plus 4, Study: Few Pregnancy Complications With MS - OfficialWire

Study: Few Pregnancy Complications With MS - OfficialWire
Sarah Palin says her daughter Bristol's pregnancy 'devastated' her ... - Examiner
Pre-eclampsia linked to thyroid problems - PhysOrg
Nicole Kidman: Pregnancy Made Boobs 'Normal Size' - Celebrity Justice
Palin Goes After McCain Camp, But Not Levi, In "Going Rogue" - WUSA

Study: Few Pregnancy Complications With MS - OfficialWire

Posted: 20 Nov 2009 06:44 AM PST

Pregnant women with multiple sclerosis are slightly more likely to have Caesarean deliveries and babies with poor prenatal growth rate, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found a woman with MS was no more likely to have pre-eclampsia and other high blood pressure problems or premature rupture of membranes, than women in the general population.

Women with MS had only a slightly higher chance of having a Caesarean deliveries or babies with poor prenatal growth.

The study involved 38 states, included an estimated 18.8 million deliveries, with about 10,000 of those occurring in women with MS, the researchers say.

"These results are reassuring for women with MS," study author Dr. Eliza Chakravarty said in a statement. "Women and their doctors have been uncertain about the effect of MS on pregnancy, and some women have chosen to delay or even avoid pregnancy due to the uncertainty. We found that women with MS did not have an increased risk of most pregnancy complications."

The findings are published in Neurology.

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Sarah Palin says her daughter Bristol's pregnancy 'devastated' her ... - Examiner

Posted: 15 Nov 2009 08:16 AM PST

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Sarah Palin says her daughter Bristol's pregnancy "devastated" her.

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Sarah Palin opens up to Barbara Walters.

In a new interview with Barbara Walters, Sarah Palin goes in depth about her feelings on the pregnancy of her teenage daughter, Bristol.

"I was shocked," Said Sarah Palin, 45. Of the moment when seventeen year old Bristol broke the news of her pregnancy. "Truthfully," Palin adds, "we were devastated." Sarah Palin says she had absolutely no idea that Bristol was sexually active.

Bristol gave birth to her son Tripp in December, her and the baby's father Levi Johnston split shortly after. Johnston who just posed for 'Play Girl' this week says he plans to file for joint custody of Tripp because the Palin family will not allow him to see the baby.

In an interview with Oprah last week Sarah Palin referred to Levi Johnston as "part of the family" saying he's got the most beautiful child. Oprah then ask if Johnston would be getting an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. Palin replied, "It's lovely to even think that he would consider that." Later Johnston told press that Palin is "full of it."

You can see Sarah Palin's interview with Barbara Walters on ABC all this week.

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Pre-eclampsia linked to thyroid problems - PhysOrg

Posted: 18 Nov 2009 07:37 AM PST

Pre-eclampsia linked to thyroid problems

November 18, 2009

Women who develop pre-eclampsia during pregnancy are more likely than other women to have reduced thyroid function (hypothyroidism), finds a study published in BMJ today. It may also put women at a greater risk of thyroid problems later in life.

Pre-eclampsia is a serious condition where abnormally high blood pressure and other disturbances develop in the second half of pregnancy. Hypothyroidism is caused by insufficient production of hormones by the thyroid gland.

Although the exact cause of pre-eclampsia is still unclear, studies suggest that certain proteins may be responsible. Levels of these proteins rise during the last two months of normal pregnancy and increase to very high concentrations in women with pre-eclampsia. Studies also suggest that women with a history of pre-eclampsia have an increased risk of future cardiovascular and kidney (renal) disease.

So a research team based in the United States and Norway compared thyroid function in women who developed pre-eclampsia during pregnancy with those whose blood pressure remained normal. They also tested whether pre-eclampsia in a previous pregnancy was associated with risk of reduced thyroid function in later life.

Their findings are based on thyroid function tests from 140 healthy pregnant women taking part in a US trial who developed pre-eclampsia, 140 matched controls in the same trial who did not develop pre-eclampsia, and 7,121 women in a Norwegian study who were monitored for around 20 years after their first pregnancy.

In the US study, levels of thyroid stimulating hormone measured just before delivery were twofold higher in women who developed pre-eclampsia during pregnancy compared with those who did not.

This was strongly associated with excess levels of a particular protein (tyrosine kinase), which plays a key role in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.

In the Norwegian study, women who developed pre-eclampsia in their first pregnancy were more likely than other women to have high concentrations of thyroid stimulating hormone many years after the pregnancy. The association was particularly strong if pre-eclampsia had occurred in two pregnancies.

The authors conclude that women who develop pre-eclampsia are at a greater risk of hypothyroid function during their pregnancy and women with a history of pre-eclampsia are at greater risk of hypothyroid function many years later.

These findings could have important implications for the subsequent care of women with pre-eclampsia, they add. Not only should they be followed closely for the development of cardiovascular and renal disease, but consideration should also be given to monitoring for the development of reduced thyroid function and clinically important hypothyroidism.

Treatment might also prevent early cardiovascular disease in women with a history of pre-eclampsia, they say.

Source: British Medical Journal (news : web)

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Nicole Kidman: Pregnancy Made Boobs 'Normal Size' - Celebrity Justice

Posted: 16 Nov 2009 01:01 PM PST

Nicole Kidman couldn't get enough of her new curves while pregnant with 1-year-old daughter Sunday.

