The use of a pregnancy test is invariably surrounded by heightened emotion. Whether you are desperately keen to become pregnant after months of trying, or whether you are equally keen for reassurance that you are not pregnant, the test is never a matter of indifference. So it’s perfectly understandable that when you want to take...

What are the main symptoms of pregnancy?

From morning sickness to heartburn, from feeling exhausted to constantly having to run to the loo; the symptoms of pregnancy can seem like a long list of tribulations that have to be borne as the price you pay for the main event. However, not all of the symptoms are present a[...]

Fibroids are non-cancerous uterine growths that can develop in or on the womb. They can vary from being pea-sized or as large as a grapefruit and the[...]

Effective birth control is one of the transformative medical advances that has allowed generations of women to take control of their own destinies. It’s easy to forget that since the pill was introduced in the UK in 1961, we have been at liberty to enjoy a level of personal freedom that our grandmothers never knew. Absolutely, birth control pills can cause infertility: that is what they are designed for! But of course that type of elective, temporary protection from involuntary pregn[...]

Preconception health is now recognised as a vital factor in a healthy conception, pregnancy and birth. You could even re-think the duration of pregnancy as being one year long rather than a nine-month project. There’s plenty of information out there on the importance of avoiding the harm that tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs can do, but not so much on the ‘softer’ aspects of preconception health care,[...]

It’s a sad fact of life that miscarriage, defined by the NHS as the loss of a pregnancy during the first 23 weeks, is quite a common occurrence. They estimate that around one in eight pregnancies end in miscarriage. This is among women who know that they are pregnant; many more happen before a woman is even aware she is pregnant. Obviously in the light of these figures, it’s fairly likely that this will happen to someone in you[...]

Any woman diagnosed with breast cancer is bound to be filled with worries about the impact of the disease on her life and her future. This is understandable and inevitable. Breast cancer is more common in post-menopausal women but far from rare in younger women and for them, the impact on fertility and any subsequent pregnancy could be a concern. Fears for the future can be intensified by some of the stories that circulate about infertility, how long you need to wait after treatment, or even the chanc[...]