About a quarter of babies born in vaginal deliveries had a small amount of bleeding in their brains, while none delivered by Caesarean section did, according to a study published Tuesday.

But the researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill said it was premature to view their surprising findings as an endorsement of C-sections.

They said the findings suggest brain bleeding in some newborns has been commonplace in vaginal deliveries throughout history, but is being detected now only because of highly sophisticated imaging technology.

“There’s no evidence that these bleeds are associated with problems in later life in either mental or physical function or ability,” said Dr. Honor Wolfe, an obstetrician involved in the study published in the journal Radiology.

Pressure on the baby’s skull while squeezing through the birth canal probably causes the bleeding, said Dr. John Gilmore, a psychiatry professor involved in the study.

The study involved a relatively small number of babies.

The researchers used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging on 88 newborns, with equal numbers of boys and girls, an average of two weeks after birth. Of them, 65 were delivered vaginally and 23 by C-section, in which the baby is surgically delivered through the mother’s abdomen.

Seventeen babies delivered vaginally — 26 percent — had bleeding in and around the brain, called intracranial hemorrhages. Most was located in the lower, rear part of the brain. Not one C-section baby had bleeding.

“While the vast majority of these are probably normal and go away and don’t cause any problems, some of them were bigger and, we don’t know, but may cause problems down the line as well,” Gilmore said.

Small bleeds usually heal harmlessly, but larger ones could lead later in life to learning or motor development problems or seizures.

I am so glad that the findings of this study have been released. My son was born vaginally and suffered from a brain bleed (Intraventricular Hemorrhage or IVH). Most of the micro- preemies that we met in the hospital that were delivered vaginally seemed to all have the same outcome.

Related Articles:
Intraventricular Hemorrhage Information @ Emedicine

SOURCE:MSNBC

Earlier this month I reported on a mom who gave birth to twins at 67. Today there are reports that she may have given a false age to the fertility clinic in order to be eligible for treatment.

The New Zealand Herald reports that:

The oldest woman ever to give birth deceived doctors to get the fertility treatment that let her have twins at 67 last month, a Sunday newspaper said.

Carmela Bousada, who gave birth to twins Christian and Pau on December 29, convinced a Los Angeles clinic she was 55, the cut-off age for their in-vitro fertilisation program, the News of the World said.

“They didn’t ask for my age or my passport. I may look tired now but before the births I did look slim and a lot younger,” the newspaper quoted Bousada as saying in an interview.

The clinic, the Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles, was not immediately available for comment. The clinic has confirmed in media reports that it treated Bousada.

t says its success rate for women over the age of 43 is just two per cent, compared to 56 per cent for women under 34.

Bousada, a Spaniard, sold her home in Spain to raise 30,000 pounds ($84,563) to pay for the treatment in the United States. She chose donor eggs from a “pretty, brown-haired 18-year-old” and sperm from a blond, blue-eyed Italian American.

“I picked them from photos in a catalogue. It was a bit like studying an estate agent’s brochure and choosing a house,” the paper quoted her as saying.

First she went through hormone therapy, which allowed her to have periods for the first time in 18 years. She became pregnant on the first attempt.

She insisted she would not have trouble raising the twins as a single mother, despite her age.

“My mum lived to be 101 and there’s no reason I couldn’t do the same.”

I think it is hard to raise two babies at once at any age. Twins are hard work, heck one baby is hard work. I hope that she has the energy that is needed to keep up with these little monkeys.

In this month’s Elle Magaine Gwen Stefani opens up to the mag about playdates with Brangelina, and how hard it is for her to stay stick-thin.

On being pregnant in the public eye:
“It was weird being pregnant in a fishbowl situation. Especially on days when you feel really fat and disgusting and not cute. Pregnancy was challenging in a way I didn’t expect. I was on tour and I was so sick. It was like PMS times a million.”

On her baby weight:
“I worked out with my trainer throughout my whole pregnancy until about two weeks before. I cried during my last session. I was like, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t do this anymore. What am I doing?’ It was crazy. All my life I had to work hard to stay in shape. I’ve always struggled with it. I was a little chubby when I was younger, and I didn’t want to be that person forever. I became a swimmer at school — but only because I wanted to be skinner! I’m extremely vain. I like wearing cute clothes.”

