The world has changed. In my day you fell pregnant, headed off to your GP, had a few blood tests, showed up at the hospital for your first pregnancy visit and away you went. The first ultrasound was the morphology scan at 20 weeks (if
In every single Star Wars movie there is a bit where someone – often Han Solo – says “I have a bad feeling about this.” Well, I have a bad feeling about this. While we remain so much better off than others it appears that
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 –
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
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
For many years now we – usually your GP – have conducted a number of lab tests as soon as you are pregnant or, preferably, even before you are pregnant. Why do these tests before pregnancy? Simple. This gives us an opportunity to address any
