GynoFiles

Pregnancy testing has come a long way in the past 100 years! But still women have questions about their home pregnancy test. Often it is confusing if that home pregnancy test just shows a very faint line. In fact that faint line is probably accurate, but perhaps you tried to test too soon. We all are a bit impatient, but remember that fertilized egg won't implant for a few days after conception No pregnancy test, no matter how accurate will , by itself will prove you have a healthy on going pregnancy. This is why repeat testing over several days has become popular. One hundred years ago, it really took 2-3 months to determine if you were pregnant. In Marianna Wheel's popular Harpers book of 1914 called Before the Baby Comes she cautioned that "cold and change of climate (among other things) can cause you to skip your period, but if not that, and you skip two successive menstrual periods [you] may be fairly positive of your condition [pregnant]!" But skip ahead...

Preterm pregnancy (or prematurity) remains the leading cause of neonatal death and long-term neurologic disabilities according to a January 2014 article in Obstetrics & Gynecology. The preterm birth rate is lower, but not as low as our national goals said the annual March of Dimes Premature BirthReport Card released in November of 2013.The most serious preterm cases are those called Early Preterm birth , or before 32 weeks of pregnancy which is normal when it is 40 weeks long.  Still about 500,000 premature infants are born in the us, for a staggering $26 billion dollar price tag for their care per year. Babies have about 11% chance of being born prematurely, and we want that under 1/10. In my home state of Illinois, the rate has remained stuck around 12%. California, New York, and Oregon are among states who have reached that goal of under 1/10 babies born premature. the far southern states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are reporting the highest rates of prematuri...