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I thought it would be helpful to do a roundup of studies investigating the safety and protective effects of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant women. These are studies I have been accumulating for [...]

A recent systematic review (a study of studies) challenges current wisdom that inducing at 39 weeks reduces cesareans and improves newborn outcomes.5 Reviewers pooled data among 16 randomized [...]

A study reports that both healthy diet and mindfulness training can reduce the incidence of babies born small-for-gestational-age (SGA), that is, at birthweights in the bottom 10% for their age. [...]

Progesterone injections have never unambiguously been shown to prevent recurrent preterm birth. Nevertheless, in 2011, the FDA thought the evidence sufficiently promising to grant preliminary [...]

A large Washington State study affirms that planning birth in a free-standing birth center or at home (community birth) can be as safe as planned hospital birth provided: Women are at low-risk [...]

Anesthesiologists have long known that accidental puncture of the dural membrane during epidural administration causes severe postpartum headache. They believed, however, that once the woman [...]

Routine continuous electronic fetal monitoring, a.k.a., cardiotocography, during labor continues to be the norm in labor & delivery units despite being a colossal failure, and the obstetric [...]

In a recent post, we discussed evidence-based practices that maximize your chances of avoiding an avoidable cesarean, but not all cesareans can or should be avoided. This post covers [...]

Previously, we documented that first and repeat cesarean rates are much higher than they should be and focused on how to choose a care provider who would best promote avoiding a first [...]

Technology does not enhance a natural process that is working. It can only mar or destroy it.— David Stewart The Five Standards for Safe Childbearing Immediate umbilical cord clamping perfectly [...]