“Charlotte tells of pregnancy pains - Entertainment.uk.msn.com” plus 4 more

Charlotte tells of pregnancy pains - Entertainment.uk.msn.com
Am I having a boy or a girl? A look at pregnancy 'old wives tales ... - San Francisco Examiner
Internet meeting turns sour; assault alleged - Williamsport Sun-Gazette
Pregnancy Myths Exposed - CBS News
Exposure to Tobacco Smoke Before Birth Affects DNA - Yahoo News

Charlotte tells of pregnancy pains - Entertainment.uk.msn.com

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 09:52 PM PDT

Singer Charlotte Church has said that she loved being pregnant but childbearing has taken its toll on her body.

The singer-songwriter, broadcaster and mother of Ruby, aged 23 months, and seven-month-old Dexter, told Hello! magazine her hips were painful when she was pregnant.

"I suffer badly with aching hips when I'm pregnant and last time, with Dexter, it was so painful," she said.

"We definitely want more kids, though, but we think we'll wait a few years now till Ruby goes to school," her rugby star partner Gavin Henson said.

The couple were speaking in an exclusive interview with Hello! to coincide with Dexter's christening.

The pair threw a party to celebrate the event at the family's farmhouse in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales with more than 100 guests.

"Hopefully we'll get married at some point, but it's not a priority or something we're planning at the moment," Henson said.

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Am I having a boy or a girl? A look at pregnancy 'old wives tales ... - San Francisco Examiner

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 12:34 PM PDT

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Ah, the wait to find out if that baby you're cooking in there has boy parts or girls parts. Gender prediction angst can seem long and mentally exhausting, especially if you're someone like me who is always thinking about it when ever you get a chance to sit down.

Some people are able to make the whole journey without finding out. Those people have more strength and patience than I'll ever have. I feel like I need to know, not just want to know. I need to be able to figure out the perfect name and start preparing for the baby. I need to make stuff for them, just for them - boy or girl.

For those of you like me, here's a look at some of the most popular 'old wives tales' that may help entertain you until the big 20 week (or so) ultrasound arrives.

The big one people tend to believe even if they throw out all the other old wives tales is that boys have heart rates under 140 beats per minute, while girls are much faster. I hate to break it to you guys, but heart rate really doesn't say much at all. With my girls I had slow heart rates and fast heart rates, all depending on what the baby was up to at the time of the measurement. KidsHealth.org adds: "A baby girl's heart rate is usually faster than a boy's, but only after the onset of labor. There's no difference between fetal heart rates for boys and girls, but the rate does vary with the age of the fetus. By approximately the fifth week of pregnancy, the fetal heart rate is near the mother's — around 80 to 85 BPM. It continues to accelerate until early in the ninth week, when it reaches 170 to 200 BPM and then decelerates to an average of 120 to 160 BPM by the middle of the pregnancy. Normal fetal heart rate during labor ranges from 120 to 160 BPM for boys and girls."
Another biggy is cravings. Desires of sweet stuff is supposed to mean girl, while salty or sour means boy.
Here's a fun one that requires looking at the papa-to-be. If he's gaining weight that's supposed to mean you're having a girl.
Is your face fuller or nose wider? That's also supposed to be a big girl indicator.
What about the hair growth on your legs (and maybe face)? If you're getting fuzzier, that's supposed to mean you're baking up a little boy.
Carrying the baby low supposedly means boy and high means girl. But really high tends to just mean a first pregnancy with strong stomach muscles.
Here's one I've never heard of before from the UK site childbirthsolutions.com: "If young boys (pre-school age) show interest in you while you're pregnant, it will be a girl. If they ignore you, expect a boy."
What do you think you're having? Apparently moms are pretty good guessers. According to pregnancy-info.net one study found moms who had no idea of the gender just guess correctly 71% of the time!
More boy indicators at this iVillage.com article.
More girl indicators at this iVillage.com article.

Here are some fun online quizzes you can take to predict if you're having a boy or a girl using old wives tales:

childbirth.org (This one said I have a 65% chance of having a boy.)
amazingpregnancy.com (This one said I have a 73% chance of a boy.)
pregnancy-info.net (This one also says boy for me, but didn't give a percentage of chance.)

UPDATE: My 16 week ultrasound said that I'm having a baby boy... so it looks like these quizzes were correct.! I seem to remember when I took these type of tests while pregnant with both of my girls they gave me 50% numbers.

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Internet meeting turns sour; assault alleged - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 09:09 PM PDT

A relationship between a Muncy Creek Township man and a Canadian woman that began on the Internet turned sour Thursday night after he punched the woman in the right eye as he was leaving her guest room at the Holiday Inn, 100 Pine St., city police allege.

James Monroe Shultz, 33, of 2752 Route 442 allegedly punched Lisa Taylor about 8:15 p.m., police said.

The Ontario woman and Shultz met in March on the Internet, and the two had sexual relations in the coming weeks, police said.

Taylor discovered she was pregnant, but when she informed Shultz, he wanted her to terminate the pregnancy, Patrolman Fred L. Miller said in an affidavit.

Taylor came to Williamsport on Thursday to talk with Shultz about the pregnancy.

As they were talking about the issue in her guest room, Shultz became upset and decided to leave, Miller said. When Taylor tried to stop him, he allegedly assaulted her, Miller said.

Following his arraignment before District Judge James H. Sortman on charges of simple assault and harassment, Shultz was released on $5,000 bail.

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Pregnancy Myths Exposed - CBS News

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 04:55 AM PDT

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Exposure to Tobacco Smoke Before Birth Affects DNA - Yahoo News

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 09:16 PM PDT

MONDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Women who smoke while pregnant increase their unborn child's long-term risk for health problems, including childhood asthma, cardiovascular disease and lower pulmonary function, and a new study may help experts understand why.

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found that maternal smoking actually changes the unborn child's DNA patterns.

The new study found that fetal exposure to maternal smoking was linked to differences in DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism.

Epigenetics is the study of how chemicals that attach to DNA can switch genes on and off, which leads to differences in gene expression without changing basic genetic information, according to background information in a USC news release about the study.

While epigenetics plays a role in cancer research, little is known about how epigenetic changes may be caused by environmental exposures.

In the new study, the researchers used data from the USC Children's Health Study, which examined respiratory health among children in 13 Southern California communities, as well as information from a questionnaire on maternal smoking exposure. The findings are reported in the September issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

"This study provides some of the first evidence that in-utero environmental exposures such as tobacco smoke may be associated with epigenetic changes," said one of the lead authors, Carrie Breton, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "This could open up a new way for researchers to investigate biological mechanisms that might explain known health effects associated with maternal smoking," she stated in the news release.

"Moms should not be smoking during pregnancy," Linda Birnbaum, director of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said in the news release. "Maternal smoking during pregnancy is not only detrimental to the health of the mom and the newborn child, but research such as this suggests that it may impact the child into adulthood and possibly even future generations as well."

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more on smoking while pregnant.