If you’ve ever thought that your or someone else’s estimated due date might need a rethink, this article is for you. It’s my reflection, as a midwife and academic researcher, on what I’ve learned from researching pregnancy calculation tools. In…
Been offered induction for big baby? Well, let’s start with a really important fact. Researchers admit that, “it is not clear whether it is better for women with big babies to have their labour induced or to wait for labour…
Sara Wickham notes the rather illogical nature of the recommendations made for induction of labour in older women, citing the lack of good evidence on this.
Is it always good to know things, just because we can? Sara Wickham explores this idea in a series of blog posts about the consequences of knowledge.
Which first-time mums are more at risk of caesarean? There is growing concern about the number of unnecessary caesareans, and the rate of these is especially high in first-time mums. That concern is the reason behind doing the research that…
What are the best questions to ask if you’re offered induction of labour? This is something I get asked a lot. So I have put together this guide to the five best questions that you can ask in order to…
Risk assessment is an integral part of midwifery and medical practice and yet also something we need to think about more. A few years ago, I spent some time reflecting on the issues raised by revised guidelines on venous thromboembolism…
A study was published in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology entitled ‘Associations between consumption of coffee and caffeinated soft drinks and late stillbirth—Findings from the Midland and North of England stillbirth case-control study’. The media…
Warning: this blog post may contain tigers. As someone who lives with a serious food allergy, I have noticed some interesting changes in the information given on product labels over time. Over the years, I have thoroughly enjoyed the proliferation…
Are there good reasons to induce labour? That’s a question often posted when I talk or write about labour induction. It’s an understandable question. I have spent more than twenty years writing about how induction isn’t always beneficial. I’ve often…