How many of you have had the flu?  Probably all of you at one point or another...  Or you could be like me and have had the privilege of multiple encounters with my influenza virus friends - that is, until the last few years when I gave in and got....

 The Flu Shot. 

Three simple words that at the same time inspire feelings of joy (I don't have to feel like I've been beaten with a stick and dumped in freezing water at the same time.) and feelings of trepidation. (What effect can the vaccine have on me and my baby?)  The word "vaccine" has become a flashpoint for supporters and detractors alike.  Celebrities rant and rave at each other trying to rally folks to one side or the other.  (On a side note, why do we care whether our celebrity of choice supports one thing or another?  As a society, we really should look at ourselves in the mirror when Lindsey Lohan can influence people...yikes)  While the childhood vaccination debate will rage on and on, I'm just going to discuss the flu

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Bed rest.  Those are two words that most soon-to-be moms really don't want to hear.  How can a woman just lay in bed all day and really not get up??  Who's going to watch the kids?  I can't leave my job!  Those are just a couple of reasons why true, strict bed rest really is a very, very difficult thing to do.

I hate telling women they need to be on bed rest.  Unfortunately, bed rest is really the only proven method of making certain conditions better.  Studies have shown that home bed rest and real hospital bed rest have very different results.  Bed rest can mean the difference between delivering right away or in many weeks.  Depending on how early you are, that can mean the difference between a child with a lifetime of problems and a child with no problems at all.  There are many who promise to stay in bed at home, but it's really hard to really not get out of your bed at all all day and night.  Getting up only to use the bathroom and one personal hygiene trip a day to the bathroom. 

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Probably the single question I have been asked more than any other.  In fact, I've probably been asked that question twice as many times as any other. 

 There are tons of guides out there that have all kinds of advice.  It hurts in your back; it hurts on the top of your belly; it hurts at the bottom of your pelvis; you feel like you need a bowel movement; your belly feels tight; you see dark colored mucous come out.  You have brown discharge; you have clear discharge.  All of those things are true; all of those things aren't true.

Look.  Bottom line is this.  Everyone's experience is going to be different.  That's exactly the reason there are so many guides out there.  That's why all of those things can be true.  However, your experience may not contain any of those things exactly.  In the end, one thing remains true.  A baby that is anywhere from six and a half to nine pounds (well, sometimes more, sometimes less..!) is going to make his or her way out of your vagina.  Do you really

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You've become a family.  It'd be nice to have a whole baseball team, but you really think you've changed all the diapers you can during this lifetime!  Now what?

 Technology in the last 5 years has really provided all sorts of conveniences and options for all sorts of things.  Contraception is no different.  Gone are the days when you either had to take a pill everyday or take the risks of surgery.  There are many semi-permanent and much lower risk and easier permanent options now.

First, intrauterine devices (IUD).  There are two options here.  Mirena and Paraguard.  Both are super easy to use because once your doctor puts it in, you don't have to do anything for five or 10 years, depending on which you use.  The only risk you take is when you get it put in at your doctor's office, and that risk is really minimal.

Next, a simple procedure called Essure can be done in the office and is permanent.  In the office!  You don't have to go to the operating room, and your doctor does not have

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Hello, again.  It's been awhile since my last entry.  My parents have been in town, and the weather has been great.  I haven't spent nearly as much time in front of the computer!

Anyway, I was reading some of the comments readers have left in response to my ramblings, and one stood out to me.  A lady was speaking of how difficult a miscarriage was for her.  I've seen many women through this horrible time.  Being a dad, I can hardly imagine a harder time.  I've had people say to me that a miscarriage is easier than losing a child.  I agreed with that until I spoke with so many women who have gone through miscarriages early in pregnancy or fetal demises later on in pregnancy.  That fetus is every bit a person's child.  The loss is just as great.  What can I say?  There really is nothing to say.  I hold my patients' hands; I pray with them, but in the end, they have to go home and be alone with their feelings. 

For any of you who know people going through this, just be there for them if

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I know, I know.  A lot of you are thinking, "Uh, I'm not very active when I'm NOT pregnant much less during pregnancy..."  HA!HA!  Well, that may be true for a lot of folks, but believe it or not there is a significant population of women that doesn't want to stop exercising during pregancy.  To y'all, I say.."Go for it."

