• Her official photographer has posted many of the pictures on Palin's Facebook page, along with the credit "The Photo Opportunity is Provided By SarahPAC," so, if you want a shot of yourself wearing an Obama shirt next to Palin you'll have to contribute to her PAC. • Sarah Palin will give the keynote address at the International Bowl Expo 2010, the "premier international convention" of bowling in June. A rep said: "Regardless of your political affiliation, Ms. Palin is a force in American politics and culture. Her presence underscores the impact and importance of bowling, one of our country's leading national pastimes and a growing $10 billion industry." • Leroy Benros was charged with rape at a New York nightclub after his alleged victim texted her friends during the attack. After he forcibly kissed her, the woman texted her friend: "I'm being molested. Help." By the time two of her friends found her, police say she was partially naked under a coat with her eyes closed and her arms dangling. Her friends pulled her away and Benros was arrested. • Now that Maurice Clemmons, the ex-convict suspected of killing four police officers, is dead, authorities are focusing on the people who may have helped him escape and stay on the lam for two days. Prosecutors are expected to charge alleged getaway driver Darcus D. Allen today. Clemmons' aunt and another woman have been arrested and are expected to be charged for giving him first aid and helping him escape. Police are still investigating a handful of other suspects. "Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they're all partners in crime," said a police spokesman. • Cocaine abuse is on the rise among young English women. Among women ages 18 to 25, the number of women who needed treatment for cocaine abuse in England. jumped 80 percent in the past four years from 329 to 592. Experts point to a growing "ladette" culture, which is also blamed for increasing alcohol abuse among young women. • In a new British study, researchers say they have discovered how and where androgenic hormones work in the testis to control normal sperm production and male fertility, which may allow for the development of a male birth control pill. "This study provides a new opportunity to identify how androgens control sperm production, which could provide new insight for the development of new treatments for male infertility and perhaps new male contraceptives," said Michelle Welsh, Ph.D., co-author of the study. • An increasing number of British women are hiring doulas to help them give birth, but anesthetist Dr. Abhijoy Chaklader questioned their role in the British Medical Journal. He wrote the trend toward hiring doulas, who have no medical training, may "be a sad reflection of failures in the delivery of medical and midwifery care, a sticking plaster concealing greater problems... a cynic might ask whether the doula business is actually necessary or whether it is exploiting - for profit - unspoken fears about NHS perinatal care and the seemingly limitless market for birth related products and service." • Switzerland elected women to the nation's top three political positions today: president, speaker of parliament's lower house, and speaker of the upper house. Swiss women couldn't even vote in national elections until 1971. • A Dutch man was arrested for allegedly collecting information on more than 30 girls from social networking sites, then blackmailing their parents. He posed as a photographer and told the parents their daughters had performed sexual acts on camera, or suggested they had been raped by others, then said he'd upload the non-existent pornography online if they didn't pay him. • Family members say a New York hairdresser who disappeared last week after dropping her 6-year-old daughter off at school complained about a creepy man she kept encountering near the school. "She mentioned to us about this guy in the street she would see every day," said Jamaica Smith's niece. "He was real aggressive toward her, always saying, 'Hey, baby, you look so pretty.' ... We know for a fact she was abducted because she would never leave her daughter." There are rumors that some people saw her struggling with a man near her home, but police deny the story and say they don't think foul play was involved. • After General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson announced yesterday that he was stepping down, someone claiming to be his daughter Sarah Henderson posted on GM's Facebook page, "HE FUCKING GOT ASKED TO STEP DOWN ALL OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. I'M FRITZ'S FUCKING DAUGHTER, AND HE DID NOT FUCKING RESIGN. WHITACRE IS A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIFT [sic], WHO CARES ABOUT HIMSELF AND NOT THE FUCKING COMPANY. HAVE FUN WITH GM, I HOPE TO NEVER BUY FROM THIS GOD FORESAKEN [sic] COMPANY EVERY [sic] AGAIN. FUCK ALL OF YOU." It was later removed. • Adeline Bayne-Goody, a 56-year-old New York City subway driver, may lose her job over an incident in October in which she subdued a crazed man who threatened other passengers, spewed racial epithets, punched her and spit in her face. She held him down until the police arrived, but officials told her she committed "gross misconduct" and should be fired because she left her post. • Carmen Huertas, the woman accused of driving drunk in Manhattan, injuring six children who were in the car and killing one, has been trying to commit suicide in jail. "She's tried to place objects around her neck," said her lawyer. "She's confused and devastated, and understands the consequences of her actions." • Thirteen female ski jumpers have filed a request with Canada's Supreme Court to allow the sport in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The International Olympic Committee voted in 2006 not to include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympics because they say the sport is not developed enough. • The Japanese man who recently married his virtual girlfriend from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus has responded to media reports with a letter and some photos from his honeymoon. He writes: "Now that the ceremony is over, I feel like I've been able to achieve a major milestone in my life. Some people have expressed doubts about my actions, but at the end of the day, this is really just about us as husband and wife. As long as the two of us can go on to create a happy household, I'm sure any misgivings about us will be resolved." •

