Morning sickness can be one of the most miserable parts of pregnancy. Unfortunately, new research suggests that there is little women can do other than grin and bear it, since there appear to be no effective treatments.

The pharmaceutical industry once weighed in on the issue heavily, with the result being the introduction of the now-notorious thalidomide, which caused severe birth defects in a large number of infants. That episode led to increased requirements for safety screening of drugs before they are marketed and led to the still-prevalent consensus that it is generally not safe for women to take drugs during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester when morning sickness is at its worst. That has led many women to try alternative treatments, including sugar solutions, ginger, vitamin B6, acupressure and acupuncture. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that any of them are effective, Dr. Anne Matthews of the School of Nursing at Ireland's Dublin City University reported Wednesday in the Cochrane Library, a prestigious source of research on the effectiveness of medical treatments.

As many as 85% of pregnant women experience nausea, and half of those endure actual vomiting. The cause is unknown, but researchers suspect hormonal imbalances. About 1 in 200 suffer so severely that they cannot keep any food or liquids down, a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum. It requires medical treatment and can cause blood clots and damage to the infant. On the plus side, a 2007 study found that women who suffer morning sickness are less likely to develop breast cancer.

Matthews and her colleagues reviewed 27 clinical trials involving 4,041 pregnant women who were as much as 20 weeks pregnant. In six studies of acupuncture and two of acupressure - in which pressure is applied to acupuncture sites rather than needles - they found no benefit. One study of acustimulation, in which a small electric current is applied through the needles, found some benefit over three weeks. There was also very little evidence to support the benefits of ginger (which actually made many women sick), vitamin B6, antihistamines and anti-vomiting drugs. The anti-vomiting drugs induced sleepiness in recipients.

"A number of the studies we looked at appeared to show benefits, but in general the results were inconsistent and it was difficult to draw firm conclusions about any one treatment in particular," Matthews said in a statement. "We were also unable to obtain much information about whether these treatments are actually making a difference in women's quality of life."

Your best bet, according to most experts: Get plenty of rest, drink a little at a time but often to prevent dehydration, and eat small servings of bland food such as toast and crackers. Also, avoid strong smells; eating food cold rather than hot can minimize odors that cause nausea.

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Rachele Dratch of Saturday Night Live has given birth! Eli was born on August 24th in New York City.

The comedian has been very quiet about her pregnancy, but her rep told People: "She's doing great and the baby's doing great. She's healthy and really happy!"

No further details have been released.

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Lily Allen finally offers a glimpse of her tiny bump, Kelly Preston celebrates with John Travolta in a beautiful black dress, Alicia Keys dons dark blue on a stroll with the expectant father, and Ali Larter is a sparkling beauty at the premiere of her new film.

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Increased muscle tone, jitteriness, sleep disturbance, irritability, feeding problems, mild respiratory distress and myoclonus have been reported as symptoms of a potential neonatal distress syndrome related to exposure to SSRIs in late pregnancy.  The average duration of symptoms reported is 48 hours.  It is estimated that between 25-30% of SSRI-exposed infants are at risk for [...]

At least some morning sickness symptoms are experienced by a vast majority of all pregnant women.

While some women seem to experience no morning sickness symptoms, an estimated 75% of women suffer at least some symptoms.

When confronted with morning sickness symptoms such as nausea and vomiting at any time of day, it is natural to wonder if this could in some impact the fetus negatively.

The fact is that morning sickness does not usually have any impact on the baby.

The baby is able to get the nourishment that he or she needs from the reserves of the mother, regardless of whether she is able to eat properly or not.

In fact there is one school of thought that says that women, who suffer symptoms of morning sickness, go on to have healthy babies since these symptoms indicate optimum levels of the requisite hormones in the mother’s system.

In fact it is seen that those women who are carrying twin or multiples [multiple pregnancy]and have elevated levels of certain hormones are prone to excessive morning sickness symptoms.

Even women who know that their morning sickness symptoms are not really having any impact on their baby, it is natural to want to control the aggravation and discomfort of nausea and vomiting.

Nausea is hardly a pleasant sensation and throwing up regularly may actually be disgusting for many women.

There are of course many natural remedies for morning sickness such as identifying and dealing with the triggers of the symptoms, having small frequent meals etc.

However, in many cases the morning sickness symptoms are not controlled with home remedies or natural remedies. In many cases, this requires medical attention and perhaps prescription medication:

Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is fairly rare; a condition that afflicts less than 2% of pregnant women, however the condition is grave enough to warrant serious medical attention.