 Exercise during pregnancy is not only OK, but good for you.  Ever wonder why they call it "labor"  at the end?  Cuz it's work.  It's nice to be in good cardiovascular shape when you ahve to strain with all of your strength for 3 hours straight.  Also, exercise during pregnancy is perfectly safe.  There are certain complications of pregnancy that will preclude you from exercising.  Your doctor should obviously know what those are.

 A couple of other things to remember are the following.  Number one - use common sense.  Falling is a bad thing in pregnancy.  Therefore, any activity that results in possibly losing your balance is bad.  Skiing, skating, biking, just to

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January 11, 2005...  3AM...  Through my fog of half-sleep, I heard three voices - all of them were crying.  I thought about it for a second.  "I only have two children, right?  I'm pretty sure it was just twins..."  Well, being a responsible parent, I thought I should get up and verify the fact that I had two kids.  I needed to get more stuff if it was really three babies.  The preceding four days were a blur of activity and no sleep.  Who knows if the hospital stuck an extra kid in the car when I wasn't looking...

Turned out, of course, that ,I indeed, had twins and not triplets.  The third teary person was my wife.  I found her crying and hunched over the changing table with Allison (my older daughter) also crying.  Avery (my younger daughter) was still in her crib crying her head off as well.  I looked at my wife and asked, "Are you ready yet?"  She nodded, I hugged her, and I sent her to bed.  I made some Enfamil and fed the babies.  (An interesting juggling act with twin newborns

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Ahhh..the birth plan.  A blueprint for how you want your delivery to be.  A declaration of how your birth experience is going to be.   This may surprise you, but....

The declared birth plan probably comes to fruition in one of ten deliveries.  Pregnancy, birth, and the 18 years that come after will not fall into any "plan."  I've often been asked about the birth plan and what I think about the various aspects of it.  "It's so confusing.  There are so many things!  How can I decide??!"  YOU DON'T HAVE TO.  Really.  In all honesty, not only do you not need to, you really shouldn't marry yourself to one idea or another.  This is not to say you shouldn't think about the issues and possibilities.  You definitely want to have thought about pain control, episiotomy, etc.  All I'm saying is that when the time comes for labor and delivery, your experience depends mostly on how your labor is going and how your baby is doing.  Is has very little to do with how you originally planned for the

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Wow.  That title could mean anything, huh?!  HA!

What I'm actually going to talk about a bit is intimacy - specifically, between you and your husband.  In the process of chatting with my pateints, the subject of the husband's desire for intimacy with them often comes up.  It actually goes both ways.  What I mean is - some husbands seem to have found some long lost aphrodisiac during your pregnancy, some husbands seem to withdraw.

First, the ones that can't get enough.  (OK, OK; I know.  For some you, that's pretty much the way it is pregnancy or no....!)  Many men actually find a pregnant woman very attractive.  That's not weird!  A lot of my patients think that their husbands are somehow crazy for finding them MORE attractive during pregnancy - a time when most women are thinking, "Man, I'm totally awkward and decidedly UNattractive."  Your husband really doesn't think so.  Sexual intercourse is actually safe and healthy during pregnancy (with some exceptions, but your doctor will be

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My wife and I asked ourselves that question many times over the stretch of time that we could not get pregnant.  We tried multiple infertility treatments.  Nothing.  What was wrong with us?

We were healthy, took care of ourselves.  (Well, the occasional Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese MIGHT have gone in my mouth...)  Seemed like there were babies flying out all over the place among our friends and associates.  We, of course, were happy for them, but still.....  I had many a patient who "accidentally" got pregnant.  "Why?" my wife and I would ask each other.

 By the fifth round of infertility treatment, my wife was not eating well or sleeping very well from the stress she had placed on herself.  She cried every time the pregnancy test would be negative.  She felt she was somehow less of a woman and wife because she could not get pregnant.  I, of course, couldn't have disagreed more, but she was falling into that despair that many women in this situation feel.  Finally, I told told her

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