It's a debate as old as...well, the 1960s. And in recent decades, the father's place in the delivery room has become sacrosanct - indeed, Iran just lifted a ban on men in the delivery room in the hopes that women would become more comfortable and natural birth would become more common. But now there are new voices challenging the status quo, including the rather inflammatory French obstetrician Michel Odent, who feels men actually harm the process. The good doctor will be debating the issue at the Royal College of Midwives.

Pros: Teamwork, solidarity, comfort, and the little fact that some fathers might want to see their children born, too. "With husbands coaching, we have more than 90% totally unmedicated births. No other approach comes near to that figure," says Robert Bradley, who was an early advocate of present fathers.

Cons: As Dr. Odent would have it, "the masculinisation of the birth environment". His argument?

Having been involved for more than 50 years in childbirths in homes and hospitals in France, England and Africa, the best environment I know for an easy birth is when there is nobody around the woman in labour apart from a silent, low-profile and experienced midwife...Oxytocin is the love drug which helps the woman give birth and bond with her baby. But it is also a shy hormone and it does not come out when she is surrounded by people and technology. This is what we need to start understanding.

However, is barring men from the delivery room, 1950s-style, really the solution? Surely it's an individual choice, right? And while nothing should be automatic - it's a conversation that bears having - is a convent-like level of silence the alternative? If we're going to bar anything, maybe it's video cameras that should be on the table - they're notoriously unsupportive. And the strongest argument? Moms don't seem that grateful for Dr. Odent's concern.

A Top Obstetrician On Why Men Should NEVER Be At The Birth Of Their Child [Daily Mail]

Should Dads Be In The Delivery Room? [BBC]
No Dads In the Delivery Room? [BlogHer]

Top OB: Keep Men Out Of Delivery Room [StrollerDerby]