On getting her figure back post-pregnancy:
“There aren’t any tricks, it’s simple math: you put this much food in, you burn that much working out. I gave myself three months — but if I didn’t have an album coming out, there’s no way I would have gotten back into shape in that time. I worked out with my trainer five days a week, with weekends off. I would really recommend doing weights. I’m not into yoga and Pilates — they don’t work for me and I don’t have the patience. I’m more like a man, I like going to the gym and lifting weights or doing a little boxing.”

On whether her son, Kingston, and Brangelina’s daughter, Shiloh, play together:
“Yeah! They were like two little blobs when they met. Maybe they’ll get married when they grow up? That’d be cute!”

On the Hollywood body standard:
“It sucks that that’s what is supposed to look good and that’s what everyone strives to be. There’s more to life than being on a diet. Clearly, I spend time thinking about it, and it’s something I’ve had to deal with in my life. As I get older, I try not to focus on it, it’s boring, it’s a waste of life. What I have learned is that whether I’m fatter or thinner, people seem to not mind, they like me either way. It’s more in your own mind than anyone else’s.”

On being married to a fellow rock star [Gavin Rossdale]:
“There are negatives and positives, but for most part, it works. He can tell me about things going well or badly and I can totally relate to that. We were very lucky to find each other and we have this ongoing crazy love affair, with its peaks and valleys, like everyone else’s…Having Kingston has been the most romantic thing to have happened to us.”

On being down-to-earth:
“I still read a menu and go, ‘Look at the price — I can get that!’ I still think, ‘I’m in First Class, this is awesome.’ It’s insane what’s going on in my life — I just can’t believe my luck.”

People love Gwen because she is normal. She got pregnant had all of the same issues that every other women has and doesn’t mind talking about them. It makes her someone that you can relate to. What I like about her the most is that she is a busy mom who is still makes time to continue to breastfeed her baby. That sends a great message to her younger fans. Young girls who will be making these choices in a few years.

Pick up a copy of The British Elle for the full interview

SOURCE:USWEEKLY

Congratulatons to Anna Belknap and her actor husband Eric Siegel on the birth of their first baby.

The baby girl, whose name wasn’t released, was born on Jan. 14 in Los Angeles, CBS said.

Belknap, 34, plays Detective Lindsay Monroe on the series.

Siegel appeared in the 2003 film I Love Your Work with Christina Ricci and formerly developed films with producer Jon Peters.

SOURCE:PEOPLE

Last week I posted a article about Toronto Board of Health members developing a policy that affirms the right of breast-feeding mothers to breast-feed in all public places controlled by the municipality.

MSNBC has a an article asking whether or not it is appropriate to breastfeed in public. They give examples of mothers who have been disrupted while feeding their infants in public and others who feel that nursing mothers need to go somewhere in private to nurse their babies and not sit and flaunt their breasts in public.

This is a very passionate subject. Some moms have varying opinions on the appropriateness of feeding your child out in public.

On the ABC talk show, “The View,” Barbara Walters told how uncomfortable she felt sitting near a woman on an airplane flight who was breast-feeding her child. Within minutes, lactivist were online organizing nurse-ins around the country.

When “Baby Talk” magazine, which bears the slogan “Straight talk for new moms,” published a photo of a breast-feeding baby on the cover of its August 2006 issue, a flood of readers objected. In a poll of their readers, a quarter called the photo inappropriate.

While on vacation, in Vegas, a mom was nursing her 22-month-old son at a hotel restaurant when the assistant manager started unfolding a napkin and motioning for her to cover up. When the mother said she was fine, thank you, two more restaurant employees got in on the conversation. They told her if she didn’t cover, she would have to leave. They began “explaining to me that I could not be naked in public, that there were nudity and lewdness laws in Las Vegas!

When I was breastfeeding my son I found it hard to find a place that was discreet to feed him. Many times in a restaurant I would bring a chair into the restroom and feed him in there. While out for dinner once at the CN Tower the only place that was appropriate to feed him was the managers ‘cubby hole’ office. The staff was very accommodating, which helped somewhat. It was uncomfortable, but you do what you have to do when your baby is hungry.

I don’t have any issues with moms who nurse anywhere. Some women are so discreet you are not able to tell what is going on. It almost looks as though they are just cradling the baby.

Many times, the people who are the most uncomfortable are the ones who never nursed themselves. If my husband saw a women nursing her baby in public it probably wouldn’t faze him because he was so used to seeing me feed our son for months.

If it makes you uncomfortable than just don’t look. Moms are not feeding their babies to upset you, they are just fulfilling a basic need. Her child needs to eat and there aren’t always discreet places available to do it.