"They're not very big, my boobs, so they just became normal size. I loved it!" the actress, 42, tells the December/January issue of Ladies' Home Journal.

"I felt very 'woman.' When you've had a slightly androgynous body your whole life, having breasts is a nice feeling," she goes on.

See cute photos of star kids bundled up

Kidman -- who welcomed Sunday at 41 -- admits she'd like to have more kids. For now, she hosts a weekly 10 AM baby group for parents and babies at the farm she shares with husband Keith Urban just outside Nashville.

"This is my way of having 10 kids," she confesses.

Living on a Tennessee farm and picking and choosing movie roles (her next flick, Nine, hits theaters Dec. 25) is a new lifestyle she relishes.

"There are certain limitations to my career because I'm based here. And that's cool," she says. "Keith has enormous ambitions, which I support. His tours and albums are much bigger than what I'm doing right now."

She continues, "If I was unhappy I wouldn't be able to live on a farm. I'd feel too lonely. But when you're happy I think you can live anywhere."

She and Urban -- who never spend more than four days apart -- have a "very honest, profound marriage, which we both contribute to every day," she says.

"I love being in love. I believe in the power of love, the way it can heal," she says. "The more you keep choosing it -- because there are times when you can choose to be angry at the person or to love him -- the more it nourishes a family."

Her desire to work on her family -- and add to it -- has rubbed off on her "Nine" co-stars Penelope Cruz and Fergie.

"Kate [Hudson] had her son there," Kidman says, "and Penelope and Fergie were like, 'I can't wait to have a baby.'"

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Palin Goes After McCain Camp, But Not Levi, In "Going Rogue" - WUSA

Posted: 17 Nov 2009 03:49 AM PST

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sarah Palin's new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her grandson, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.

In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford -- preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla, Alaska.

The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her."

While the book -- which contains 68 color photos but no index -- stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign.

She confirms that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain's. She bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she'd been kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.

The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring. The Associated Press was able to purchase a copy Thursday.

"As you probably have heard, the AP snagged a copy of my memoir, Going Rogue, before its Tuesday release," Palin said in a Friday post on her Facebook site. "And as is expected, the AP and a number of subsequent media outlets are erroneously reporting the contents of the book. Keep your powder dry, read the book, and enjoy it! Lots of great stories about my family, Alaska, and the incredible honor it was to run alongside Senator John McCain."

AP, however, stands by its story. "We've read the book; we've read it carefully -- and we stand by our reporting," Paul Colford, AP director of media relations, said Friday.

Interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters will be televised next week to coincide with the book's release. Palin said on her Facebook site that she's hoping to schedule interviews with others, including Rush Limbaugh and four Fox News Channel personalities: Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Greta Van Susteren. All but Van Susteren have their own radio programs.

The tour, which will skip major cities in favor of smaller localities, starts Nov. 18 at a Barnes & Noble in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Palin and McCain made a campaign appearance last fall. Other parts of the tour will mirror the 2008 race. On Dec. 7, Palin is booked for the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., not far from last year's Republican National Convention, where Palin's speech -- in which she likened herself to a pit bull -- made her a national sensation.

The tour will last about three weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving, and will end around Dec. 10, according to HarperCollins. Palin will travel by bus for much of the time, likely accompanied by family and by aide Meg Stapleton.
While the book follows Palin's life from her birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.

She describes Couric as condescending, biased and "badgering." She contends the anchor chose "gotcha" moments while leaving the candidate's more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.

"In this case, I really do think that the quality of the interview and the quality of the questions speak for themselves," CBS News President Sean McManus said Friday. "When I go back and I watch the interview and I listen to the questions, it's really difficult for me to think that any of the questions were unfair or any of them were questions that a vice presidential candidate shouldn't be expected to receive."

Palin takes another dig at Couric while asserting her expertise on energy matters. She writes that she was shocked Couric had asked her which newspapers and magazines she read; given what she called Couric's lack of knowledge about energy issues, Palin wondered whether she should have asked the news anchor what she read.

Couric, through her spokesman Matthew Hiltzik, had no comment Friday. McManus said the network had no plans to revisit the interview or broadcast what was left on the cutting room floor.
The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Quoting another campaign official, she writes that Schmidt felt she wasn't prepared enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down syndrome.

Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says she was never informed that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process, and jokes that if she'd known she was going to get stuck with the bill, she would have given shorter responses.

According to the book, Palin asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially. She says she was told that if McCain had won, the bills would have been paid, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.

Trevor Potter, the McCain campaign's general counsel, told the AP the campaign never asked Palin to pay a legal bill.

"To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process," Potter said.

If Palin's lawyer billed her for work related to her vetting, the McCain campaign never knew about it, Potter said.

Written with Lynn Vincent, "Going Rogue" is folksy in tone and homespun. She writes in awe about how the McCain campaign had hired a New York stylist who had also worked with Couric.
Palin shares behind-the-scene moments when the nation learned her teen daughter Bristol was pregnant, how she rewrote the statement prepared for her by the McCain campaign -- only to watch in horror as a TV news anchor read the original McCain camp statement, which, in Palin's view, glamorized and endorsed her daughter's situation.

In limited excerpts of the prerecorded Winfrey interview, Palin says Johnston is still part of the family. Johnston was quoted as saying that any attempts at reconciliation are fake.

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