• Welfare workers report that girls in gangs are often raped by the male members of the gang as part of initiation, but many of them accept this as routine. "The girls think they are going to be protected by the gang if they have sex with one person but then they find there are more boys there," said Teresa Pointing, chief executive of In-volve, a charity that works with teen girls. • According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Sasha and Malia Obama have not been vaccinated for swine flu. The vaccine is currently unavailable to the twogirls because they are not at high risk. • Doctor Patrick O'Brian recalls being shocked at the state of pregnant women in Uganda, a country that apparently has some of the worst maternal care in the world. In efforts to address this issue, he started a program with the University College Hospital in London that works to distribute medicine to women in need and offer pre and post-natal care to mothers. • Researchers have found that breast reduction surgery may have unexpected benefits. Through testing the removed tissue, doctors may be able to better identify patients at risk for breast cancer. Another upside to breast reduction? Decreased back pain and increased range of movement. • According to a new study, well-educated older women who live alone report a lower emotional well-being than breast cancer patients who live with a partner. •  A little girl from Brooklyn has made the news for a heartbreaking letter she wrote to Sasha and Malia Obama. Bianca's mother was shot several years ago by an abusive boyfriend, and the 6-year-old and her father are still struggling. In her letter, she begged for help for her family, and readers of the Daily News have been quick to respond. • Researchers have found that sperm itself - and not just the fluid it travels in - may transmit HIV to healthy cells. Doctors previously suspected that sperm could transmit the virus, but they were unable to prove this until recently. • A revealing new poll from the UK shows that 90% of expecting mothers are denied the choice as to where they will give birth. The vast majority of women in Britain are not offered the option to give birth at home or at a birthing center attended by a midwife. • The Daily Beast on sexism in nonprofits: "Charity is not allowed to use the same tools as business because society subconsciously regards it as female, and discriminates against it the same way it has historically discriminated against women." Read the rest of their interesting take on charity here. • Good news: The Saudi king has decided not to flog a female journalist charged with participation in a television show in which a man spoke publicly about his sex life. • Among women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, breast cancer is diagnosed six years earlier than in previous generations. Doctors don't know if women are screened better today, or if hormonal and environmental factors are giving women cancer earlier. • Jury selection will begin today in the trial of the first 12 male members of the polygamist sect whose Yearning For Zion ranch was raided last year. Flora Jessop, who escaped the compound 15 years ago, said she's happy to see the men go on trial but, "What I'm upset the most about, I think, is the fact that none of the women have been indicted, as well. ... I think that the women were nothing but pimps on that compound and giving their daughters over to these perverts knowing what was going to happen to them." • A study by the National Center for Voice and Speech found that female teachers used their voices about 10 percent more than males when teaching and 7 percent more when not teaching. Female teachers speak louder than male teachers at work. All teachers spend more time talking than most professionals and are at a greater risk for hurting their voices. • Debbie Davis, 29, of Sunderland, England has been named Britain's top Avon saleswoman. She started selling the cosmetics when she was laid off five years ago and now she's making $408,000 a year. • 14-year-old Dutch girl Laura Dekker says she will wait until the school year is over to begin her attempt to become the youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She had planned to head out in August but was stopped by authorities who said she was too young. The court is expected to rule on her case by Friday. • Elizabeth Edwards told a local news station that John Edwards said of their relationship, "Perhaps [it's] not the great love story that we hoped, but maybe a great love story nonetheless." Well, most great love stories don't involve the man possibly fathering a child with another woman. • After more than 120 years, the Beloit's girls reformatory school in Kansas closed for good in August. Before 1983 the institution often housed girls who hadn't committed criminal offenses, but were considered "incorrigible," "immoral," or had suffered abuse at home. Under some administrations, girls were punished with huge doses of vomit- and diarrhea-inducing castor oil, humiliated with forced hair clipping, or even sterilized. • After a "concerned citizen" in Yulee, Florida tipped the police that the Girls Gone Wild bus was in town, police organized an undercover investigation and arrested seven women who complied with the organizers' request that they "show their breasts so they could be photographed/filmed or so they could have their breasts spray painted. The women were charged with indecent exposure along with the bar's owner and two Girls Gone Wild employees, who were each charged with illegally operating a sexually oriented business. •

Unlike the earth-mother types who cook their own afterbirth, hoping to combat postpartum depression and increase milk flow, Stein's wife hires a pro. "To my surprise, Sara did not look unkempt, frumpy, heavy or in any way like a Wiccan," writes Stein with typical charm. For $275, the full-time placenta cook will prepare and dry it and turn it into pills - much more palatable, as she explains to the aghast new dad, than the "placenta smoothies" some new moms slurp.

Here's how Stein describes the placenta, which he carries home in a cooler:

Though I am exceedingly squeamish, when my son was born, I was shocked that I saw only the beauty of childbirth. Until the placenta came out. There are many normal human reactions to seeing a placenta, ranging from screaming to vomiting to warding it off with a cross. For those of you who have never seen one, the placenta is to the baby what Stephen Baldwin is to Alec Baldwin. It's what your liver would look like if it got into an accident on the autobahn with one of those aliens from Mars Attacks! and their bloody carcasses threw jellyfish at each other.

Sara, required by law to cook the placenta in the home, steams it with herbs, dehydrates it, and delivers the pills "in a pretty glass jar, [with] a card, a CD of lullabies and a satin pouch. In which was part of my son's umbilical cord, fashioned into a heart." Now, as I told Anna, Joel Stein and placenta-cookery are a combination fairly guaranteed to make my stomach roil. And I was not "disappointed," if that's the word for having one's worst fears confirmed. Nudge-nudge old-school wife-indulging with a dollop of VH1-level snark is hard to take in the best of circumstances. And when it's combined with placentophagy - "the kitchen got that ironlike smell of cooked organ meat, with vague undertones of a consciousness-raising group and a Betty Friedan rally" - the results call for, in my case, a piece of dry toast and some Canada Dry.

