What is it like to spend nine-plus months carrying someone else’s baby? How can you not get attached to the baby growing inside you? How can you talk yourself through morning sickness, swollen ankles and back pain when you don’t get the ultimate payoff of holding your own precious baby when all is said and done?

I was very fortunate to speak to Alison Adams, an amazing woman who speaks very openly and honestly about her experiences as a surrogate.

1. What made you decide to be a surrogate?

Helping others has always been a deep seeded interest of mine. When I was in my later teen years, I became aware of egg donation.  When I met my boyfriend (now husband), I told him of my desires pretty early on. He thought the idea of it was great, being I waited until after we were done having our own children (I agreed).

2. How do you choose the family?

With my first surrogacy, I met the couple I chose through an agency. With my second surrogacy, I met the couple through Facebook, of all places!

3. What is it like to carry someone else’s baby?

I do the same things – watch what I eat, take my prenatal vitamins, go to my appointments as necessary, rub my belly, talk to the baby, etc. But of course, there’s no preparing for a baby, so that was a bit odd the first time around. It just seemed so strange to be so very pregnant, and not be setting up a nursery or installing a car seat. But how I felt towards my surrogate son was very different – I loved him and cared for him, yes. But I did not love him as I love my own children.

4. Who handles the financial obligation associated with the surrogate pregnancy?

In most all surrogacy journeys, the IPs (intended parents) cover the finances. This could/should include attorneys (for both the surrogate and parents!), insurance copays, etc.

5. Are you financially compensated for being a surrogate?

Most first time surrogates in the US receive around 20k for a first time surrogacy. Some surrogates receive a higher compensation for a second time journey, and some, like myself, opt to receive the same compensation that they received the first time. If you figure it out, it calculates out to under $3 per hour. But as is true for most surrogates, compensation isn’t close to one of the top reasons we choose to do this. It is a nice bonus, though.

6. Do you keep in contact with the family after the baby is born?

Yes, this is actually a requirement of mine. I ask that the family opt to keep up with me and keep me updated on them (not just the baby).

7. How important is the emotional support of your family while you are a surrogate?

Very important. My husband is my rock. He not only has to submit himself to STD testing and sign the contract, he is there with me as I go through the cycling, the pregnancy and the postpartum time. It is not easy on him, but he chooses to support me and hold me up through the hard times. I think I fell in love with him even more after the birth of my surrogate son, just knowing how awesome he was during the pregnancy – a pregnancy that wasn’t even for us, if that makes sense.

Read more about Alison’s surrogacy journeys in her blog.

For many mothers, Mother’s Day is a day to be endured and survived, not celebrated.  I learned this on Mother’s Day 2006.  Our first born son had been stillborn and we’d buried him less than a month before.  I remember going to church that day and noticing that a baby baptism ceremony had been planned for that day.  I actually had to leave the service because I just wasn’t able to handle it.

Mother’s Day can be a difficult day for moms.  I think of the older mother who buried her child and is helping to raise her grandchildren.  I am reminded of my step mother, who loved and raised us after our mother’s untimely death.  She never made a distinction between her biological children and her step-children.  That’s a mom alright!

I also think of the many mothers with children in the military.  Some of these mothers will spend their day worrying about their children.  Perhaps some have gotten the call that no parent ever wants to get: they have been told that their child has made the ultimate sacrifice and given their life in service to their country.

For many years, I was a single mother of young children.  Being alone on Mother’s Day was always depressing for me.  One year, my friend from college called and invited me to spend the day with her family.  Every year after that, my children and I would spend the day with her family.  I remember those holiday celebrations with great fondness.

As you are planning your Mother’s Day activities this year,  remember the “forgotten” mothers.   Whether you send a card, give flowers, or thank them for their sacrifice, your efforts will be appreciated.

Today I’m going to share my second pre-natal appointment with Babies Online readers! My hope is that maybe this will be helpful to you though.

I was nervous today because I’ve miscarried around four months before.  I am spotting now.  Is it “normal” or a sign of something ominous?

