I think some of it is the lure of having the ideal birth. But it took me two months to heal from an average, 2nd degree, run of the mill, vaginal tear after I gave birth to my daughter last year and I still have pain from intercourse at times. So, it's not all sunshine and teddy bears for those who've had vaginal…

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/275854-overview#aw2aab6b5

I'm glad your wife is getting support and hopefully she will be able to have a VBAC in the future. I think many women have difficulty facing the reality that they are not in control of their own pregnancies or labour and you cannot decide through shear will power that everything will turn out ok or the way you want it…

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/275854-overview#aw2aab6b5

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/275854-overview#aw2aab6b5

This is an incredibly uninformed and biased article. How about doing a little research into rates of uterine rupture for women who attempt a VBAC (which is a TOLAC - trial of labour after cesarean). It's about 1/300 for most women after they've had one c-section; for women with certain kinds of common incisions it's…

All cultures have pregnancy taboos - this didn't start with the advent of modern medicine. Some of it is kind of ridiculous, like don't look at the full moon or put your newborn in the colour yellow, and some of it made sense. What gives such advice authority in other cultures is tradition, whereas here it's usually…

Two days after I found out I was pregnant, I went to visit my friends and surprise, surprise, they planned to hit up a wine bar and suggested sushi for dinner. I ordered a gin and tonic, hoping that the tonic would come on ice and I could pretend to add the gin, of course it was served in the reverse and I managed to…

It gets easier if you hold out for a little while, then you can allow yourself a half glass very occasionally in your second or third trimester, and you're unlikely to suffer any consequences. However, there's no guarantee about anything. On the other hand, sushi is probably perfectly ok -…

Were they perhaps Canadians? In Canada, shoes stay on.

I think it depends on the surgeon and the patient. I had it under local and was given a lovely drug that made me not care about a thing. I was completely awake, just high as a kite.

I do love Dinklage, but I hate his fake British accent. It's really inconsistent and I don't understand why they don't hire a coach to improve it. Most of the cast is British, so it stands out in a bad way.

Being born premature is associated with higher respiratory problems because the baby's lungs don't have as much time to develop before they are required to function. That's well documented and really no one's fault at all; not your mom's and not the doctor's. It's an unfortunate consequence of saving both your life…

Yes, it's not the top that bothers me as much as it is the bottom. I have very large breasts as well and I know how sexual they can be spilling out of things. I wouldn't go to the beach like that, but in the bedroom it's fine. But the bottoms are not attractive and require a very recent and well done wax, and even…

Both men and women can be ritually unclean and that doesn't mean that they are thought of as dirty. It means that at certain times individuals cannot participate in certain rituals before performing other rituals. The most common time a woman is ritually unclean is during her period. Once she goes to the mikvah, she's…

Actually, many people are under the misconception that somehow women's breasts are dirty and should be washed before nursing. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought women should wash their breasts before nursing.

I think you're right that part of the reason the story received so much coverage was the gruesomeness of the rape, but I don't think it got coverage because the skin color of the rapists or because she died; the case was very well known before her death. It's gotten a lot of coverage because the outcry in India has…

I'm white and my daughter is half Indian. Don't see why they need a white model to convey that somehow they are related, if that is why they're implying. Then again, this isn't about me and they could be referencing something else entirely. So maybe she's their governess and this is British India? The dress reminds me…

I like the ritual of putting on a condom, of getting one out, unwrapping it, etc. I find it really really sexy, but I prefer the sensation of sex without one. More importantly, however, I would prefer not to get an STD or have an unwanted pregnancy. Priorities people!

Ha! I gave birth 14 months ago and now I'm 6 months pregnant, with a sort of planned baby. You do forget the pain of labor and being a parent is so much harder, in a different way of course. I recommend focusing on life after the delivery. For some reason, I didn't really consider what it would be like once they were…