Afterbirth For Dinner [Time]

Earlier: Is Sharing Placenta The Recipe For Sisterly Bonding?

Save Some Womb For Dessert

The never-was, of course, is the worst of all failures: someone who has an innate talent or gift for something and never puts that gift to use. A pile of lost potential. A big waste.

In today's Guardian, Polly Vernon describes the reaction she's received after publicly announcing that she does not intend to have children. Many people, apparently, would like to make Ms. Vernon feel like a never-was, as she has the parts and the potential, but "selfishly" chooses not to use them. To some, she is not Polly Vernon, woman making a choice, she is Polly Vernon, selfish, heartless, baby-hating bitch.

"I stated my case. I listed my reasons, even though it annoys me that the child-free have to justify their status. No one ever asks a parent why they have kids. But I explained that I like my life as it is, my lifestyle, my career. I explained that I had felt this way for 30 years - and that even though all the things that were supposed to change my mind (love, a long-term relationship, pressure from breeding contemporaries) had happened to me, I remain resolutely childless," Vernon writes. The reaction to her piece, she says, was "terrifying. Emails and letters arrived, condemning me, expressing disgust. I was denounced as bitter, selfish, un-sisterly, unnatural, evil. I'm now routinely referred to as "baby-hating journalist Polly Vernon."

Like Polly Vernon, I also do not intend to have children. And as soon as I wrote that last sentence, I felt the need to qualify it with the following truths and explanations: I adore children, I work with children frequently, I plan to continue working with children and children's organizations, who knows how I will feel re: having children in 15 years, there are mental illness issues in my genes that I'd rather not pass on to children, etc. I don't discuss this around women attempting to conceive, I don't talk about with anyone, really, except my fiance, who is on the same page, and the one time I did let it slip around my mother she warned me never to speak of such things, as I may regret it later. This is standard for any woman, I suspect, who makes any statement or decision regarding childbirth (or lack thereof) ever.

Women having many children are criticized for being selfish, stupid, neglectful, a burden on the system, etc. Women who have the "ideal" number of children are criticized for deciding to go to work, deciding to stay home, deciding to have children before a certain age, deciding to have children after a certain age, etc. This is nothing new and nothing surprising, and though I understand Vernon's frustration, I also think that even if Polly or I chose to have children, we'd still be faced with a truckload of judgmental bullshit from people who have no business interfering in our choices.

"Childlessness is going to be a feature in many of our lives; we need to start seeing it as a choice, a valid option, rather than a failing. We certainly need it not to be taboo," Vernon writes. Being childfree does not, contrary to popular belief, have to equal a never-was. Does it "take guts," as Vernon argues, to say that you wish to remain childfree? Sure. But perhaps, in some weird way, the shock and outrage aimed at Vernon's announcement is actually validation that this choice doesn't remove us from women who choose to have children as much as place us in a strange state of solidarity with anyone who has been challenged, questioned, or judged based on what they choose to do with their reproductive system.

It Takes Guts To Say: 'I Don't Want Children' [Guardian]

For some, the home birth movement is a new idea, brought to them by the 2008 Ricki Lake-produced documentary The Business of Being Born and the resulting buzz. Kristy Bloom, a first time-mother – or "primip" – decided that she wanted Muhlhahn to deliver her baby after seeing her in BOBB:

You couldn't ask for a better home-birth sales pitch than BOBB. The film presents a horrifically plausible portrayal of a hospital childbirth system gone insane, of labor turned into a medical pathology: the continuous fetal heart-rate monitoring that makes it difficult for a mother to get off her back and into a position that actually encourages birth; the fear of lawsuits that compels doctors to perform C-sections on babies experiencing even normal distress during labor; the "failure to progress"-medicalese for laboring in a rentable hospital bed too long-that causes doctors to initiate a chain of "unnecessary interventions" like the artificial-induction hormone pitocin paired with epidural anesthesia, which seem to manufacture their own fetal distress, which in turn produces more C sections. Even obstetricians admit that the shocking rise in C-sections-in 2006, 31 percent of all babies were born this way, up 50 percent from a decade before-has done nothing to improve infant- or maternal-mortality statistics.