At first, they had trouble finding the baby’s heartbeat.  As I have been pregnant quite a few times, my uterus is large for date (I say I am old and my elastic is stretched out–they say maybe it is twins).  We could hear flutters though.  Some babies do NOT like the doppler I’ve been told and wince away from them, even in utero.  The midwife swore she heard a heartbeat but it kept moving.  She couldn’t get a “lock” on it.

I was trying to NOT panic.  It’s not easy.  They asked me if I would like an ultrasound to reassure myself and of course I said yes.  It took a while until the machine was free in the office and I waited and tried to not worry.  As we were walking to the machine, the midwife told me that she felt I might be having twins as my uterus was so large for my due date. Either that or my dates were off.  I still was going with the stretched elastic theory though.

We got in there and the first thing I noticed was the flutter for the heart.  My baby was OK.  The midwife checked for two–there was none.  My dates were correct too.  What do you know? It IS stretched elastic after all!

The baby was curled up with his or her knees in his or her face.  We laughed about that.  How is that even remotely comfortable?  All of this room and this baby is curled up on itself!

There was no sign of bleeding or blood in the ultrasound.  The midwife told me that sometimes, women who have had surgery on their cervix (I’ve had 2 to remove pre-cancerous cells) can spot and bleed a little bit.  She felt this was the cause of my spotting.

The heart rate is 160.  My great-grandmother would have sworn that meant it was a girl.  This midwife tells me that the whole heart rate and gender correlation is a myth.  We’ll see.  My next appointment is in 3 weeks, although they’ve set me up with a genetic counselor for a session and a level 2 ultrasound because of my “advanced maternal age”.

Read more about my pregnancy journey here.

When you are pregnant, bleeding or spotting can cause a lot of worry and wonder.  Such experiences are supposedly common: about 1/4 of all pregnant women will experience bleeding or spotting during her pregnancy according to statistics.

How do you know that your bleeding is just “simply bleeding” and not a sign of miscarriage?  There are some clues that may help.  It should be noted that any time you are pregnant and are concerned, you should call your doctor.  If you are experiencing bleeding, please call you doctor for more advice and information immediately unless your doctor has otherwise directed you.

That having been said, you may wonder what it all means.  How DO you tell the difference between something scary and something mostly harmless? You may also wondering what will happen next. I have bled or spotted with almost all of my pregnancies.  I’ve lost some of those pregnancies.  This is what I’ve learned.

There is a difference between “old” and “new” blood.  This is one thing the doctors always asked me.  What is the color of the blood?  Red means new; brown spotting means old blood and doesn’t seem to be a “big deal”.

Another thing that doctors always asked me was how much bleeding there was.  That’s hard to gauge actually.  A good way to have something definitive to tell the doctor is to put on a pantyliner.  You can say that you haven’t soiled the liner and it’s been on about so many hours or you can say that you’ve been soiling through a pad every so many minutes.

Another thing that was very important to the doctors was if I was experiencing pain.  During my miscarriages, not only was I bleeding quite a bit, but I was also experiencing a significant amount of pain.  For one miscarriage, I felt the pain in my stomach. It felt like really bad cramps.  For the other miscarriage, I felt the pain in my back.

I found that one of the first questions that doctors ask about when you are bleeding is if you’ve had sex recently.  For some women, this can cause irritation, which can cause bleeding.  They will also ask you if you have reason to believe that you have an infection, which can also cause bleeding.  Fibroid tumors can also cause bleeding during pregnancy.

Some of my bleeding episodes have landed me in the ER.  For my last child, my fibroids were causing a lot of bleeding.  Even though the blood was brown, I was soiling through pads.  My doctor advised me to go to the ER for an ultrasound.  At the ER, they determined that our child was fine.

I know how scary bleeding can be during pregnancy.  Hopefully, you’ll never experience any bleeding!  Please note that above ALL else, you need to contact your doctor!

