Premature Births Are Fueling Higher Rates of Infant Mortality in U.S

Premature Births Are Fueling Higher Rates of Infant Mortality in U.S., Report Says
By DENISE GRADY
Published: November 3, 2009

High rates of premature birth are the main reason the United States has higher infant mortality than do many other rich countries, government researchers reported Tuesday in their first detailed analysis of a longstanding problem.

In Sweden, for instance, 6.3 percent of births were premature, compared with 12.4 percent in the United States in 2005, the latest year for which international rankings are available. Infant mortality also differed markedly: for every 1,000 births in the United States, 6.9 infants died before they turned 1, compared with 2.4 in Sweden. Twenty-nine other countries also had lower rates.

If the United States could match Sweden’s prematurity rate, the new report said, “nearly 8,000 infant deaths would be averted each year, and the U.S. infant mortality rate would be one-third lower.”

The first author of the report, Marian F. MacDorman, a statistician at the National Center for Health Statistics, said in an interview that the strong role prematurity played came as a surprise to her. More

Newly Introduced Legislation will Support Education and Prevention Efforts for Stillbirth, SIDS and other Sudden, Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID)

Hi Everyone-

I am writing you to ask for you to take 5 minutes today to support a very important piece of stillbirth/SIDS legislation that was introduced into Congress yesterday. As you may know, I traveled to DC twice in the last two years to advocate for stillbirth legislation -- some of you supported me in making those trips (thank you!!!). As a result of a visit I made (along with three other mothers and a doctor from First Candle) with a staffer from Obama's office (before he was president), a piece of legislation was drafted by his office. He became President before it could get any traction, but he hand-delivered it to Sen. Lautenberg and asked him to take it on. That revised bill was finally introduced yesterday, along with a companion bill in the House.

On behalf of the hundreds of families I have written about over the last four years, and in remembrance of Avery, I ask you to contact your Congressional Representatives (a total of three emails and/or phone calls) to implore them to support the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009 and become co-sponsors. The bill would expand activities to identify the causes of stillbirth, identify ways to prevent it in the future and increase education and awareness about the issue among healthcare providers and parents. Below are links:-To find out the contact info of your Rep/Senators by typing in your zip code. -A fact sheet about the bills-A sample letter you can cut and paste in an email to make it simple. Including your own story is also helpful!

In order for this bill to have a chance at passing, we need as many co-sponsors as possible. That means getting support from all over the country, so I am also asking you to email this to anyone else you think can help and/or post this on your web/social networking site. You can also just post the link to First Candle www.firstcandle.org.

Please take 5 minutes to show your support for the bill right now...early support is key at getting momentum going.

Thank you for reading this...and for considering my request. I don't usually ask people to take political action and I sometimes feel uncomfortable when others ask me to do so, so I can understand if you would rather not get involved. But if you want to and don't have the time today, please consider doing it as soon as you can.

With deep gratitude, Suzanne


Newly Introduced Legislation will Support Education and Prevention Efforts for Stillbirth, SIDS and other Sudden, Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID)

First Candle is pleased to announce that the Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act of 2009 was filed July 14 by Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ. A companion bill was filed in the House by Frank Pallone, Jr., D-NJ-6. This bill would improve the collection of critical data to determine the causes of stillbirth SIDS and SUID, increase education and awareness about how to prevent these tragedies in the future and expand support services for families who have experienced a stillbirth, SIDS or SUID loss.

Every year there are more than 25,000 stillbirths in the United States. For more than half these deaths there is no known cause, leaving parents with more questions than answers as to why the baby died. The bill would expand activities to identify the causes of stillbirth, identify ways to prevent it in the future and increase education and awareness about the issue among healthcare providers and parents. In addition, there are more than 4,600 sudden unexpected infant deaths each year (including SIDS) and 200 sudden unexpected deaths of children between the ages of one and four. This bill encourages states to complete scene investigations to better understand why these children died, establishes a national database to track these deaths and identify risk factors to prevent them in the future, supports more comprehensive reviews and creates a national public awareness campaign to educate parents and caregivers.

We hope you will join us in supporting this legislation.

Please help by contacting your representative in the House and two Senators within the next week, urging them to co-sponsor this important bill.

