The number one cause of death during pregnancy is partner violence. Domestic violence (also called intimate partner violence, IPV) is defined by the American Medical Association as a pattern of abusive behavior in an intimate relationship. Overall rates of domestic violence are 20-25% over a woman’s lifetime, but it is generally thought that abuse is…

Research has proven that doulas, defined as lay women who assist with childbirth, can have significant positive impact on your labor, delivery, and even the postpartum experience. The assistance provided by a doula includes physical, emotional, and information support, and it extends from the active phase of labor through into the postpartum period. Some of the valuable elements of this aid includes…

In pregnancy, sleep can be significantly altered. You might find yourself waking up too early, or too many times. You might find it hard to fall asleep, with thoughts racing. You might feel physically uncomfortable. And you might wake up not feeling refreshed. In fact, more than three quarters of pregnant women report a change or disturbance in their sleep pattern. It is very important to understand…

Many of my patients are surprised to hear how common it is to experience depression during pregnancy. Perhaps this is because pregnancy in today’s society is often viewed as almost a magical time for a woman, full of glowing happiness. However, for many women, this is not the case. Depression during pregnancy…

Anxiety is a broad term, which in the general population is often synonymous with worry and stress. In this article, we will separate out two situations: When a woman is feeling stress during pregnancy and having general worries and when a woman is struggling with an anxiety disorder. Pregnancy is an anxiety-provoking time whether you are a new mom or having your third child. Many women ask me…

If you have experienced a panic attack during pregnancy, you remember the sensation – shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, racing thoughts, and feeling like you might be having a heart attack or something is terribly wrong. It involves the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the one responsible for our…

Pregnancy is a time when your hormones change drastically. These hormones are the reason you feel the way you do, both physically and emotionally, and are what allows a pregnancy to make it to term and promote a healthy mother-baby relationship afterwards. It is valuable to know about each of the hormones involved because they can have an effect on…

For many women, some nausea and vomiting, particularly in the early part of pregnancy, seems inevitable. For some, however, the condition becomes severe enough to compromise well-being and impact quality of life and mood. Severe nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) can impair a woman’s ability to function at work and at home, and can even have negative effects on the baby, such as…

The way a woman’s mind works changes during pregnancy. Many women say they experience baby brain or pregnancy brain, referring to feeling less confident with their thinking, attention, and memory. But is this a real phenomenon? Many have attempted to answer the question of how a woman’s cognitive abilities changes during pregnancy, with very mixed results. Some studies show…

Gestational diabetes (GDM) affects more than 9% of pregnant women, with the diagnosis usually made in the middle of the second trimester, and, unfortunately, on the rise. We know that this diagnosis can have a whole host of pregnancy related complications, so it is understandable that women who receive it find themselves with questions..

For many women, their own views of themselves as sexual beings and their sexual behaviors change over the course of pregnancy and into the postpartum period. Many researchers of pregnant women note a pattern…

Many of my pregnant patients struggling with depression ask about non-medication treatment options. Understandably, there are many concerns and hesitations about taking medication during pregnancy. For women with mild to moderate depressive symptoms, acupuncture is one such treatment…

As we’ve previously learned, pregnancy and the postpartum period can predispose a woman to developing a new mental health condition or worsening of an ongoing diagnosis. This is the case with depression, with anxiety, and also with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. This condition is characterized by intrusive, recurrent thoughts, often with a need to alleviate the tension of these thoughts by engaging in certain types of behaviors. This might mean…

Weight gain and body shape is a huge concern for women in pregnancy, regardless of eating history. One study in the UK found that 40% of pregnant women feared weight gain during pregnancy and 70% worried they would be unable to return to their pre-pregnancy weight. These numbers are similar in most Western countries. An eating disorder…

Placentophagy, the eating of one’s placenta after birth, is a practice common in mammals. There is very little written about this practice in humans until recently when its popularity has increased in certain Western cultures. The primary reason many cite for engaging in this practice is to help prevent postpartum depression, along with