With my first pregnancy, I literally didn’t wear maternity clothes until I was 6 months pregnant.  With each successive pregnancy(and as my age advanced), I “showed” earlier and earlier.  With my most recent pregnancy, I’d noticed some changes in my waistline even before the test came back positive.

Because of my history, getting out the maternity clothes is not an easy thing to do.  I still remember taking down the crib and packing away the nursery supplies when our son was stillborn 3 years ago.  I couldn’t fit into my “regular” pants and I wore maternity clothes to the funeral home to make the arrangements with my husband to bury our son.

That event changed me radically.  Since then, I guess I am afraid of “what if”.  For example, when our next son was born a year later, my husband and I hadn’t even picked out a name yet!  We also hadn’t set up the nursery.

My family was angry because they felt we’d not prepared for this child and that we were irresponsible.  That wasn’t it at all.  We were just afraid because we knew that in life, there are no guarantees.    I didn’t want to have to pack away more baby things “if” something happened.

This past weekend, I went out and bought pants a size larger than I usually wear to try to hold me over until I absolutely must pull out those maternity clothes.  They are a little loose, but just fine for now.  Every so often, I’ll look at the maternity clothes I have stored under the bed, but I just can’t bear to go through them right now or think about wearing them.  I’m not quite yet 8 weeks along you know.

Monday is my first OB appointment.  Perhaps after I emerge from the first trimester, I’ll be brave enough to pull out those maternity clothes, but for now, my “big” pants are just fine.

We’ve all seen the pregnancy commercials on TV.  At least the ones that I seem to remember always show the happy couple elated over that positive test result.

Life’s not always like that.

I finally got the nerve to take a test, although I knew what the results would be.  It’s not that I don’t love children or that I’m not thrilled to be blessed with a pregnancy, it’s just that pregnancy is not a joyful happy time for me.  I’ve experienced numerous miscarriages, and I’ve buried a stillborn baby.  I know that miracles don’t always come easy.

When I see that positive pregnancy test, my mind immediately thinks about what could happen.  I think of the “ifs” and I tell myself to not get too attached because I know that I’m not guaranteed a baby just because I’m pregnant.  That’s my reality.

I told my husband and he hugged me.  We really haven’t mentioned it much since then, because we both know.  Today, I am still pregnant, and I’m trying to be happy, but not too happy, because tomorrow, that could change.  But for today, I’m “happy”.

I wonder how many other women are just like me.  Afraid to be too happy because of what the future might hold. On the other hand,  I wonder what it would be like to be one of those women who just jubilantly(and publicly) declare their pregnancies as soon as they discover the reality.  I wonder what it must be like to be so confident and assured.

After the holidays, I will mark my calendar like I always have during my pregnancies.  The risk of miscarriage is lower after 12 weeks, and so 12 weeks is always marked in large print.  I’ll hope and pray that we make it until then, and then take it from there, one day at a time.

Is pregnancy a joyful and happy time for you? If you have a history of miscarriage, how do you mentally handle your pregnancies?

I’m sure that many moms, especially first timers find the very idea laughable, that a mom can over-bond with her baby. But that seems to be the opinion of Nicole Kidman’s mother. According to reports, the actress was quoted as saying, “My mum thinks I’ve over-bonded with my baby, but I don’t care.” Yes, most women experiencing motherhood for the first time wouldn’t much care either.

Kidman also said in an interview, “I can’t bear to be separate from my baby; I’m totally devoted to her.” Well that certainly sounds like new mom euphoria to me. Perhaps her mom just has a different parenting style. Thankfully Kidman still seems to be doing her own thing. It’s tough sometimes to raise and nurture your child with all the advice you’re bombarded with.

Interestingly, a quick search on Google for the term ‘over bonding‘ revealed results that only had to do with animals. Well, on the first page at any rate. So does it even exist, or is it just something Kidman’s mom coined to get her point across? Is it even possible for a mom to over-bond with her baby? And what does that entail really?

I guess this raises the age old issue of parents disagreeing with the parenting methods of their children. After all, if they brought them this far, surely they must have done a great job right? Maybe Kidman’s mom is just angling for a little more time with precious Sunday Rose. For that we can hardly blame her.