The more co-sponsors the bill gets, the more likely it is to pass quickly through the House and Senate.

Participating in First Candle’s letter-writing campaign is easy!

Visit www.house.gov to get contact information for the Congressman in your District. You will need your 9-digit zip code. If you do not know your 4 digit extension, you can get it at http://www.z2systems.com/nps//servlet/DisplayLink?orgId=fc&emailId=306112&linkId=2591&targetUrl=http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp.
You will then be able link directly to your Representative’s website.

Visit www.senate.gov to get contact information for your states two Senators. Simply select your state from the drop down menu to connect to your Senators’ websites.

We encourage you to call your representatives directly, or set up an appointment to meet with them face-to-face. Writing a letter or sending an email can be effective as well. Emails can be sent directly through your representatives’ websites.

We have provided a Fact Sheet about the bill, as well as a sample letter to help guide you.
Whether you are writing a letter or speaking with your representatives directly, be sure to include your personal story.

First Candle would love to receive a copy of your letter or an email detailing your conversation with your representatives for our files.

Members of Congress rely on input from their constituents to help them better understand what issues are important to those they serve. Help give our babies a voice!

Please feel free to contact Laura Reno, 800.221.7437 or laura.reno@firstcandle.org with any questions you may have.

Information from the National Stillbirth Society

The body of evidence is growing that fetal heartbeat monitoring is an effective tool in identifying signs of a potential stillbirth before it has a chance to occur. It is the next step up from Kick Counting and looks at the baby's heartbeat in cases where the potential for loss is above average, possibly due to an earlier stillbirth. (Go to our site, www.protectyourpregnancy.com, and click on the link in the last paragraph for a pamphlet explaining the procedure available on an experimental basis from The Pregnancy Institute.)

Next go to http://www.nbc11.com/video/17479363/index.html# to see a newscast feature from NBC Channel 11 San Francisco. It is an interview with a stillbirth mother who, having lost a daughter a year ago, is using a home monitor to safeguard her current pregnancy. After testing she sends the results via the Internet to The Pregnancy Institute where they're reviewed. She is called if the printout suggest her baby is in any distress. For infomation you can email Dr. Jason Collins at haydel1@bellsouth.net.

Richard K. Olsen
Founder & Executive Director
The National Stillbirth Society
www.stillnomore.org

MISS Foundation Update

A message from MISS Foundation Legislative Liaisons, Richard May and Kelli Montgomery re: Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network‏

Dear Friends of the MISS Foundation,

The following is an update on both the stillbirth research, the politics regarding the appropriations for stillbirth research through the NICHD and the NIH and the grassroots advocacy for MISS members to execute to help address stillbirths in America.

Regarding the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network pioneering five-year research study on stillbirths, I recently spoke with the lead research scientist Dr. Uma Reddy and have prepared an update on the status of their research.

The 500 stillbirths necessary for the study is about to be complete. As a consequence, the SCRN will need two more years and funding to complete the analysis from the 500 stillbirths researched.

They have already received a small funding extension as the appropriations from NICHD has been spent from the 2002 $3 million appropriations. The stillbirth research will help determine how stillbirths are reported, to find out better ways to determine the cause, and, better yet, to find better ways to prevent future stillbirths.

The research has also prompted the necessity and funding to:
1. Complete the analysis from the current study.
2. Conduct a follow up study from the mothers and parents of the stillbirths regarding their next pregnancy and/or their psychological state from their stillbirth and the best ways to address both.
3. Conduct a comprehensive study of 10,000 women in their first pregnancies to better predict the stillbirth possibility and/or risks of stillbirths.

Regarding the politics of stillbirth appropriations, the following is generated from a series of conversations with congressional appropriations staff members.

In 2007, the NIH Appropriations bills (both Senate and House) inserted legislative language directing the National Institute of Health (NIH) through the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) Agency to dedicate funds to continue the research and analysis regarding stillbirths in America. The language was inserted, in part, due to the great grassroots advocacy from MISS members throughout America supporting further stillbirth research appropriations from the U.S. Congress. The problem, though, is that President Bush vetoed the bill and threatened the veto again this year forcing Congress to pass a continuing resolution to appropriate the NIH and NICHD at the same levels as 2006.

