick up one of those little pee-on-the-stick jobs and see if he’s trying to tell you something.

Image: This Normal Life

Jezebel reported yesterday on a new invention filed with the U.S. Patent Office that allows a woman to practice giving birth… with a balloon.

Did any of these people actually go through natural childbirth first? Quick tip – a solid mass of baby is NOTHING like a squishy air-filled balloon. Trust me.

I haven’t tried this thing – and really, I’d have no need now. But here’s the deal, thanks to Inventor Spot: “The way it sort of works is that the balloon is partly located inside the vagina of the pregnant woman.

When inflated, the balloon causes the orifice of the birth canal to dilate in a manner similar to that caused by the emerging head of a baby.”

I understand women are really curious before birth about how this whole thing is going to go down. Especially in the latest weeks of pregnancy, we agonise over whether it’s going to hurt, whether we’re going to know what to do, whether there’s anyway we can actually do it wrong. But after having been there and done that, I can’t imagine how a “balloon birth” would clear up much of the confusion. If anything, I’d be more freaked out during labour when it was NOTHING LIKE what I’d practiced. Because, you know, there’s that hard baby head, the contractions, the baby SHOULDERS… not to mention thirteen hours of labour that tired out my entire body before the pushing.

Does this seem silly to you or would you have liked a little trial run?

Image: Inventor Spot

Via Jezebel

Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon will celebrate their first wedding anniversary in April, and what better gift to each other than a baby? The couple were spotted leaving a Beverly Hills office building, which may (or not) have a fertility clinic, which could mean they were in that fertility clinic (or not), which could mean Mariah is pregnant (or not).

According to sources, Carey, 38, and Cannon, 28, were visiting a pre-natal specialist and they were even sneaky enough to use a decoy limo to throw off the paparazzi, who, uh, ended up spotting them anyway. (Better luck next time)

Mariah has been through pregnancy rumors before and both she and Nick have said they’ve changed their minds about children. Initially they didn’t want any, but realizing that they’re soul mates, thought having a baby would be perfect for them.

However, in January, at the Sundance Film Festival, the two told Extra they’re not sure about babies. Mariah said, “We don’t know!” Nick added, “Yeah, we’ll let nature take its course!”

Which translates to, “ya, we’re pregnant, but we’re not telling you just yet.” (or not)

Bump watch is on.

[Source]

I’d like to share the journey with you and start a discussion about pregnancy – the good, the bad and the stretchy! Share your experiences in the comments field below.

This week, we’re talking Nuchal Translucency Tests.

Last week I went for my Nuchal Translucency test, which is an ultrasound scan and blood test taken at 11-13 weeks gestation and used to detect the risk of chromosomal disorders such as Down’s Syndrome.

The scan assesses the amount of fluid behind the neck of the foetus – also known as ‘the nuchal translucency’. Foetuses at risk of Down tend to have a higher amount of fluid around the neck. The scan can also pick up other abnormalities and confirm due dates.

It’s also non-invasive, with no risks to the foetus unlike CVS or amniocentesis. But – and this is the big but – it will not tell you if your baby will have a chromosomal disorder, and in fact will only pick up about 75% of babies who do. What it does is give you a risk calculation, taking into account maternal age.

At 32 years of age I have an age related risk of 1:476 for trisomy 21 (Down’s Syndrome) and 1: 887 for other trisomies (such as trisomy 18, which is usually incompatible with life). After my blood test results and nuchal measurement of 2.4mm, the risks were adjusted to 1:912 and 1:15243. Which is all very reassuring, but the risk is still there, however small.

For women who receive an adjusted risk of 1: 300 or higher for abnormalities, they face a difficult choice. Do they go ahead and take the risk of undergoing CVS or amino testing, which will conclusively make a diagnosis, but risk a miscarriage rate of up to 1:200? It can be an extremely stressful time for women and their partners.

The problem has been highlighted in a UK study, which claimed that “for every three unborn Down’s syndrome babies prevented from being born, two healthy babies will be miscarried because of the methods used to detect the condition.”