New moms are understandably protective of their babies, and spending every possible moment with them seems like the most natural thing in the world. How would you react if someone suggested that you might have over-bonded with your baby?

Incidentally, Kidman’s character in the new film Australia, can’t have children of her own. This seemed to be the case with Kidman, who eventually adopted after suffering miscarriages while married to Tom Cruise.

She went on to reveal that no less than seven babies were conceived during the filming of the movie. “There is definitely something up there in that Kununurra water. We all went swimming in the waterfalls, so we call it the fertility waters now,” Kidman said. Maybe that will be a new selling point for the country’s tourism.

Lost and then found again. Caught in despair, yet daring to hope. A case of a most welcome misdiagnosis. Is she pregnant or is she not?

Erika Kain shared her experience about her misdiagnosed miscarriage at poked and prodded. Hers is an incredible and unusual story.

So many terms are bandied around in connection with miscarriage, such as spontaneous abortion, missed abortion, incomplete abortion, chemical pregnancy, and anembryonic pregnancy that it makes one dizzy.

Simply speaking, miscarriage occurs when you lose a baby before 20^th week of pregnancy although most miscarriages happen early, usually during the first trimester. About 10 to 20% of pregnancies end up in miscarriage. The most common symptoms range from light spotting to profuse bleeding and abdominal pain and cramps. Mayo Clinic gives a comprehensive information about miscarriage.

A miscarriage or an impending miscarriage is usually diagnosed through ultrasound and test of the levels of the pregnancy hormone, beta HCG in the blood. A “blighted ovum” or “empty sac” is considered to be unviable. An embryo that is growing slowly and an indiscernible heart beat are also considered signs of a miscarriage about to happen. But it seems that imaging and blood tests can be wrong as in Erika’s case, and the “blighted ovum” may turn out to be viable. However, such an experience subjects a woman to “an emotional roller coaster.”

I had a similar yet somehow different experience. My first ultrasound showed I had two embryos in my uterus. The second time, one embryo didn’t look too good while the other one was going strong. The third time, one embryo was seen to have two heart beats. Then, one embryo turned to be a blighted ovum and therefore unviable. The other one still had two heartbeats. Thus, I initially started with 2, then maybe 1, then maybe 3, then finally 2. That’s how I ended up with my twins.

However, for Erika and other women like her, pregnancy goes from 1 to 0, then back to 1 again and comes with great psychological burden and extreme emotions – devastation, disbelief, delight, daring to hope again.

During our grandmothers’ time when nobody has heard of ultrasound technology, pregnancy was a clear cut “yes” or “no” after the first trimester. Nowadays we know more and we know earlier about our pregnancies. However, it seems that current diagnostic procedures are not foolproof and give us “maybe’s.” In this day and age, life and nature can still bring us a lot of surprises.

October 19-25th, 2008 is National Infertility Awareness week.

To increase awareness, and also in an effort to help many couples realize their dreams of becoming parents, The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine in Virginia Beach, Virginia is giving ? free consult sessions. If you are struggling with issues surrounding infertility, this may be a great time to research your local medical options and see if your clinic may be offering any such programs. If you live near The New Hope Center, make a call today to schedule the consult.

According to the statistics I saw, about 10% of US couples struggle with infertility issues. That amounts to about 1 in 10 couples or about 1.6 million people. Doctors basically use the term infertile to describe couples who have tried unsuccessfully for about a year to conceive or to describe those who are unable to carry a pregnancy to term due to miscarriage.

Doctor?s also stress that it?s important to remember that infertility does not mean sterility?in other words, there is hope. Of the millions of couples that seek help each year, over 50% of those couples eventually are able to conceive and birth a child.

If you are struggling with infertility issues, know that you are not alone and that there is hope. Check with your local resources to see if they are participating in National Infertility Awareness Week. Ask if they are offering free consults. Taking that first step may be hard, but you can do it!

This is a horrible story. But it?s also a wonderful story.