In contrast, home birth proponents like Muhlhahn lure their patients with the promise of constant care and devotion. Muhlhahn seems to have the kind of bedside manner that makes her patients immediately trust her. She also disparages the hospital-appointed midwifes, claiming that they will not provide the beautiful and natural experience Mulhahn can. Her "home-birth pitch" also includes: no drugs to cloud the experience, no separation for mother and child, no cutting, and the "promise of an unparalleled sense of accomplishment and an indescribable hormonal rush." Muhlhahn believes that home births can create an experience "more poetic than clinical." Perhaps most importantly, home birthers believe that the unbroken contact between mother and child is essential to the bonding process. Natural birth pioneer Michel Odent claims that C sections interrupt the flow of the hormonal cocktail that irreversibly binds a mother to her child. "It's simple," he says, "If monkeys give birth by Cesarean section, the mother is not interested in her baby… So you wonder, what about… the future of humanity?"

However, sometimes home births can go terribly wrong, and when they do, Muhlhahn brings her patients to St. Vincent's, her "backup hospital." Doctors from St. Vincent's refer to it as her "dump." "She'd bring her patients in, holding their hands, find out we were going to have to do a section, and then she's out the door," said a former obstetrics resident. This is exactly what happened with Sandra Garcia. Garcia had opted to have a home birth, aided by her husband, a former NYU postpartum nurse, and Muhlhahn, who was shuttling between two births and only available sporadically. Garcia suffered through a hellish 72 hours of labor before she began to question Muhlhahn. Muhlhahn continued to tell her that there was no such thing as "too long" when it came to labor. Fortunately, Garcia did not believe her. She awoke the next day in St. Vincent's after 84 hours of labor with a 103-degree fever. Her baby had to come out by C section, and spent the next five days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Author Andrew Goldman ultimately paints Muhlhahn as an ego-driven extremist, who seems to enjoy bragging about all the difficult (and some would say dangerous) births she has aided. Many doctors find Muhlhahn's tactics too extreme, and even some proponents of home birth like Jacques Mortiz think that Muhlhahn in flirting with disaster. "I like her, but there's some protocols that she has that I just can't sign off on," he says. Fortunately for Muhlhahn though, business is booming. With her recently published memoir, and her appearance in BOBB, it looks like Muhlhahn is going to stay the face of the home birth movement for quite some time. Her unwavering trust in the abilities of the female body, and her pitch that promises a poetic version of childbirth, has so far proven stronger than the force of all her critics.

Extreme Birth [New York Magazine]

The stats on the 2007 birth rate tell of both good and bad news. Somewhat good: the U.S. population is more than replacing itself. Bad: teen pregnancies are also on the rise, for the second year in a row.

Fertility researcher S. Philip Morgan claims that cultural acceptance of unwed mothers is partially to blame, as is the high profile case of Bristol Palin. "She's the poster child for what you do when you get pregnant now," Morgan said. He believes that Bristol (and the media acceptance of girls like her) may be to blame for both the rise in teen pregnancies and the fall in abortion rates.

Optimists believe that abortions are down because of better contraception, while pessimists believe that more teens are having babies because they don't know how to use birth control. This viewpoint is backed up by studies that show an overall decrease in availability of abortions - it is becoming increasingly true that if a young girl gets pregnant, she stays pregnant ("Just like Bristol," as Morgan might say).

Dr. Carol Hogue has a somewhat similar take on the phenomenon. She suggests that the abnormally high birth rate in 2007 was spurred a relatively good economy coupled with "cultural trends that promoted childbirth." So you mean our cultural obsession with celebrity babies (and all those infuriating baby watch articles and "baby bump" features) are finally taking their toll? Who'da thunk it!

However, they would like to remind us that this is only "the tiniest of baby booms":

CDC officials noted that despite the record number of births, this is nothing like what occurred in the 1950s, when a much smaller population of women were having nearly four children each, on average. That baby boom quickly transformed society, affecting everything from school construction to consumer culture.