It is characterized by excessive nausea and vomiting, wherein a woman is unable to ingest adequate water and nutrition. It can cause a woman to lose weight, cause dehydration, nutritional deficiencies and even hallucinations and depression.

Whereas earlier this condition was explained away as being brought on by a pregnant woman’s psychological condition, it is now understood to have a genetic component.

This situation is not helped by the usual measures that one takes to alleviate morning sickness symptoms and is a condition treated as a medical emergency.

Antiemetic medication, IV hydration and nutritional support or intravenous feeding may be indicated in these cases.

Other causes: Apart from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), there are other conditions that could be the cause of this excessive vomiting during pregnancy.

When the onset of the nausea or vomiting is seen later on in the pregnancy, or it is accompanied by other symptoms such as fever or abdominal pain then it could be due to a reason other than HG

. It could be the indication of the presence of some infection, gallbladder problems, appendicitis, gastritis or hepatitis.

Sometimes it could be an eating disorder such as bulimia nervosa that causes excessive vomiting during pregnancy.

It is during the first year of a baby’s life that parents are mostly at risk of depression, reveals a new UK study. As many as 40% moms and 21% dads experienced episodes of depression by the time that their child turned 12 years, but the likelihood of this depression was most pronounced during the 12 months of a baby’s life.

According to experts, the findings of the research published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine are not surprising.

The arrival of a baby marks very significant changes in the lives of the parents; getting less or poorer quality sleep, increased demands on their time and resources, as well as the pressure that all of this can place on the basic man-woman relationship.

The parents who were seen to be the most at risk of developing postpartum depression are those who became parents at a younger age. Also lower income group parents were more prone to depression, as were those who had a past history of depression.

Statistics showed that the chances of depression were highest during the first year of the newborn baby’s life and though women are seen to be more at risk, men were also seen to be at significant risk.

After I had my son, I desperately wanted a girl. When I got pregnant again, I was so convinced another XY was on the way that when the doctor delivered our daughter (XX, that is) and announced as much, I asked my husband: "Is he kidding?"

Had I only followed a strict meal plan of nuts and hard cheese, I presumably needn't have waited on pins and needles - at least according to a study by Maastricht University in The Netherlands. The authors say a mother's diet can determine whether her nursery ends up being swathed in pink or blue. So to boost the odds of having a girl, mothers should say, yes, to calcium and magnesium (think yogurt, spinach, tofu, almonds, cashews, beans, oatmeal, broccoli and oranges) and, no, to salt and potassium (anchovies, olives, bacon, salami, smoked salmon, shrimp, potatoes, processed meats, bread and pastries). Combine a strict diet with some carefully orchestrated sex — to increase the likelihood of having a girl, the researchers recommend avoiding sex immediately before and after ovulation — and apparently it can make all the difference.

News reports about the study, including one in the U.K.'s Daily Mail, have crowed about the nearly 80% success rate of the baby-girl diet. But the fine print — and common sense — call into question just how realistic this recipe for baby-making actually is. Of the 172 women who participated in the five-year study, only 21 ended up adhering to the stringent guidelines about what to eat (at least a pound of dairy each day) and precisely when — and when not — to rendezvous with their lovers. Of those 21, 16 ended up bearing daughters: voila, 77%.

The study further concluded that what the women ate was more important than when they had sex. “The results show that both diet and timing methods increase the probability of 
a girl — the impact of the diet being the most pronounced,” said a spokesman for the researchers.

But don't start stuffing the fridge with Stonyfield Farms just yet. “There is no physiological probability to any of this,” says Dr. Richard Paulson, director of the fertility program at the University of Southern California. “This is a great example of what we call non-science.”

This is probably not the first time you've heard about diet influencing gender. Researchers at the University of Exeter in England surveyed 740 first-time mothers and announced in 2008 that those who ate more calories — particularly those who ate breakfast cereal — had more sons. Nor is the advice new to avoid sex right before and after ovulation in order to birth a girl. When I was new to baby-making, a girlfriend told me about the Billings Method, a natural family planning method that involves timing of ovulation, which some rely upon to help select the baby's sex. Twice it let me down. (But a Nigerian study cited in Billings Method: Controlling Fertility Without Drugs or Devices reports that 310 couples who tried to conceive a boy were successful, while only four were not. Similarly, of 92 couples who tried to conceive a girl, only two failed. Daughters are apparently not so beloved in Nigeria.)

The timing factor was also famously espoused by Landrum Shettles, a Columbia professor who wrote How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby, which has sold over a million copies since coming out in 1970. Shettles postulated that male sperm are speedier swimmers, while female sperm are hardier and tend to outlast the guys. Hence, sex at ovulation should result in a boy, since male sperm should reach the elusive egg quicker, while sex a few days before or after ovulation should yield a daughter owing to the tenacity of the female sperm.

