It has long been an axiom of obstetrics that induction of labour increases your risk of undergoing a caesarean – hell even my information sheet on the topic says this. But is this really true? And increased compared to whom? Well observational studies in this area show that if you compare two women in the […]
Given that Australia is successfully flattening the Coronavirus curve and I don’t really have anything new to report on that front, I thought it time to digress on to…your Health Fund and your Private Hospital. Some of you may already be aware that negotiations between Healthscope (the owners of Prince of Wales Private Hospital – […]
STOP PRESS 6th April 2020 Coronavirus Because of the latest Coronavirus crisis I have decided that you should not be sitting in a laboratory waiting room for two hours as I think this will present an unacceptable risk in these troubling times. We have just received guidance from Queensland Health (I know) and the following […]
One of my patients – very gently – chastised me today for not providing a recent Coronavirus update. She knows who she is. Anyway, here goes. I have some good news, some bad news and some retractions. The Good News We have been drilling. Man, have we been drilling? We are so well drilled we […]
Things are moving very quickly, not just at national and state levels but on the Randwick Hospitals Campus. Both Prince of Wales Private Hospital (POWP) and The Royal Hospital for Women (RHW) are gearing up for this crisis rapidly. As I said in my previous update, it appears that the significant majority of pregnant women […]
Things are moving fast. As you know I am a member of a number of professional bodies and my favourite (I really am an anglophile) is the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in London (The RCOG). Just overnight The RCOG have published their latest Guidelines on Coronavirus and pregnancy. You can find this document […]
Clearly (especially as Peter Dutton is infected and Scott Morrison didn’t go to the Footy after all) the Coronavirus situation is deteriorating. While health authorities are providing good information, I do not believe they are acting quickly enough to reduce the risks of Coronavirus in hospitals. In particular I believe all elective surgery should be […]
Right now very little is known about Coronavirus and, more particularly, its effect on pregnant women and their babies (both unborn and newborn). However I thought it important to share what is currently known even though this information may change shortly. If it does I will keep you updated. This information sheet is based upon […]
When I ask my new patients if they have any questions for me, the most common one is this: “How much is this going to cost me?” (just kidding, my fees are on my website) …closely followed by: “What’s the process from here?” I’ve tried to figure out the best way of describing the pregnancy […]
CMV – a member of the Herpes Virus family – can cause infection in unborn babies. It affects 0.5 to 2 per cent of all pregnancies. Now that we give women information about avoiding listeria and toxoplasma and most pregnant women are immune to rubella (German measles) and varicella (chickenpox), CMV is the most common […]
This drug is a category A antacid that we commonly use in pregnancy While it definitely does not harm unborn babies all currently available preparations of Zantac have been withdrawn from sale worldwide because of the possibility that some of them might contain an additive that is carcinogenic. There is no need for alarm or […]
Unfortunately I have had to increase the fees for my obstetric services. You can find my new fee schedule in the Services section of my website. Believe it or not this is a decision I do not take lightly. I am only too well aware of the cost of private medical services in Australia along […]
Fortunately most of us are now aware that many women wind up suffering from postnatal depression. Perhaps less attention is given to mental health problems that can arise during a pregnancy, including Prenatal Depression. We know that pregnancy and childbirth (not to mention the arrival of a new member of the family) are one of […]
OK you’ve survived the first trimester and your N and V has settled down so everything should be fine. Right? Well unfortunately most women suffer from Heartburn or Acid Reflux during their pregnancy. This can occur during the first trimester (and if it does it tends to make your N and V worse) but usually […]
You really could be confused for thinking “Well I’ve had a nice normal NIPT and a normal Early Morphology Scan – seriously is there more these people need to test for?” Well, yes, there is. As good as the Early Morphology Scan is it is performed, well, early on in your pregnancy. Your baby isn’t […]
We have all seen the TV show where the young woman starts vomiting and everyone figures out that she’s pregnant. Nausea and Vomiting (N and V) are an extremely common – but unpleasant – symptom of pregnancy. Fortunately N and V is manageable for most women and these symptoms usually resolve by 16 weeks. There […]
Some vaginal bleeding – including spotting – is common in pregnancy and in most situations we don’t find a cause or the cause is completely benign and not threatening to your health or that of your baby. Having said that bleeding or spotting should never be assumed to be normal and it is a symptom […]
Food Borne Infections: Your unborn baby is very well protected from infections when they are inside the womb. There are a remarkably small number of infections that can cross the placenta and harm your baby. Two of these harmful infections are carried in food – Toxoplasma and Listeria. Toxoplasma is rare but it causes potentially […]
It’s really important to get yourself into the best possible shape prior to falling pregnant. Regular exercise is important as is a healthy low carb low fat diet. Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of your weight in relation to your height. Anything you can do to optimise your BMI prior to conceiving […]
I recommend that you consider genetic carrier testing before you fall pregnant for the first time or, failing that, in early pregnancy. There are a small number of rare or very rare conditions that can be harmful to your baby but are not part of the usual pregnancy genetic testing. The main focus of our […]