On Monday, August 18, 2008, a woman in Israel went into premature labor at 23 weeks of pregnancy. Finding no pulse in the fetus, and with the mother hemorrhaging, doctors performed a surgical abortion–a c-section–apparently to save the mother?s life. The baby girl weighed just 610 grams (that?s about 1 lb. 5 ? oz. by my calculation), had no vital signs, was pronounced dead, and was taken to the hospital morgue?s freezer. About five hours later, the baby?s mom asked to hold her one more time. Hospital officials allowed the visit.

The prospect of holding my deceased child is not one I can fathom. But what happened to this mom is wonderful, bizarre, horrible?all at the same time: she found the baby breathing.

The baby?s father is understandably angry, suggesting the hospital declared his daughter dead too early. The hospital?s deputy director, Dr. Moshe Daniel, defended his doctors, saying they were not hasty.

The baby, now in the hospital?s NICU, has been given a 10% chance of survival, based only on her weight and gestational age. The fact that she was frozen is actually being credited with saving her life, rather than risking it. Lowering her body temperature may have “kept the baby’s metabolism rate and use of oxygen low.”

Impressively, she is still breathing on her own (the lungs are often underdeveloped in preemies). Still, her chances of survival?if left to modern medicine?are slim. Then again, she?s already a miracle baby.

I happen to be one that believes all babies are miracles. But this is different. What a fighter.

I left my abusive, psychotic, ex spouse on October 6, 2001 with my 4 children and the clothes on our backs. Our exit was quite dramatic, and the drama continues even today, almost 7 years later.

As I began to heal and rebuild my life, I never would have thought that one day I’d be married again. Certainly, if someone told me that I’d have more children, I would have laughed hysterically. Life is stranger than fiction though, and I’m living proof.

I met my current husband at a coffee shop. We connected immediately, but the relationship evolved over time, and eventually, we decided to marry. As happens with re-marriage, there were numerous issues to discuss and work through, one of the major ones was children.

My current husband had been through years of fertility treatments with his previous wife. He was thrilled with the idea of being a step-dad to my four children, but he was very firm about the fact that he also wanted 2 biological children too. Wow. That’s exactly what I thought at the time too, wow. I had 4 biological children and frankly, wasn’t interested in going back to diapers now that my youngest was going to be 7.

Despite the fact that we never came to 100% agreement over the reproductive issue, we got married anyway. After a ‘birth control wardrobe malfunction’ accident, the issue was decided for us. I was pregnant. DH was THRILLED! We didn’t even ‘try’ and yet I was pregnant. So what else is new? I never ‘tried’; it just happened in my life.

All seemed to be progressing pretty well. On March 13, 2006, we went for a routine doctor appointment. We’d already seen our baby’s heartbeat on the ultrasound, so neither of us was concerned, but at this visit, they were unable to find the baby’s heartbeat. Our son had died in utero sometime between this appointment and my last appointment. DH and I were shocked and horrified and went through the process of burying and grieving our stillborn son.

The reality of just how difficult this whole reproductive thing could be was settling in at this point and the doctors were quite blunt. If we wanted a biological child, we needed to mourn this child, allow my body to heal and begin trying again. I was, it seemed, running out of time. This just seemed surreal to me. In my earlier years, I had no problem carrying babies and getting pregnant! Here I was a short decade later being presented with a not so glowing scenario. Poor DH! I felt so bad for him.

The Cliff Notes version of the good news was that our second son was born exactly a year later on March 13, 2007, after a highly stressful pregnancy. Since then, I’ve had several more miscarriages and DH and I are coming to terms with the fact that even IF we wanted another child, it just might not happen.

I get questions about our family all the time. Women call me to discuss their re-marriage and the whole ‘child’ issue. ‘Older’ women call because they are considering having that one last child before their biological time clock winds down. I’ve watched numerous friends who have gotten re-married struggle to conceive. I’ve mourned with those who’ve conceived and miscarried. I’ve sat with others who have birthed children with Down’s Syndrome.

