Results tagged “pregnancy”

When firefighters arrived at an apartment on 138th Street on Aug. 18, they were expecting to find a broken water pipe — not a pregnant woman whose water had just broken. In a 911 dispatching gaffe, an operator classified a call about a woman going into labor as a water leak and sent out Ladder Co. 28 "armed with hooks, wrenches and flashlights but no medical gear," the Post reports.

For the "If it's too good to be true..." file: Six New York mothers have sued a company that offered 99.9% accurate gender testing. For $275 and a blood sample (via a kit), Baby Gender Mentor claims to give gender testing to women as early as 5 weeks pregnant; the Post points out that's 2-3 months before a gender may be detected by sonogram or "amniocentesis and typically the cutoff point for abortions -- although no one suggested in the court papers that was the reason they took the test." Well, here's one's plaintiff's story: Keven Duffy wanted to "surprise her husband with the news that they were going to have a son. The couple already had a daughter, and was hoping for a boy for 'family balancing.'" The company said she was having a boy, but "a sonogram revealed they were having a girl...The flip-flop 'caused stress' in her marriage...and she and her husband have since divorced." The plaintiffs' lawyer also points out that 10-20% of the company's clients claim wrong results. Related: How Asians in the U.S. may be embracing sex selection techniques (IVF or sperm sorting) or abortion to ensure having male children.

While Elizabeth Brew managed to hold out until her husband parked outside of Mount Sinai Hospital on Fifth Avenue, the twin babies she was pregnant with couldn't any longer. So she went into labor in the SUV. Luckily nurse manager Lucille Nassery, inside the hospial, has good ears—"There's a certain kind of sound that comes from women who are about to deliver. It's not just a typical scream. It's a whole-body scream"—and brought a team of doctors and nurses outside. The AP reports that Brew's "legs extended toward busy Fifth Avenue and Central Park - the hospital staff brought equipment into the middle of the street. Nassery and other staffers used their bodies to block off two lanes of traffic." The Post has video showing the scene, too. Interested drivers and passengers from other cars inquired about the mother's health and cheered when a 4 pound, 13 ounce baby girl was born in the middle of Fifth. A few minutes later, her twin brother, 5 pounds, 5 ounces, arrived. The babies are healthy; but since they are preemies, they will stay in neonatal intensive care while their mother is recovering in a hospital room. Three cheers for the babies, the mom and the hospital team!

While the 52-member medical team that delivered a California woman's octuplets earlier this week are being hailed for their skills, medical experts are concerned. Nadya Suleman, 33, already had six children when she decided to be implanted, via in vitro fertilization, with frozen embryos left from previous procedures. NYU Fertility Center program director Dr. James Grifo told CBS News, "I know no physician who would put eight embryos in a patient. We don't do that, because of the risks. Our goal as practitioners is to help patients have a healthy offspring. Single pregnancies, where a single baby is born, are the best outcome. And those alone are risky... But we don't start with in-vitro fertilization treatment... I don't know the story, but it does not make sense...Most of us in this situation, a woman under 35, would only put two embryos back... I don't know people putting six embryos back." Speaking to the LA Times, Suleman's mother said her daughter "is not evil, but she is obsessed with children. She loves children, she is very good with children, but obviously she overdid herself."

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin confirmed that her eldest daughter Bristol, 17, is five months pregnant. Guess that scurrilous pregnancy-conspiracy gossip that the youngest Palin (baby Trig) is actually Bristol's will have to end. Palin and her husband issued a statement, "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," and asked for the media to respect their privacy. Question: When is Fox News going to use a "Baby Mama" graphic, because wouldn't that be "fair and balanced"?

A Brooklyn woman's claim that she was unfairly fired from a Seventh-Day Adventist church's school for being pregnant--and unmarried--was quashed by a federal judge yesterday. Back in 2001, Jewel Redhead was fired from the Linden Seventh Adventist Church's school since she "violated one of the basic precepts" by having sex before marriage (and apparently not marrying the baby's father). While Redhead was trying to argue the school violated state and federal law for discrimination, the Post reports the judge said since Redhead was supposed to discuss religion as well in her teachings, "that made her more like a clergy member than a regular school teacher"--and therefore the church is free to fire her. Redhead, who is still single and teachers in Brooklyn, plans to appeal.

City Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Queens) broke news of her pregnancy to the Post today. And she landed on the cover because she conceived via in vitro fertilization, she's single, and she is running for City Comptroller next year!

Not too long ago it was reported that Jennifer Lopez was ready to burst as her belly swelled with twins on the way. She had visited a Long Island hospital with husband Marc Anthony and her couture hospital gowns, but it must have been a false alarm, because soon after she was attending Fashion Week events. Initially it was reported she would have a Cesarean birth that was scheduled for Valentine's Day; no word yet on whether she ended up going the natural way, as yesterday the twins finally arrived.

The only time Paula Radcliffe seems to carry any body fat is when she's toting around her 9-month-old daughter around. Mothers, new and old alike, are still in awe over the British marathoner's ability to win the famed NYC marathon months after giving birth. The AP reports that she ran the 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 23 minutes (we've sat through football games this weekend that lasted longer) just 291 days after delivering little...