Pregnancy and Birth

Amniocentesis, CVS, noninvasive prenatal testing, microarray . . . the rapid advancements in prenatal genetic testing can be dizzying. These 7 expert tips can help navigate the gamut.

Animal models find mild to moderate stress in pregnancy can have a compounding effect across generations, increasing a placental marker for preterm birth.

Challenge your diagnostic skills: Do these images depict normal limb growth?

Texts, emails, and voicemails may prove effective in getting surgical patients to follow preadmission instructions aimed at reducing surgical site infections.

Folic acid (vitamin B9) can prevent neural tube defects, but how much is needed to substantially reduce risk? Find out here.

Challenge your diagnostic skills: What’s the source of pain in this middle-aged woman?

“Dosing of oxytocin and timing of level of increase in dose has been the subject of many scientific publications,” noted study coauthor and Contemporary OB/GYN editorial board member Haywood Brown, MD.

Cesarean section surgical technique is best left up to the surgeon’s preference, according to the latest Cochrane recommendation.

As a specialty, Ob/Gyn seems immune to the so-called “July Phenomenon. But are your patients safe from the errors that eager first-years of other specialties may make?

Challenge your diagnostic skills: Anything unusual about this fetal head?

Good news: Use of antidepressants in early pregnancy is not to blame for fetal cardiac malformations, should one occur.

Obstetricians: Want to know what your patients wish you had told them before delivery? We surveyed a group of moms and are sharing the top 10 responses.

Midwifery and obstetrics don’t need to be mutually exclusive disciplines. Here are 6 examples of how midwives and OBs can give complementary care that benefits patients.

Letrozole, a breast cancer drug, was compared with clomiphene as a fertility treatment for women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Find out which drug performed best.

Challenge your diagnostic skills: Anything notable in these images of a fetal heart?

Studies with poor methodology were the basis of giving prophylactic antibiotics to women in labor who are positive for group B Streptococcus, an analysis finds.

High blood pressure, preeclampsia, and preterm birth can all be reduced with calcium supplements in women who eat a low-calcium diet, an analysis finds.

Challenge your diagnostic skills: What’s causing this bubble-like bulge?

In general, NSAID use in pregnancy does not increase the risk of miscarriage, research confirms. Indomethacin, however, is an outlier. Find out why.

Challenge your diagnostic skills: What abnormality do you see in this woman with a history of ectopic pregnancy?

The Supreme Court justices insist that their decision for Hobby Lobby is limited and narrow in scope. Find out why gynecologist Deborah Ottenheimer, MD, doesn't buy it.

The risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension is more than 3 times higher in women who become pregnant using a donor egg, research confirms.

After a discrepancy between gestational age and fundal height, an ultrasound exam revealed one of the most common congenital tumors deriving from germ cells.

Hobby Lobby doesn’t have to offer contraceptives to their employees. If you’re mad, you’re not alone. Read what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to say.