I do not for an instant regret having my son or going back to the diaper bag days. I consider myself blessed that I finally have the opportunity to experience raising a child with a caring, compassionate mate. I am thrilled to be able to have another chance! When I watch my older children playing with their little brother, I smile to myself. When I see the tender look DH gives to our son as he tucks him in each night after prayers, my heart fills with unspeakable joy. I am so glad I agreed to try again after the death of our first son.

Having said all of this, I do have a few words of caution for moms in my situation. Pregnancy is incredibly different when you are 35 plus as opposed to in your early 20’s. I was so tired all the time! I also had more doctor and specialist appointments because of my, ahem, advanced age.

Certainly, it appears to be much harder to conceive when you are older, just speaking from the experiences my friends and I are having. The miscarriage rate seems to increase, and in some cases, it takes longer to conceive. I’d recommend talking to your doctor honestly about your plans if you are considering another child ‘later’ in life, as soon as possible.

Whatever you and your husband decide is best for your family, I wish you the very best as you embark on your new journey together.

Female veterinarians who do not protect themselves against anesthetics, X-rays, and pesticides at work have higher risk for miscarriage. A survey of 940 women veterinarians who graduated from Australian veterinary schools from 1960 to 2000 showed that the risk for miscarriage among women vets is 16%.

Analysis showed that women exposed to anesthetic gases for 1 or more hours per week had a 2.49 higher risk of miscarriage than other women. Those performing more than five X-rays per week had a 1.82 greater risk for miscarriage than those performing less than five. The risk for miscarriage is almost double also for women who use pesticides at work. Researchers found that many of the vets surveyed either didn’t have the safety equipment in their work, or they had the equipment but weren’t using it correctly. The research aims to make women vets aware of the need to fully protect themselves at work, especially if they are planning to have a baby.

Although this research followed up vets only, I would imagine that there are many women of childbearing age working in the healthcare industry who are also exposed to these occupational hazards. And their employers should make sure that they are well-protected in the work place!
In the European Union, for example, there are plans to limit the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because of the occupational hazard of electromagnetic field exposure.

Source:

MedWire News. 08April2008

Shirangi et al. Occupational and Environmental Medicine 3 April 2008

Binge drinking and pregnancy. It`s like mixing oil and water. But it does happen.
From 1996 to 2002, a large-scale study in Denmark interviewed 89,201 pregnant women and studied their drinking habits. Binge drinking was defined as having 5 or more drinks at a time.
In total, 3,714 miscarriages and stillbirths were recorded in this group. The timing and frequency of alcohol intake by the study participants during pregnancy was noted and checked whether they were linked to fetal deaths.

Study results show that binge drinking greatly increases the risk of stillbirth, defined as fetal death beyond the 22nd week of pregnancy. However, there was no significant association between binge drinking and spontaneous abortion (death of the fetus before the 22nd week).
There are, however, some limitations to the study. The data on binge drinking was based on self-reports. There is also limited data on early miscarriages which often go undiagnosed or unreported.

There is enough evidence to indicate that we should avoid alcohol during pregnancy. Better to be safe than be sorry.

Source:

Obstet Gynecol. 2008;111:602-609.

The Inside Edition recently featured a reborn artist, who had seven miscarriages and decided to put her grief to good use by making reborns.

Reborns are basically dolls, factory made or specifically sculpted, which are transformed into lifelike baby dolls through painstakingly applied paints (blue tones for the veins are applied first and covered by flesh ones) and body parts (goat hair are sewn onto the head and the body is weighted down with materials like polyfill or beads to give the appropriate feel when held).

These dolls are usually made-to-order and no doll is alike. Some order one made to look like themselves when they were a baby, or to look like their child when their child was a baby. Some order to give as gifts to those who have lost a child or had a miscarriage. Some just order to add to their collection.

Since much effort is invested in these dolls to make them as lifelike as possible, people can mistake them for the real one… initially. And because they are made, they are always perfectly cute, complete with buntings and caps. They cost around $800 or more and take an average of two weeks to produce.