Today, U.S. women are averaging 2.1 children each. That's the highest level it's been since the early 1970s, but is a relatively small increase from the rate it had hovered at for more than 10 years and is hardly transforming.

This is why experts are calling the 2007 surge of newborns a "baby boomlet," rather than a full-on boom. Whatever sickeningly cutesy name we call it, the fact remains that more babies are having babies, less women are able to choose abortion as an option, and doctors are blaming a single famous teen mom for a rash of young births that happened two years ago. And that's bad news all around.

Number Of U.S. Births Breaks Record [CBS News]

According to the patent, when inflated in the vagina, the balloon tapers conically toward the waist, which "causes the orifice of the birth canal to dilate in a manner similar to that caused by the emerging head of a baby." Pregnant women can then "exercise by pushing the balloon out of the vagina in preparation for giving birth." Supposedly repeatedly birthing the balloon will make the real thing easier and less painful, but is better to just do it once and get it over with? [Inventor Spot]

• In attempts to curb prostitution, Las Vegas police have published a list of the 50 "most prolific prostitutes." Opponents of the list worry that it will lead to arrests without probable cause. • Faculty and students at UC San Diego are protesting what they believe is an unsafe environment in the school's literature building. High rates of breast cancer among those working in the building has lead many to believe that the electrical equipment, and possibly the elevator, is to blame. • The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a billboard advertising "longer lasting sex" is crass and unsubtle, and must be taken down. • Malaysian assemblywoman Elizabeth Wong has been asked to resign from her position after nude pictures of her sleeping were circulated on the internet. Because Wong did not break any law, and was obviously the victim in this crime, many have (rightly) questioned her punishment. • An infant boy from a village in eastern India has been married off to his neighbor's dog. His parents believe that this will ward off wild animals, and protect their young son. • The Pennsylvanian "Gothic Kitten" woman is going to stand trial on animal cruelty charges. The judge called the issue a gray area that needs to be decided by a jury. • This is amazing: A Utah woman named Yvonne Morris chased a man who she believed broke into her car and brought him to justice with a headlock and a wedgie. Let's hope it wasn't an atomic one. • Margaret Atwood has pulled out of inaugural Emirates Airline international festival of literature in response to the censorship of "blacklisted" novelist Geraldine Bedell. • Six new studies from Cornell indicate that eating vegetables and fruits - especially apples - can reduce the risk of breast cancer. • New research shows that very few women of childbearing age are following lifestyle recommendations, or preparing in any way, for the possibility of becoming pregnant. Apparently, regardless of whether or not you want a baby, if you are of childbearing age you should be taking folic acid and drinking less. Ugh. • A new device that promises to unmask the identity of even blocked callers is causing a good amount of disquiet among advocates for domestic violence victims. They fear that the service would make it easier for abusive partners to locate their victims, and make it more difficult for women to successfully leave their abusers. • Awww: zoo keeper Alex Larenty is so close to Jamu, an eight-year-old male lion, that the two are able to safely cuddle and play. • "Cranial billboards" are the hot new thing in advertising, and they are just what they sound like: human heads, decorated with temporary tattoos, used as billboards. • A 34-year-old man allegedly kidnapped a woman, dressed her in an adult diaper, and held her captive for three days while he read Bible passages aloud to her. • Researchers, addressing the sexism in evolutionary studies, have begun to focus on the process of childbirth and mothering as a subject of inquiry. • And now for the most adorable thing you'll read all day: an abandoned fox cub has been domesticated by a pet store owner. Miss Snooks now refuses to return to the wild, and is perfectly happy sleeping with the family cats. • 

While the parents of the octuplets delivered today probably wouldn't describe the birth of their children as "tragic" as The Daily Mail does, multiple births do pose health risks for mothers and babies. Multiples are often born prematurely and are more likely to have cerebral palsy or not survive the first week of life. Women who carry multiples have a greater risk for pre-elcampsia, miscarriage, and hemorrhaging. This month, the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority enacted a new "single embryo transfer" policy, under which IVF doctors are limited to implanting one embryo at a time unless circumstances are extenuating. Under this new Code of Practice, all UK fertility treatment centers must have in place a documented strategy for reducing their annual multiple birth rates. Though the parents of the U.S. octuplets refused to say whether they received fertility treatments or not, experts believe they probably used fertility drugs taken before artificial insemination. According to Peter Bowen, a fellow of the Royal College of Obstretricians and Gynacologists, it is unlikely the mother used IVF because "no doctor in his right mind" would put eight embryos in a woman's womb. [The Daily Mail, HFEA]

