GynoFiles

Miscarriages, besides being emotionally draining for any couple who have experienced one, are common and often not well understood. Progesterone hormone has to support an early pregnancy. It is the signal for the lining not to shed as it would for a typical menstrual period, and the early progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum of the ovary. Nature has designed this ovarian production as the back up to the placental production of progesterone, and each will help to replace any lack of  progesterone production occurring early in a pregnancy. It's always been thought that very early on in the first days to couple of weeks of pregnancy there just isn't enough placenta to support that uterine lining and prevent it from shedding. The ovary is designed to filling in with some extra progesterone production Yet as the pregnancy progresses, a healthy pregnancy will have a healthy placenta, and it will begin making enough progesterone to support the pregnancy even if the...

Prenatal vitamins are important to begin before pregnancy. Many critical steps in fetal development occur before you even miss a period or get a positive pregnancy test, and its therefore important that you take these vitamins prior to pregnancy.  The two most common neural tube (NTDs) defects in the United State are spina bifida and anencephaly and approximately 4000 pregnancies each year are affected by these serious birth defects. Taking prenatal vitamins with folic acid supplementation prior to getting pregnant can reduce your child's chance of having these birth defect by over 70%, so take at lease 4 mg per day as the critical window of time is very early in pregnancy, in fact there are some creative ways to get the folic acid into your system. Gynos have been telling their patients to take folic acid, not just one dose, but daily, so a new way to get your folic acid in: taking birth control pills! The birth control pills Yasmin an d Yaz have now added folic acid ...

The risk of having Trisomy 21, or Downs syndrome goes up as a women ages. Her risk at age 21 is 1/1667, which is lower than her risk of all chromosomal abnormalities which is 1.538. by age 49 however the risk is 1/11 Down's and 1/7 for all chromosomal problems. Those numbers average out to a risk of about 1/700 for that chromosome disorder. On average it is less likely you will have a Trisomy 18 which is 1/6000 and a trisomy 13 which is about a 1/10,000 risk. All women should consider genetic risk before getting pregnant, but those who are over age 35, who have had more than one pregnancy loss, who have a history in their family of mental retardation or genetic disorders or early neonatal deaths are at most risk for birth defects in their children and should see the gyno before planning a pregnancy.Once you are pregnant there are many new tests that can help you determine the health of the baby. These tests fortunately alleviate fears for most women. For families who become awar...

UNCC Gardens Many couples planning pregnancy come in with similar basic questions regarding pregnancy planning and sexuality for pregnancy planning. Here are some basic questions answered. 1.  All sex positions work for conception. Being in missionary position, having a pillow under your hips, and having orgasms have been talked about to lead to more often getting pregnant, but no medical studies back these pieces of advice up! 2. Laying still after sex to enhance pregnancy also has not reliably been studied, but douching after intercourse does decrease your chance of conceiving. 3. Your highest chance to conceive is to have sex just before ovulation. Ovulation occurs on day 13 or 14 for women with a 28 day cycle. The fertile window is the 6 days ending on the day of ovulation as the egg may not be able to survive more than a few hours and sperm can survive for about 6 days. 4. Having sex close to ovulation statistically helps to have a boy, but only by a very few...

The pregnant mom's advice is the same as what Hippocrates told physicians all those eons ago: first do no harm. So within reason, if we are not sure, gynos are apt to recommend caution in pregnancy, and that extends to dietary guidelines. It's a concern to those who preform prenatal care  when the media dissuades patients from following standard medical advice as in today's Wall Street Journal's article . Eating in pregnancy is complex,  we want the baby to grow to healthy size and weight, we want to maximize brain and eye development, we want to have the mom also be healthy as anything that restricts nutrients to the mom will restrict them to the baby as well. Understanding how food choices from a huge selection of wholesome foods can promote a healthy pregnancy is part of what you want to seek prenatal advice about. As physicians we advise our patients to avoid unpasteurized foods as they are more likely to have bacterial contamination, especially with serious agen...