Breaking news from Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research at the University of Warwick is that a drug designed to tackle diabetes could also be re-purposed as the first treatment to prevent miscarriage by targeting the lining of the womb. Previous research found that women who experience recurrent miscarriages do not have enough stem cells… Continue reading Diabetes drug could be key to helping recurrent miscarriage
After my last post, I took a step back, as I found it really emotionally draining to go back over the utterly shite treatment I had with my last birth in particular. But the state of post-natal care also needs to be addressed and was, on the whole, poor during both my experiences. There have… Continue reading Blog series post #6: Better post-natal care
Both my births were traumatic in different ways. My first son was born after a very long back-to-back labour, I didn’t dilate past 7cm and eventually his oxygen levels plummeted to the point where I had to have a category 1 c-section. I was whisked into a make-shift theatre because the labour suite was in… Continue reading Blog series post #5: Birth trauma
As well as breakthroughs in miscarriage research, which I talked about in last week’s post, there has been constant progress in the field of in vitro fertilisation (IVF). It has been over 40 years since the first ‘test-tube’ baby, born in the same year as me and, since then, over 1.1 million IVF treatment cycles… Continue reading Blog series post #3: the next steps for IVF Part 1
Today marks the end of the second UK Maternal Mental Health Week, led by the Perinatal Mental Health Partnership. World Maternal Mental Health Day on Wednesday’s focus on ‘The Village’ emphasised the importance of giving access to the information and help that new mothers need. Much of the work needs to start with how we… Continue reading Maternal Mental Health Week 2018
The government announced recently that more than 3,ooo places on midwifery training courses will be created over the next four years. There also been the ‘promise’ to mothers that they will be seen by the same midwife throughout labour, pregnancy and birth by 2021. It’s an admirable aim, and one that would vastly improve the… Continue reading More midwives only half the answer
An important message has been discussed this week as newly-released research has prompted a #SleepOnSide campaign by Tommy’s that advises women to go to sleep on their side during the third trimester of pregnancy to reduce the risk of stillbirth. Having had early losses, I can’t imagine the pain of stillbirth, and there are some… Continue reading Tommy’s #SleepOnSide campaign
Once I was transferred to the post natal ward, I was put into bay ‘B4’. That was what was written on my notes, and my name was not even noted down above my bed. The experience on the ward with my first son had been noisy and stressful so another request of mine had been… Continue reading When birth doesn’t go to plan…again (Part 2)
So my husband has been mocking me recently because of the long list of really popular 80s films I’ve never seen. So to keep myself occupied whilst I wait for baby to arrive, I decided to write a little poem all about it. I’ve not seen: Die Hard or Halloween Rocky or Rambo Any of… Continue reading 80s films you won’t believe I haven’t seen
I’d never heard about placenta donation until about a year ago when I saw someone on TV discussing it. I had no idea that the cord blood of the placenta is one of the richest sources of stem cells and every day it is routinely thrown away in the UK. It can be used to… Continue reading Saving lives with placenta donation
My Beautiful Diary of the Amazingly Mundane 