Therefore, the congressional directive was never enacted and the stillbirth research is coming to a close needing funds for the next level of research,analysis and action. We are waiting until next year to put the pressure on Congress through the MISS membership and grassroots advocacy when we have a President who is much more sympathetic to the stillbirth concerns. Both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama have expressed their public desire and/or action in supporting such research and not vetoing the appropriations thereof.

In the meantime, we need the commitment of all of those Congress members running for re-election to support the continued research and analysis of this pioneering study. We need all MISS members to contact their U.S. Senators and Congress members NOW during the upcoming election season asking for their support to insert NIH/NICHD appropriations directive language supporting the continued funding of the Stillbirth Research Collaborative Network's research, analysis and recommendations.


********************************************


Here are the key points in a sample letter that you may use or refer to:

Dear Senator/Congress Member,

I am your constituent requesting your support for NIH/NICHD appropriations of the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network's continued stillbirth research project through appropriations and appropriations directive language instructing the NIH/NICHD to fully fund the continued SCRN's Stillbirth Research Project.

Stillbirths are the number one cause of infant deaths in America. According to the Bureau of Vital Statistics and the Center for Disease Control, stillbirths account for 25,000 - 30,000 infant deaths in America every year. Stillbirths account for 10 times the number of deaths than SIDS yet stillbirths are still unknown, undocumented and not properly addressed by the medical community or our public health system in America. In 2003, Congress appropriated a $3 million pioneering stillbirth study by the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network through the NICHD under the NIH. Now, that study has been completed and Congress needs to address its follow-up and further appropriations to analyze and address the research conclusions. Therefore, as your constituent, I am asking you to support the further and continued NIH/NICHD appropriations of the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network's stillbirth research project through appropriations and appropriations directive language instructing the NIH/NICHD to fully fund the continued stillbirth research and analysis.

As a grieving parent whose family has suffered a tremendous loss through stillbirth, I await your response to help research and prevent the number one killer of our children in America.

Thank you on behalf of the MISS Foundation,

Name

Address (to prove you are a constituent)

Phone Number

'No stillbirth link' to Caesarean

Having a Caesarean does not raise the risk of a stillbirth in a subsequent pregnancy, a study has found.

The University of Calgary study contradicts previous research which suggested an increased risk.

The study suggests a mother's obesity - not whether she has a Caesarean - may instead be the key factor.

The study, which appears in the journal BJOG, suggests that previous research has failed to take this factor properly into account.

Our study strongly suggests that previous Caesarean section does not increase the risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies

However, health professionals advise woman not to opt for a Caesarean lightly, as it is a major surgical procedure, with a risk of complications.

Researcher Dr Stephen Wood said the finding was particularly important as the number of Caesareans had increased in recent years.

He said obesity had been consistently linked to both Caesareans and stillbirths, but it had proved difficult to tease out its independent effect on each.

Confounding factors
The Calgary study examined 157,029 second births, and took potentially confounding factors, such as maternal weight, into consideration.

Once they had done that they found that, among women who had previously had a Caesarean, the stillbirth rate was 2.1 per 1,000, compared with 1.6 per 1,000 in women who had no Caesarean history - not a statistically significant difference.

The researchers admit that they were not able to completely account for maternal weight, but had done so far more than previous research.

Dr Wood said: "Our study strongly suggests that previous Caesarean section does not increase the risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies.

"Although previous research has made a link between the two, it is likely that maternal obesity played a part as it was not controlled for."

Professor Philip Steer, editor-in-chief of BJOG, said: "Caesarean section rates are increasing across the developed world and the increase in risks for subsequent pregnancies have been well-documented.

"The increase in stillbirth risk previously reported was especially concerning, so it is somewhat reassuring that the study by Dr Wood and his team suggests that this may have been due to the confounding factor of maternal obesity."

Link to story

Stillbirth rate not coming down

The number of stillbirths remains stubbornly high, a report says.

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) study blames factors such as obesity, social deprivation and mother's age.

In 2006 the stillbirth rate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was 5.3 per 1,000 total births, compared to 5.4 per 1,000 in 2000.

However, the report found there has been a reduction in the number of babies dying in the month after birth.

These neonatal deaths went from 3.9 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 3.4 per 1,000 in 2006.

