One of the most common questions during a woman’s pregnancy is “Is this safe to take?” when speaking about medicines. Where as pre pregnancy you wouldn’t have given much thought to grabbing an antihistamine or paracetamol as and when needed…. for around 40 weeks you need to pay attention to your pill popping!
As a general rule it is best to avoid any medications that you self administer, if you are prescribed medicines by your Doctor then make an arrangement to see them as soon as your pregnancy is confirmed in order to establish if your meds are safe…. or if they need to be altered.
For the sake of brevity this article will concentrate on medicines you would buy over the counter and self administer.
PLEASE check …

Are you trying to conceive and need to estimate when your next fertile date is? Or perhaps you already know you are pregnant and would like to know your estimated due date?
Hopefully this calculator will help on both counts!
Oh and congratulations!!
Why not join our forum where you can talk to other couples trying for a baby and find out what worked for them. We also have a steady flow of Mama’s expecting a bundle so perhaps your due date club has already been formed in our forum where you can share the up’s and down’s of pregnancy!

Homebirth ~ Midwives views
Survey Compiled – December 2007
If you are considering a homebirth or maybe you are simply curious what the opinions of midwives is regarding this matter then we hope this gives you some insight. We asked Midwives from all over the UK a few questions that parents often wonder about…..
If you wish to take part in the Parents on Homebirth section then please email us for a form.
If you are wondering WHY we asked midwives these questions it is because in our experience these are the things that parents wanting to birth at home worry about. A lot of women feel they would like an unassisted homebirth because they feel the MW may interfere too much, well we can see from all …

For a full list of birth stories visit the forum Birth Story Section below is a selection of the most read!
Here is Orla’s birth story by Hazel [Crafty n Clothy] some of you may have been following her Pregnancy Diary of a WAHM in the magazine!
Contractions started at 9pm on Friday 7th August. They were just like backache and I wasn’t really sure they were contractions at first. I realised they were coming every 10 minutes so called Michelle to let her know and Alan started filling the pool (but he made it too cool). A bit later I went to the loo but going up the stairs made me have two stronger contractions very close together. Having a bit of a panic that it …

Hopefully this section will give you some clue as to what all the abbreviations and jargon are on your medical notes… if you can’t find what you want then email us and we will add it!
AF ~artificially feeding
AFP~Alpha-feto-protein – a pregnancy screening test
ANC~ antenatal clinic
APH ~Antepartum haemorrhage – bleeding in pregnancy
ARM~ Artificial rupture of membranes
BF ~breast feeding
BO~ bowels opened
BP ~Blood pressure

HcG levels
How to test for pregnancy.
When a women becomes pregnant  her body starts to produce a hormone called HcG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) this hormone is what is detected in both urine and blood based tests to give a positive pregnancy result. What are HcG Levels ?
HcG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is a hormone that is produced by the embryo when its starts to implant itself into the uterine lining (implantation) and begins to grow. This occurs approximately 6-10 days after conception. As it grows, the amount of HcG increases and doubles about every three days. The purpose of HcG is to keep the estrogen and progesterone levels at their appropriate levels until the placenta has developed enough to take this function over. HcG levels will reach …

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To win this set of books worth £20.98 simply log on to your Mama Pack FORUM account *, the more days you log on the more entries you get!…. no questions to answer, no tie-breaker, no emails to send…. Just log on and the system will stick you in the database as having signed in and you will be in the draw on 22nd February 2010!

Weight Watchers Cook Smart Family Food – rrp £12.99
The perfect book for the health-consious family, Cook Smart Family Food contains almost 100 specially selected recipes in four user-friendly chapters. Start the day the healthy way with quick and easy recipes for the working week such as Overnight Muesli or Big Berry Smoothie. If you have a little more time …

Taken from BBC Health News:
Expectant mums need to stop blaming their bump for memory lapses, say experts who want to dispel the “baby brain” myth.
Neither pregnancy nor motherhood addle a woman’s brain, say the researchers based on their study of 1,241 women both before and after having babies.
The Australian researchers say we have been misled by a fallacy.
Any absentmindedness might be adaptive, shifting attention to the baby, the British Journal of Psychiatry says.
Lead researcher Professor Christensen said: “Part of the problem is that pregnancy manuals tell women they are likely to experience memory and concentration problems – so women and their partners are primed to attribute any memory lapse to the ‘hard to miss’ physical sign of pregnancy. Full article can be read here.
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Why use reusable Nappies?
- By Carley Brierley of www.bibsnbots.co.uk
Ok, so first, why not?
Well, I suppose people would argue that disposables are just so
handy, no mess to deal with and better for nappy rash. Hmmm is that it?
I seem to have run out of things to say about them!
Lets deal with those issues first then. First of all, did you know that nappy rash is actually caused by the reaction between urine and poo? So, it doesn’t actually matter what type of nappy you put your child in, if you don’t change them immediately after they have ‘soiled’ their nappy then they will be prone to nappy rash.
As for dealing with mess, well in the 2 years I have been using cloth on my son and …

Registration has to be in person at the Register Office.  If the parents are married, only one parent is required at time of registration.  If the parents are unmarried, both will need to attend.  If only the mother attends, the birth can still be registered but the father’s details will not be recorded unless he is also present.
By law, the birth must be registered within six weeks (42 days).
By registering, you will obtain a birth certificate, which can then be used to claim child benefit and other family-related benefits, as well as obtaining a National Health Service number, which your doctor will need.
To register, make an appointment at the Register Office of the district where the birth occurred, either in person or by telephone.

You do …

The words shoulder dystocia bring fear to the heart of every doctor and midwife. This means that the one, less frequently both, shoulder(s) of the baby are not entering the pelvis during the birth as they should. Shoulder dystocia occurs in less than 1% of all births according to some studies. This can lead to increased complications for the baby and the mother.
Warning Signs for Shoulder Dystocia
Contrary to popular belief there isn’t one exact method to predict who will have a shoulder dystocia. Many different theories have been tested, each with varying results. We’ve looked at babies who are big, moms who are small, complicated pregnancies, particularly in regards to complications like gestational diabetes, inductions, gestational age, previous babies with shoulder dystocia, and many others. …

First off… what does OFP mean.
Optimal Foetal positioning.
What???
Ok why do I need to know about OFP?
Many difficult labours result from ‘mal-presentation’, where the position of the baby makes it hard for the head to move through the pelvis, so changing this could make birth easier for mother and baby. It’s a theory by midwife, Jean Sutton, and Pauline Scott, an antenatal teacher that a mother’s position and movement could influence the way her baby lay in the womb in the final weeks of pregnancy
The baby enters the mother’s pelvis in what is medically known as the LOA position — that is head down, back between mother’s left hip and umbilicus. This is described in all textbooks as the ‘normal’ position. It is made easier because …