obstetrics

The minute hand has just ticked past 11 a.m. Thea glances at her cellphone, then at the door leading into the busy coffee shop. A woman enters, but not the right one. "She's late," says Thea, dipping a spoon into her latte and giving it a slow stir.  

The impoverished Bangladeshi mother of conjoined twins separated last week in a complex operation in Australia says she is overjoyed at the news the twins are doing well, but doesn't want them back. Lovely Mallick, 22, said she gave up Trishna and Krishna soon after their birth almost three years ago because there was no way she and her husband could care for the sickly newborns. "I'm overjoyed with the news that my babies are in good condition," she said by telephone from Khulna, about 135 kilometres south-west of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka.  

FAILED attempts at delivery using medical instruments left a baby boy with severe head injuries which led to his death the following day. Baby Parker Meredith-Doyle died at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin, just one day and 10 hours after his birth by emergency caesarean section on April 18 2008. Yesterday, an inquest at Dublin City Coroner's Court heard that he suffered a brain haemorrhage as a result of "an attempted instrumental vaginal delivery" using a vacuum cup and forceps.  

First mammograms. Now -- in an apparent coincidence -- Pap smears. New guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.  

A PREGNANT woman who already has 13 children says she won't stop having babies until she has given birth to twins. Sara Foss, of Derby, plans to start trying to conceive again after she's had her 14th child, due in April. Sara and long-term partner Stephen Smith, who works as a canal boat builder, receive more than £4,200 in tax credits and family allowance each month.  

First mammograms. Now — in an apparent coincidence — Pap smears. New guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.  

When Araceli Torres heard the rumor that there were more teen mothers at her high school than at any other campus in Stockton, she thought, "Oh, no, that's not going to happen to me." And then it did. Almost two years ago, Torres, now 19, had a daughter, Laniesa Felix.  

An amendment to the bill bans the use of federal dollars to fund abortions, except in special cases, such as rape or incest. The House speaker allowed a vote on the amendment to gain support for the bill by Democrats who represent conservative districts. The amendment reaffirms existing federal law banning such use of federal dollars to fund abortions, but its supporters apparently wanted no contradictory terminology in the reform bill.  

Critically ill babies born to South Asian mothers in the UK are nearly twice as likely to die in their first year than other babies, research shows. The infant mortality study was based on more than 40,000 babies admitted into pediatric intensive care in England and Wales between 2004 and 2007. Researchers said that 44% more South Asian infants died before their first birthday than infants of other origins.