These new figures confirm that more research is desperately needed into finding the causes of stillbirth, so that more babies lives can be saved

The number of babies dying in the neonatal period from twin pregnancies has also fallen, from 22.3 per 1,000 births in 2000 to 19.3 per 1,000 births in 2006.
The report also highlights the poor uptake of post-mortem examinations for stillbirths (38% in 2006 compared with 48% in 2000) as one key reason why the cause of so many stillbirths is still unknown. More

Helping with a Research Project

We are conducting a study about medical bad news delivery and the communication between patient and care provider. We are particularly interested in looking at communication about stillbirth diagnosis as well as parents who have had a neonatal death (death of a baby less than 28 days after birth) or a pregnancy loss diagnosis. We are hoping to learn more about this kind of communication and offer insights to care-providers about the effects of these interactions.

We would like to express our sincere sympathy for your loss. If you are interested in sharing information about your diagnosis, we invite you to fill out a questionnaire about your experiences when you were given the news of the death of your baby. The survey is confidential. Data collected will be used in completion of a master’s program at San Francisco State University.

-This study is open to men and women 18 or older.
-The study is available online at: www.surveymonkey.com/nld

For more information, email Suzanne Pullen at spullen@sfsu.edu.

New Finding May Help Explain Development Of Preeclampsia

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2008) — In a study of pregnant women, those with pregnancy-induced high blood pressure were found to have higher levels of a peptide that raises blood pressure in the pieces of tissue linking mother and fetus, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The finding, reported online in the journal Hypertension, may help explain how the disorder develops.

Preeclampsia, or high blood pressure induced by pregnancy, affects 7 to 10 percent of pregnancies in the United States and is the second-leading cause of maternal mortality. It is the leading cause of pre-term delivery and contributes significantly to stillbirths and death in newborns.

The researchers found that in women with preeclampsia, levels of angiotensin II (Ang II), a hormone that constricts blood vessels and causes blood pressure to rise, was doubled in the chorionic villi, part of the placenta that links mother and fetus and supplies food and oxygen.

"This finding may be part of the preeclampsia puzzle," said Lauren Anton, a graduate student who is first author on the research. "Anything that gets us closer to understanding this disease is important because there is no treatment and no cure and women are still delivering babies too early."

The researchers theorize that Ang II may restrict the fetal vessels that lie within the chorionic villi, which not only raises blood pressure, but also lowers oxygen and nutrient flow to the baby and may result in lower birth weight and other complications of preeclampsia.

The study involved 21 women with preeclampsia and 25 women without the disorder. After delivery, tissue sections were taken from the center of the placenta for analysis. More

Healing and hope through stillbirth research

The hardest day of Tara Adams' life was the day she returned home after giving birth last summer. Instead of carrying Kylie in her arms, Adams clung to tokens: molds of her stillborn daughter's hands, wisps of hair, a photograph. And she made plans to bury her baby.

Adams had a healthy pregnancy she felt her daughter kick just one week before her delivery one month early so one question was constant: "Why? Why would this happen?" the 31-year-old South Jordan mother of three recalls. "You almost think back, what did I do wrong? Did I do something I shouldn't have?"

To help parents nationwide seeking similar answers, the University of Utah is analyzing all stillbirths in Salt Lake County from 2006 through 2008 and attempting to pinpoint the many causes of death.

Most parents who lose their babies during pregnancy never find out the true cause. With almost 27,000 losses a year, stillbirth is 10 times more likely to happen than Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. But pregnancy loss remains largely unscrutinized in the United States. Doctors are hesitant to suggest autopsies. Insurance companies may not cover them. And there's an attitude that fetal death is "God's will," or is at least unavoidable.

For the thousands of parents who never get to bring their babies home, the research under way represents hope. Doctors can't prevent stillbirths if they don't know what caused them in the first place.

"Look at SIDS: SIDS deaths have dropped dramatically [since] they started doing research," says Rose Carlson, program director of the Missouri-based national office of Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support. "People haven't focused." The U. is doing its research as one of five universities in the Stillbirth Collaborative Research

The network is attempting to answer basic questions: How often does stillbirth occur? What are the causes, and what are the best protocols to investigate the deaths? Robert Silver, chief of the U.'s division of maternal and fetal medicine and principal investigator for Utah's portion of the study, notes researchers have done a better job of preventing infant death. Infant mortality dropped 35 percent from 1985 to 2001; stillbirth rates declined just 17 percent in the same time period. More

Coffee "raises miscarriage risk"

Pregnant women should consider avoiding caffeine, say researchers who found even moderate consumption in early pregnancy raises the miscarriage risk.