This information was released today, as part of the U.N.’s annual children’s survey, which focused this year on the health of mothers. The results have grave implications for teens all over the world, but show an especially grim picture for women living in Africa. As a continent, Africa has the highest rate of maternal deaths, with women having a one in 26 lifetime chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. The risk is more than 300 times higher than in industrialized countries. Tragically, 80 percent of maternal deaths can be prevented with access to basic healthcare services.

Newborns also face serious risks. A child born in one of the least developed countries is 14 times more likely to die within the first month of life than one born in an industrialized country. The UNICEF report states that “the root cause may lie in women’s disadvantaged position in many countries and cultures and in the lack of attention to, and accountability for, women’s rights.”

UNICEF: Teen Births 5 Times Deadlier Than In 20s [AP]
Women In Developing Countries 300 Times More Likely To Die In Childbirth [Guardian]

Wollstonecraft's death, following the birth of her daughter, the future Mary Shelley, was typical of the times in which she lived: "A part of her placenta needed to be pulled out by a doctor's hand. She developed puerperal sepsis, an infection of the genital tract, which very painfully, and over the period of about a week, killed her." These were the days of rampant puerperal, or childbed, fever, spread by doctors and midwives and a mystery to everyone.

"In the first half of the nineteenth century about five European women in a thousand died from childbirth. Death rates in maternity hospitals were often ten times that; the hospitals stayed open because doctors had an incurable faith in good intentions, and patients a poor grasp of mortality statistics. The physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes led the American campaign to stop the spread of the disease by getting doctors to wash their hands. Obstetricians felt slighted. 'Doctors are gentlemen,' said Charles Meigs of the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, arguing that no such care was needed, 'and gentlemen's hands are clean.'

It's now generally accepted that, while still somewhat mysterious, childbed fever was caused by the streptococcus pyogenes organism, the same bacteria that cause strep throat and a host of other virulent ailments. Although it still exists, it can be treated with antibiotics and there has not been an outbreak in over forty years. And yet, the author asserts, childbirth hygiene standards are slipping. While we appreciate the end of sterility, anyone who reads the account of Mary Wollstonecraft's death can only thank God for gloves, soap and faucets.

When Childbirth Was Natural, and Deadly [Livescience]

There was even an entire New York Times article from a few years back where dudes talked about how freaked out they were watching their wives give birth. And so I ask you, kind Jezemoms and Dads: what happens to your sex life after you pop out a wee one? Please don't spare any gruesome details. We're big girls, we can take it.

From the Delivery Room to the Bedroom [Psychology Today]

Related: A Perilous Journey From Delivery Room to Bedroom [NYT]

The Ring Of Fire [Elle]

Earlier: What Should Jezebels Really Expect When They're Expecting
So, About That Harrowing Ring Of Fire Story

"In its mild form, men often take to their bed in the week following the birth, complaining of everything from a stomach ache or migraine," claims Dr. Odent. "And in the most graphic example, one perfectly healthy man had his first experience of schizophrenia two days after watching his wife give birth. Was this his way of escaping reality?" Normally, such a statement would have us laughing so hard we'd be curled up into the fetal position but another article — this from the much-respected Guardian — is reporting that male postnatal depression is not only a reality, but a harbinger of future child behavioral problems. Certainly, the story — which comes out of a study at the University of Bristol — makes absolutely no correlation between paternal depression and childbirth, but we have a feeling that Dr. Odent will be taking this latest news and running with it all the way to the NHS maternity wards.

A Top Obstetrician On Why Men Should NEVER Be At The Birth Of Their Child [Daily Mail]
Male Postnatal Depression Affects Child Behaviour, Study Shows [Guardian]

Related: A Perilous Journey From Delivery Room To Bedroom [NY Times]