Medical

What do you think of the proposed maternity reforms?

Birth: a woman's right to decide?

Justine Caines The maternity reforms had the ability to place women as the focus of care, rather than the current practice of meeting the needs of organisations and practitioners first.

Natural selection

Paula Goodyer With IVF offering a monthly pregnancy rate that is two to three times higher than nature, it will always appeal to couples in the stressed-out 21st century.

EB members' feedback on our maternity system

EB members express their concerns regarding the Australian maternity system and we examine the key issues for those entering the birthing experience.

Rise in induced births worries doctors

Kate Benson One in three pregnant women in NSW has her labour induced - a rise of at least 15 per cent in the past 10 years - with almost half of inductions done without a medical reason.

Home birth program that delivers

Kate Benson It took Bailey Mannion only 75 minutes to slip calmly into the world, amid the comforts of his own loungeroom, unaware he was quietly making history.

Designing principles at birth of a new era

Genetic screening of human embryos may eventually eradicate inherited diseases ranging from breast cancer to cystic fibrosis.

Fertility breakthrough offers hope for breast cancer survivors

Julie Robotham, Medical Editor Toby Robertson is an only child. He was a toddler when his mother, Cath, received the devastating diagnosis of breast cancer, so the sibling his parents wanted to give him was not to be.

Missing out on brain food puts kids at risk

Stephen Cauchi An overwhelming majority of children do not eat enough fish, placing them at risk of heart disease, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and retarded brain development, new research says.

Blood worth banking on, say parents

Jill Stark It's an insurance policy she hopes she'll never have to cash in. Vicki Georgakopoulos believes the decision to store her baby's umbilical cord blood could one day save her daughter's life.

Being obese no big deal, say pregnant women

Jordan Baker Obesity could now be "so common it is perceived as normal", an Australian researcher says after a survey of pregnant women showed many were oblivious to being overweight.

Solitary confinement

Laura Graham Before we begin, I should alert you that this story ends with a baby. It ends with the very baby who, deemed an impossibility, started my family on a journey that began with slammed doors and cold...

Eight month financial plan for baby

Wilson and Analaura Luna Combining their own experience of raising a family with their financial knowledge, husband and wife financial planning team, Wilson and Analaura Luna, have written an eight month baby financial plan.

Hospital closure leaves woman screaming

Julie Robotham Medical Editor A first-time mother endured a traumatic ambulance transfer after Katoomba Hospital, where she was booked to have her baby, failed to warn her of the imminent closure of its birth unit.

Baby steps as hospitals deliver a helping hand to home-birth push

John Elder Midwives working away from labour wards are to be covered by insurance under a pilot scheme, writes John Elder.

Secondary infertility

Gill South A lot has been written about primary infertility, a medical condition which affects one in six couples of childbearing age in Australia and one in five in New Zealand.

In the nick of time

Jacinta Tynan Over 35 and pregnant? Congratulations - you've beaten the biological clock. But as Jacinta Tynan discovers, friends yet to conceive may not be so thrilled to hear your happy news...

The cold, hard facts on getting pregnant after 35

Lucinda Schmidt Halle Berry did it at 41. So did Nicole Kidman. Geena Davis had twins at the seemingly over-ripe age of 48.

Donating eggs for research is tough - so why not pay for it?

LOANE SKENE Stem cell research cannot operate on altruism alone.

'Our world was shattered': couple's last embryo destroyed in mix-up

Helen Carter A British couple's last hopes of having another child have been destroyed after a clinic mistake meant their final embryo was implanted in another woman.