Currently, the Food Standards Agency sets an upper limit during pregnancy of 300mg - or four cups of coffee a day. But an American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology study found more than 200mg of caffeine a day doubled the risk compared to abstainers.

Experts said they would review the data to see if advice needed changing.

Pat O'Brien, consultant obstetrician and spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said based on the findings he would now be advising women in their first 12 weeks of pregnancy to abstain from caffeine altogether.

"The first 12 weeks is a very vulnerable time for the baby. It's when most miscarriages occur," he explained.

He said most women in early pregnancy went off the taste of caffeinated drinks anyway and so should not find abstaining from them too difficult. But he said it was unclear whether pregnant women needed to avoid caffeine in later pregnancy. More

Half of Stillbirths Related to Placental Pathology

Thanks to Niobe for sending in this article

Interview with Dr. Gordon Smith, MD
November 16, 2007 - Insidermedicine

Most stillbirths occur as a result of a failing placenta, and understanding placental development and functioning may hold the key to identifying those at high risk for stillbirth early on, according to research published in The Lancet.

According to the Antepartum Fetal Surveillance Guidelines put forth by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG):

• Women with high-risk factors for stillbirth should undergo antepartum fetal surveillance using the nonstress test (NST), contraction stress test (CST), biophysical profile (BPP), or modified BPP. Testing should be initiated at 32 to 34 weeks for most pregnancies and at 26 to 28 weeks for very high risk women.
• An abnormal NST or modified BPP usually should be further evaluated by either a CST or a full BPP. Subsequent management should then be predicated on the results of the CST or BPP, the gestational age, the degree of oligohydramnios (if assessed), and the maternal condition.
• In the absence of obstetric contraindications, delivery of the fetus with an abnormal test result often may be attempted by induction of labor with continuous monitoring of the fetal heart rate and contractions. If repetitive late decelerations are observed, cesarean delivery generally is indicated.

In an effort to better understand why stillbirth rates have remained the same or even risen slightly over the past several decades, the investigators reviewed the literature on this condition dating back as far as 1997. They discovered that the standard screening technique, consisting of measuring the height of the uterus with a tape measure, has not changed in four decades. While other more high tech screening procedures have been tried, none has been shown to improve outcomes.

We had a chance to speak with Dr. Gordon Smith from the University of Cambridge about his findings, and what must be done in the research community to address stillbirth.Most cases of stillbirth can be linked to a failing placenta, including premature detachment from the uterus, failure to provide the fetus with adequate oxygenated blood, and problems associated with pre-eclampsia.

When the placenta fails late in a pregnancy it typically failed to develop properly in the first place. As a result, a stillbirth that occurs late in pregnancy may be the result of improper placental development occurring very early on in the pregnancy.Today's research highlights the role of the developing placenta in stillbirth. One way of reducing the rate of stillbirth may be to further investigate how the placenta develops and functions. Such research may provide important insight into how to develop screening tools that identify those at highest risk for stillbirth.

For Insidermedicine in Depth, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.

The tragic human cost of NHS baby blunders

Errors and negligence that result in stillbirths or disabled babies are costing Britain's hospitals billions in compensation. In this investigation, The Observer reveals how staff shortages are wrecking the lives of countless parents.

Denis Campbell
Sunday September 23, 2007
The Observer

What began as a routine pregnancy but turned into a tragedy for one family will finally end this week in a West Midlands courtroom. The hospital charged with caring for the mother will finally agree to pay £5m in damages to the parents of a boy left in a wheelchair, unable to communicate or do anything for himself, after suffering cerebral palsy because of mistakes made by staff during his birth.

It might sound like a lot of money. But consider - it costs £120,000 a year to provide the 24-hour, all-year-round care needed by the boy, who is now 16. The imminent award also reflects the fact that he will never be able to work, and that his parents have had to move to a bungalow and had it specially adapted to cope with his needs, such as a therapy room where he tries to do gentle exercises to stop his muscles from wasting away from moving around so little.

