All posts by admin

Expert Chat with Mother & Baby Magazine

Missed our Wednesday Lunch Club with obstetrician and gynaecologist Roger Marwood? Don’t worry, you can read all of the expert advice he shared here Every week at Mother& Baby we bring you the Wednesday Lunch Club – a chance to get brilliant advice for your pregnancy and parenting questions from a top expert.   This week, obstetrician and gynaecologist Roger Marwood was on board to answer questions. Roger’s a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. He has 40 years of experience working in a busy NHS hospital and has personally supervised around 20,000 pregnancies and countless deliveries. He’s […]

Have you got Post Natal Depression? by GP Dr Ellie Cannon

Dr Ellie Cannon is the author of  “Keep Calm, The New Mum’s Manual”  which is available on Amazon.   Read our review on her book here.    Post-natal depression   Feeling a bit down after giving birth is so common, it is pretty much normal. In the first 10 days especially, your mood will feel all over the place because of the hormones flying around  making you feel crazy, tearful, super-happy, super-sad often all at the same time. This is a normal post-natal experience.  You will find yourself crying at car insurance adverts on the telly. It’s a bit weird, but […]

Pregnancy after an Abortion

Due to very unfortunate personal circumstances I sadly terminated a pregnancy at 7 weeks by medical abortion. I bleed continuously for almost a month following the procedure which culminated in a huge sudden loss of blood/clots and me being rushed to a&e. An emergency d&c was performed to remove retained products of conception which were never detected despite my repeated concerns. The bleeding stopped almost straight after the d&c and my period has returned to a regular cycle (although has reduced to 26 days instead of 28 and previous symptoms such as mood swings and sore breasts have disappeared) I’m […]

Is my Blood Pressure Too High?

I’m 20weeks +6 pregnant blood pressure measured at hospital said 144/82 which seems high should I be concerned?   Your blood pressure is slightly higher than expected at this stage, however the significance of this is uncertain without knowing your measurement at your booking visit.  A result of 140/90 or more will prompt extra tests and supervision. Was your urine tested for protein ? We suggest that you have a Blood pressure check at 24 weeks rather than later. We hope this helps

All about Doulas

Last week we held a Q and A session with Rebecca Schiller a Doula UK recognised birth doula and co-chair of Birthrights.  We invited our followers to post their questions about Doulas and Rebecca answered them live over twitter. Here we have posted all the questions and answers together which is easier than trying to follow a very long twitter feed. If you have any more questions on the subject, please do get in touch with either us or Rebecca Schiller. I have fast deliveries and home births. Is it worth me hiring a doula so I’m not alone before the MW arrives? […]

Pregnancy Brain? Real? A myth? Or is it just the brain working in a different way?

Pregnancy Brain? Real?  A myth?  Or is it just the brain working in a different way?    Over the last 40 years of looking after pregnant women, I have often been bombarded by stories of poor memory, absentmindedness and lack of focus. It’s hard to tell whether these observations are real or just part of generally accepted story that pregnancy, in some way affects recall and cognitive function, and interferes with the ability of pregnant women to perform normal everyday tasks. Is it that pregnant women, in some way expect to behave differently when they are pregnant, and are just following […]

Some Dad Dos and Don’ts

  Some “DON’TS” for expectant Dads! DO NOT spend lengthy periods on your phone, laptop, or iPad unless she gives you the go-ahead DO NOT eat excessively in front of your partner who is probably feeling nauseated and or starving.  Cheese and onion crisps have been cited as the most disgusting thing to smell whilst in labour! DO NOT complain about being hungry or tired. DO NOT get drunk, before or during! DO NOT curl up in the chair and snore whilst your wife/partner is awake in pain! DO NOT spend most of the labour staring at the fetal heart rate monitor and ignore your […]

Cord wrapped around the baby’s neck 3 times. Very Worried

I am 36 weeks pregnant and my latest scan has shown that my baby has its cord wrapped round it’s neck 3 times. The dr at hospital says this is nothing to worry about and I just need to monitor fetal movements. I’m worried that I won’t know if anything is wrong from now till my due date. Are babies in this situation usually monitored more closely or delivered early? Up to one third of babies have the cord wrapped around the neck and in up to 5% of cases there are two or more wraps with the record being […]

Anal Fissure + Surgery – Can I have a natural birth?

I incurred an internal and external anal sphincter fissure during labour. It is hard to say for sure but I think there were a variety of factors; baby was 9 pounds 2, the placenta was on the 90th centile, I had an epidural, it was my first birth, from 4 centimetres dilated to baby being delivered was about 12 hours with about 2 hours pushing (is this long or short??!), I was two weeks over due (although the dating scan never made sense with when I thought I conceived while charting my ovulation), my waters were broken artificially (again not […]

My wife is breastfeeding, how can I help?

  “I am breastfeeding our new-born – how can my partner help?” By Louisa van den Bergh of Lulubaby When taking the breastfeeding session of our antenatal course, I often ask the mums to be what they think the fathers can do to help once their baby has been born. So often new fathers report to me that they feel “useless” and a bit “spare” whilst their partner is busy feeding the baby(quite a regular occurrence when they are tiny) so I thought it might be helpful to highlight a few things which your other half can be doing to […]