Personally, although I may find them cute, I’d really think it creepy for anyone to play with one. But that’s just me. I also don’t dig those candies that look like babies (or bread that looked like human body parts… but yes, you don’t eat reborns).

What about you, would you like to own one?

A new study done published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology seems to point to a link between caffeine and miscarriage. According to the study, women who consumed over 200 mg of caffeine a day had twice the rate of miscarriage as those who did not. The risk did not change whether the source of the caffeine was tea, soda, coffee, or chocolate.

Researcher Dr. Di-Kun Li says that caffeine is dangerous to developing babies because it passes through the placenta and can be difficult to metabolize. It’s presence may alter cell development and decrease blood flow to the placenta.

If you are expecting, or planning to conceive, you may want to consider monitoring your intake or removing caffeine from your diet all together.

On the heels of a Mount Sinai School of Medicine research which concludes that moderate coffee intake during pregnancy is safe and does not increase the risk of miscarriage, here’s another research saying otherwise. I have written before about confusing research, and here’s another proof.

So here’s the puzzle. The snag on earlier studies ,which concluded that even moderate caffeine intake during pregnancy is risky was this: researchers focused on high intake; researchers included women who had nausea and morning sickness — long associated with a reduced miscarriage risk in the first place — who were forced to cut back on coffee or soda consumption.

Dr. De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente conducted his study taking morning sickness into account, the first researcher to ever do so. The scary conclusion is that drinking 200 mg of caffeine a day, usually the amount found in two cups of coffee, significantly increases the risk of miscarriage. The stats reveal that 25% of women who consumed any caffeine suffered a miscarriage, compared to just 12% of women who didn’t.

The study interviewed 1,063 women who were pregnant between 1996 and 1998. The source of caffeine, whether teas, sodas, coffees, didn’t matter.

My baby is nice and healthy but now I really quake at those green teas I was having while pregnant. Just in moderation, but still… I’ve always said to chuck expert advice out the window, but with such serious implications of caffeine intake during pregnancy, I’d say err on the side of caution and ditch the caffeine completely when pregnant.

I’m saddened to report that British pop star Lily Allen’s miscarriage has been confirmed by her publicist. We’re not sure how far along she was because she and dad-to-be Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers, never announced their due date. It seemed the pair had just arrived from a vacation in Maldives when she had the unfortunate miscarriage.

I first discovered Lily Allen just a few short months ago, when I finally had my own daughter and was devouring baby-related sites. She’s a pop star from the UK who popped up on many of the sites I visited wearing clothes I’d never wear but which she pulled off with admirable quirkiness.

This pregnancy had reportedly changed Lily Allen’s outlook on life. My heart goes out to her and Ed.

There is new hope for pregnant women who need their daily cuppa joe. A study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City reported on January 9^th found that moderate coffee intake during pregnancy does not increase the risk of miscarriage.

In the study, 2,407 pregnant women consumed two cups or less of coffee each day (about 350 milligrams of caffeine) during early pregnancy, and less coffee (about 200 milligrams of caffeine) during later pregnancy. The study, therefore, cannot answer whether or not a greater amount of coffee than two cups is harmful. (Which makes sense, because who would voluntarily put their developing baby at risk?)

The women reported their caffeine intake before pregnancy, four weeks after their last menstrual period, and again during an interview. At each of these time periods, the study found that there was no statistical correlation between the amount of caffeine consumed and risk of miscarriage. Of the 2,407 women, 258 miscarried during the study.

This study confirms previous data suggesting that low amounts of caffeine is not harmful during pregnancy. In their precautions for healthy eating, The March of Dimes lists coffee under the ?Not too Much? category, suggesting that pregnant women limit coffee intake to 2 to 2 ? cups per day. However, when considering caffeine intake during pregnancy, it is also important to consider the fact that caffeine is present in a number of sodas, chocolate, and some medicines. Reading nutrition labels will help you get an accurate picture of how much caffeine you are ingesting each day.

References:

http://www.reuters.com

http://search.marchofdimes.com