His parents, who have asked not to be named for legal reasons, would rather it had never come to this. 'When I told the boy's father that the report into the case we had commissioned from an independent obstetrician had said that it was negligence, that someone at the hospital hadn't done their job properly and that the care was sub-standard, he began crying,' recalls the family's lawyer, Lindsay Gibb, of solicitors Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham. 'He wanted us to tell him that it was no one's fault, that it was just one of those things, so to learn that it was avoidable was very difficult for him.'

The hospital's first blunder was to send the boy's mother home after hospital staff had failed to induce the birth. An expert witness who gave evidence for the family said that, given the late stage of her labour, she should definitely have been kept in until the baby arrived, if necessary by Caesarean section.

Later, when she was back in hospital again, the child became distressed while he was being delivered and suffered a sudden loss of air to his brain when meconium, the result of his first bowel movement, seeped into his lungs.

Usually, when maternity staff realise that is occurring, they suck out the meconium. But when the anxious personnel attending the woman sought advice by phone from a neonatologist, a specialist in dealing with newborn babies, the doctor seems to have failed to appreciate how serious the situation was. Her guidance meant nothing was done to tackle the baby's oxygen starvation and respiratory collapse. More

Perinatal Loss: improving care and prevention

29 September - 2 October 2007
Birmingham, UK

This international conference is hosted by Sands and the Perinatal Institute, on behalf of the International Stillbirth Alliance.

visit the conference website here www.isa2007.org
download the conference flyer here
to register visit the conference site or register directly with Profile Productions

The conference will focus on perinatal loss – the human impact, the causes, and the possibilities for prevention. Its purpose is to gain insights and ideas for future collaborative initiatives to reduce the burden of perinatal death.

This is a rare opportunity to bring together researchers, bereaved families, clinicians, health care professionals and support organisations from many different countries.

Many clinicians and scientists devote much of their working lives to furthering the understanding of adverse pregnancy outcome. Many bereaved parents, knowing the real consequences of baby loss, are committed to improving the care that others who have suffered a loss receive. Both groups have much in common and together can represent a very powerful force for change.

Aims:

• to present the human consequences of stillbirth and other perinatal loss
• to share information on current activities and research programmes
• to strengthen collaboration on initiatives to reduce perinatal death
• to share knowledge and experience of best practice in care when a baby dies
• to encourage networking and informal exchange.

More

Xanthe Pheby

Our campaign to cut stillbirths
SARAH HALL 03 August 2007 11:22

A couple left heartbroken after the mysterious death of their baby daughter have called on the Government to help prevent further deaths - and have started a national petition for more money to investigate why it happens.

Emma and Alex Pheby did not know there were any complications with baby Xanthe until she was stillborn. Doctors then told them she had died just eight hours before.

Mr and Mrs Pheby, from Bowthorpe, have been left devastated, as well as baffled, by the death of their second child because the pregnancy was problem-free and “low risk”. The couple said they did everything they possibly could to ensure they had a healthy baby but today said more money needs to be pumped into why so many happen, with one in 200 pregnancies resulting in a stillbirth.

Now they have set up a campaign asking the government to give more funding into researching unexplained stillbirths which affect a staggering one in 200 pregnancies. Mrs Pheby, 34, said: “No one knows why Xanthe died. I had a smooth pregnancy and various scans the way through which all came back normal with absolutely no problems.“When I gave birth I had seen the midwife just two days before and everything was fine. I was at 40 weeks but I went into labour quickly.

“We did not even know Xanthe was dead until she was born. She weighed 8lb 3oz and was so nearly with us. More

The parents with the hardest choice of all

Charles Rodeck is a pioneer in foetal medicine, a field in which huge scientific advances can have a terrible emotional cost. Here he speaks frankly about the painful dilemma - to agree to a termination or take the risk of having a disabled child - which thousands of couples must confront every year

Amelia Hill, Sunday July 15, 2007, The Observer

Sitting ramrod straight in his chair, George Woodall could not be any clearer. 'Cutting to the chase, if there's anything wrong with this baby at any stage, we don't want it,' he tells Professor Charles Rodeck, Britain's leading expert in foetal medicine. 'We want to have all the tests as soon as possible, regardless of how risky they are. We just want this over with.'