True or not, many have been persuaded. When Paulson addresses medical students and asks who believes it's possible to alter the probability of conceiving a boy versus a girl, half of would-be doctors raise their hands.

Here are nine other tried (but not likely true) ways to select the sex of your baby:

Go Blue:

• Have sex on the day of ovulation
• Avoid sex for several days before ovulation in order to concentrate the male's sperm count
• Don't spare the salt; eat meat and fish but steer clear of dairy
• Drink multiple cups of green tea daily

Pick Pink:

• Have sex several days before or after ovulation
• Have sex — lots of it — to decrease sperm count
• Stash a pink ribbon beneath your pillow
• Men, take a hot bath prior to intercourse because male sperm may be heat-averse
• Eat chocolate!

Have you tried any of these methods? Have they worked for you?

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1. Preemies require formula instead of breastmilk.

   While it's true that preemies require special formula if you're not breastfeeding, it is not accurate to claim that preemies need to be formula fed instead of being breastfed. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Not only does breastmilk tailor itself to even premature babies (including making lots of extra phosphorus), but studies show that while special-formula-fed preemies may gain weight more quickly, that breastfed preemies do better in physical, cognitive and motor skills and are released from the NICU an average of two weeks sooner than formula fed counterparts, and escape the risk of deadly necrotizing enterocolitis as preemies, whereas that risk continues for formula-fed infants.

   Of course, babies who are only getting IV sustenance are totally another story, and preemie moms have their own issues with making enough milk, but as long as mom is making enough -- either feeding from the breast or pumping, there is absolutely no reason to not give the breastmilk -- formula is unnecessary. For moms who are struggling with supply, breastmilk banks and milkshare programs give special priority to NICU babies, who have the most to gain from breastmilk. Call up or attend meetings of the Le Leche League as well to get the best help with upping your supply, such as an Supplemental Nursing System (SNS).

2. "No matter how long I waited until feeding, my breasts didn't fill up."

   Somewhere, people got the idea that your breasts have to feel engorged or there's no milk, and that they need time to fill before you can feed again. Thank god this one isn't true, because feeling really full can be very uncomfortable! Fortunately you only feel engorged when your milk first comes in because you body is overproducing initially (what if you had triplets to feed?) and then will begin to level off to a comfortable amount once it sees how much your baby needs. If you wait until your breasts feel full, you've waited too long and they're over-full and will signal to your body to make less milk, therefore damaging your breastmilk supply -- and resulting in a really hungry baby. After breastfeeding is established and your supply is as well (done by nursing ON DEMAND!), the only time you're likely to ever feel full is if you've missed a feeding.

3. "Unless you want to eat really healthy, your breastmilk is no better than formula."

   Also extremely untrue. In fact, just like in pregnancy, malnourishment actually does more harm to you than the baby because you're designed to reproduce and continue the species, therefore your body is made to care more about the baby than you! If you don't eat properly, your milk is still fabulous -- but it's sucking nutrients away from you that you need to be healthy instead.

   The only risk to a breastfed baby from a poor diet is that the mother will not be able to produce enough milk, and that's often more linked to hydration than nutrition.

4. "My baby was allergic to my breastmilk."

   Now, before I outright say this isn't true, it can be -- but the chances of a baby having the only true allergy to human breastmilk or lactose in any form, called galactosemia, is 0.000005%. Only about 6 babies in the entire world are born with this each year... however, 150 people die annually from a falling coconut hitting them on the head. It's safe to say that this condition is insanely rare. Also, this allergy is discovered within the first couple days or at the most, the first week of life and the diet is changed immediately or the baby dies. In fact, 75% of babies with galactosemia die because their allergy isn't discovered in time. So figure only 2 babies a year survive the newborn stage with this condition.

   So while this allergy really, honestly does exist and the newborn has no choice but to go immediately onto a soy or meat-based formula, the myth I'm addressing is people saying their baby was allergic to their breastmilk so they had to wean at 2 weeks, 5 weeks, etc. While it may present itself like an allergy to your milk, it's actually an allergy to a protein you are passing through your milk (almost always milk and/or soy) and you do not have to wean your baby -- you just have to take a break from eating or drinking things containing milk or soy for a bit. It's certainly not a reason to wean -- it just takes the tiniest bit of effort from the mother.

5. "I had to supplement until my milk came in since it took five days."