The question for couples considering invasive testing is obviously, whether they would continue a pregnancy if their baby was found to have an abnormality. I used to think I would terminate for Down’s Syndrome, but after joining parenting forums and reading about the opportunities children – and adults – with DS now have, it would no longer be a straightforward decision.

Indeed, now that abortion rates for a Down’s Syndrome diagnosis have reached 90% in the United States, parents of DS children are worried that there will be less tolerance for the few people left with the condition, as well as less government funding and support.

It’s for some of these reasons that Medicare won’t fully re-imburse an NT test for a woman under the age of 37, and some women just don’t take the test at all, deciding to let nature take its course.

I chose to pay for the test, because I wanted more time to decide on a course of action should there be something wrong and, to be completely shallow, have a nice little sneak peek at my baby, and check that he/she was growing well.

Did you choose have an NT scan? And would you do it again?

Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine fed a high-fat diet of potato chips, peanut butter and chocolate to pregnant monkeys, who produced foetuses with fatty-liver disease, a potential precursor to diabetes. And their babies were obese by six months old, according to research . The weight of the mummy monkeys was irrelevant.

The study provides further evidence that the childhood obesity epidemic might start in the womb, said Jed Friedman, a University of Colorado pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular genetics professor and co-author of the study.

He theorises that a high-fat diet in the womb may also affect the “appetite centre” of the brain, meaning baby monkeys might have problems with appetite control after birth, he says.

The next phase of the study, researchers will study what happens when the baby monkeys which have been eating junk food are switched to a healthy diet.

So long chocolate, it was fun while it lasted.

Pregnant Alyson Hannigan is feeling like a stoned Koala and has trouble remembering things – you know, that dreaded "pregnancy brain" thing. Apparently Ellen DeGeneres is experiencing the same thing!

Hannigan, who is expecting her first baby in the spring, appeared on Friday’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show, saying, "I get tired a lot and I have pregnancy brain, which I never realised was a thing but it is.

"I sort of feel like a Koala bear where I'm slightly stoned all the time and I'll say the wrong word."

Ellen, always the comedian said, "I'm not pregnant, but I have that brain too. I don't have an excuse." Ha. I love her!

The baby talk continued and Alyson said she and her husband, actor Alexis Denisof, know the sex of the baby but are keeping it a secret.

"We're just not announcing to the world. It seems a little personal."

Of course Ellen is persistent at times and when Alyson said she's craving ginger ale just like her mum did with her, Ellen took this to mean the How I Met Your Mother star is having a girl.

Laughing, Alyson said, "You're very sneaky."

That's Ellen!

[Source]

To clarify, “aggressive behaviour” is that which the mothers characterized “as quick to hit, bite, kick, fight and bully others.” (I guess spitting is OK. Throwing things, perhaps?) The children studied were between 18 months and three and a half years of age.

“Mothers-to-be whose lives have been marked by anti-social behaviour have a 67 percent chance to have a physically aggressive child if they smoke 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, compared with 16 percent for those who are non-smokers or who smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day. Smoking also seems to be an aggravating factor, although less pronounced, in mothers whose anti-social behaviour is negligible or zero.”

Other factors contributing to aggressiveness in preschool kids, sayeth the study: “mothers who are younger than 21, who smoke and who coerce their children to behave.” Also, “children from families who earned less than $US40,000 per year were at an increased risk for aggressive behaviour.” Which I guess means that families earning less than $US40,000 are more likely to have aggressive children whether mom puffs or not. But the aggressiveness INCREASED in those families if mom smoked, and DECREASED if she didn’t.

Are you bored yet?

Here’s my issue with studies like this. We know smoking while pregnant is a bad idea. (Like playing piano in a marching band, as they say on The Animaniacs.) So what exactly is the point of this study? What did we find out, that families with less money and a mother with a nicotine addiction are more likely to have children who exhibit “aggressive behaviour”, as defined by a certain specific “behaviours”? So what? How about a study that looks at methods that might help those kids deal with their aggression?

Reading this study makes me feel very aggressive. I need to go bite something. But since my mother doesn’t smoke, I’ll just bite into a sandwich.

Source: Science Daily

Image: Church Times