Lying on a bed next to her husband, Karen stares at the ceiling in silence. Still dazed by the speed with which her perfect world has begun to crumble around her, all she can think of is how light-hearted she was, two days earlier, when she arrived at her local hospital for her 12-week pregnancy scan.

'Almost as soon as the doctor began the ultrasound, I knew something was terribly wrong,' she told The Observer after her consultation with Rodeck. Within minutes, Karen says, she went from feeling happier than ever to more distressed and confused than she had thought possible. More

Study Finds Serious Side Effects in Drug to Delay Preterm Labor

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- A new study by Stanford researchers found that magnesium sulfate, used to delay preterm labor in women, has side effects that include vomiting, shortness of breath and double vision.

Researchers compared magnesium sulfate to another drug called nifedipine, which they say often leaves women feeling better, and has a much lower rate of causing the serious side effects.

In terms of delaying delivery, there are no differences between the two drugs, according to Dr. Deidre Lyell of Stanford University's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. "With magnesium, the side effects that we saw most commonly were things that are pretty unpleasant. Vomiting, shortness of breath, lethargy, blurry vision, double vision, so to a woman who is actually in preterm labor and trying to face the terrorizing prospect that she may have a very premature newborn, it's pretty troubling to lay on those side effects on top of all the other anxiety," Lyell said.

Researchers also found no difference in the birth weight of infants who received magnesium and those who were given nifedipine. However, Lyell says nifedipine does lower blood pressure by about 10 percent, and for that reason, can be dangerous for women who already have low pressure. "We're all different biologically and what works well with one person may not work as well with another," she said. In one rare case a woman on nifedipine had a heart attack.

Lyell said neither drug should be used unless a doctor is certain the woman is in labor.

Link to this article
Listen to the full interview

First baby from lab-matured egg

This post has been updated with another news story on the topic of egg-freezing

The first baby created from an egg matured in the lab, frozen, thawed and then fertilised, has been born.

Until now it was not known whether eggs obtained in this way could survive thawing to be fertilised.

The advance spares women from taking risky fertility drugs that can cause a rare, yet deadly condition - ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).

Canadian researchers told a fertility conference in Lyon three others are expecting babies by the same process.

The findings hold particular hope for patients with cancer-related fertility problems. More


2nd news story: Egg freezing boosts baby chances

Freezing can damage eggs. A new egg-freezing technique could give women a better chance of having a baby when they are older, say scientists. Freezing and thawing eggs has carried a high risk of damage, and of 153 treatment cycles in the UK between 1999 and 2002, just one baby was born.

The new Japanese-developed technique offers a ten times higher chance of a successful pregnancy. Using an antifreeze method, it has led to 11 babies being born, a European fertility conference was told. This technology opens up new horizons for medically assisted reproduction in women

The new technique offers hope to women whose fertility may have been damaged by cancer - and those who decide to put having a famly on hold. More

BBC News: Aspirin 'cuts pre-eclampsia risk'

Taking aspirin throughout pregnancy could reduce the risk of the potentially dangerous condition pre-eclampsia, a major study suggests.

A University of Sydney team analysed data on more than 32,000 women for a study published in The Lancet.

The results suggested cases of pre-eclampsia, which is caused by a defect in the placenta, could fall by 10% if aspirin was taken widely.

Experts urged caution, given the small risks linked to long-term aspirin use. (continue)

BBC News: Home spit test for pre-eclampsia

A UK hospital is testing a home spit kit designed to help mums-to-be spot if they are at risk of pre-eclampsia.

One thousand women in Chichester will try the test that reads saliva for tell-tale markers of impending kidney problems linked with the condition.

It is expected to be more reliable than traditional blood pressure and urine checks, the Chemistry & Industry magazine reports.

Pre-eclampsia can be symptomless and kills up to 1,000 UK babies every year. (continue)

Action Medical Research News Release

New monitor to make pregnancy safer

A novel device for monitoring fetal heart rate will soon be reaching the unborn babies who need it most. It's the product of over fifteen years of pioneering work, supported by Action Medical Research, and will give doctors a unique insight into that is going on inside the womb. (continue)