   Your breasts already produce colostrum before your baby is even born, and it is all you need! Here's a little lesson in the newborn's stomach, via the Le Leche League:

   When mothers hear that colostrum is measurable in teaspoons rather than ounces, they often wonder if that can really be enough for their babies. The short answer is that colostrum is the only food healthy, full-term babies need. The following is an explanation:

   A 1 day old baby's stomach capacity is about 5-7 ml, or about the size of a marble. Interestingly, researchers have found that the day-old newborn's stomach does not stretch to hold more. Since the walls of the newborn's stomach stays firm, extra milk is most often expelled (spit up). Your colostrum is just the right amount for your baby's first feedings!

   By day 3, the newborn's stomach capacity has grown to about 0.75-1 oz, or about the size of a "shooter" marble. Small, frequent feedings assure that your baby takes in all the milk he needs.

   Around day 7, the newborn's stomach capacity is now about 1.5-2 oz, or about the size of a ping-pong ball. Continued frequent feeding will assure that your baby takes in all the milk he needs, and your milk production meets his demands.

   Breastfeeding is supply and demand -- if you supplement in the first days of life, you're already telling your breasts to make less milk so when your milk DOES come in (which takes an average of 3-5 days!), you will have less because you supplemented. Trust that your body can make enough milk in the first week of life, and plan on keeping your baby on you pretty much all day and the majority of the night -- it's perfectly normal for a newborn to nurse for 12 times in one day, sometimes 40-50 minutes apart -- that is not a sign of a lack of milk.

   If you received an epidural, there's some evidence that it can make initial breastfeeding a little more difficult as well, though no differences were noted even at 6 weeks... as long as the mom didn't give up or supplement.

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Dystocia is defined as an abnormal difficult labor and delivery. Several factors cause dystocia like abnormally irregular uterine contractions, abnormal fetal presentation and cephalopelvic disproportion.

Dystocia management ranges from the use of Oxytocin to improve uterine activity or assisted delivery like forceps or a c-section to ensure safe passage for the infant.

A specific case of dystocia is shoulder dystocia, which happens during delivery when the anterior shoulder of the infant cannot pass the symphysis pubis and cannot be delivered after expulsion of the head.

It is difficult to diagnose shoulder dystocia that is why the problem will surface only during the actual birth of the infant. And in this case, it is an obstetrical emergency situation that needs immediate management or fetal death can occur within 5 minutes if the infant is not delivered immediately.

There are obstetrical maneuvers done by experienced obstetrician to facilitate the immediate delivery including:

1. McRoberts maneuver involves hyperflexing the woman’s legs to widen the pelvic opening and flatten the lumbar spine. If this is not effective, pressure is applied on the lower abdomen and the head of the infant is gently pulled.
2. Rubin I (suprapubic pressure) and Rubin II (posterior pressure) maneuver on the anterior shoulder, which will place the fetus in an oblique position somewhat towards the vagina.
3. Woods’ screw maneuver, the opposite of Rubin maneuver which will turn the anterior shoulder to the posterior and vice versa.
4. Jacquemier’s maneuver (also called Barnum’s maneuver), or delivery of the posterior shoulder first by identifying in the birth canal and be gently pulled.
5. Gaskin maneuver, named after Certified Professional Midwife, Ina May Gaskin, mother is placed in all fours position with the back arched, widening the pelvic outlet for infant delivery.
6. Zavanelli’s maneuver, involves pushing the fetal head back followed by Cesarean section
7. Clavicular fracture, to reduce the diameter of the infant’s shoulder girdle to allow passage through the birth canal.
8. Maternal symphysiotomy, this is done by opening the birth canal through creating a large incision in the connective tissue between the two pubic bones facilitating the passage of the shoulders.
9. Hysterectomy facilitates vaginal delivery of the impacted shoulder.

More drastic maneuvers include:
The major concern with shoulder dystocia is the devastating risk it poses both to the mother and the infant whether the maneuver is performed or not.

But with the experience of a skilled and properly trained obstetrician and aid from health providers both mother and child will be saved from fatal injuries.

After the announcement that she is pregnant with twins and dispelling the rumors that she experienced complications, Celine Dion debuted her baby bump on the cover of Canada's 7 Jours magazine. She poses without makeup with her husband, Rene Angelil, their 9 1/2 year-old son, Rene-Charles and their dog, Charlie.

Dion, 42, is due in November. Her rep recently denied tabloid rumors of complications saying: "She's never been in the hospital - her pregnancy continues to be healthy and she feels fantastic. As with most women expecting multiples, her doctor wants her to stay off her feet as much as possible as she finishes her pregnancy."

The longtime couple announced their pregnancy news earlier this year after a sixth attempt at in-vitro fertilization.

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