By Beth Conover, APRN, Beth Kiernan, MPH, and Al Romeo, RN, PhD – MotherToBaby Teratogen Information Specialists From images of buildings destroyed by high wind to families stranded on roof tops by flooding (and the rising death toll), to say that hurricanes can be devastating would be an understatement. At MotherToBaby, we receive questions from moms and moms-to-be in storm-affected areas regarding the potential exposures they may be experiencing as powerful forces of nature wreak havoc on their homes and communities. We just wanted to let you know – MotherToBaby is here for you, your unborn ..read more

Lately, it seems like every few months a new infectious disease makes the headlines. The COVID-19 pandemic dominated the news cycle for some time, but as more and more people get vaccinated and the number of severe cases starts to decrease, the media’s focus has shifted to other known or emerging threats. From the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), to mpox and syphilis, infections seem to be spreading like wildfire. Most recently, measles has made yet another comeback, prompting many people who are planning pregnancy, currently pregnant, or breastfeeding to make sure they are taking st ..read more

By Beth Conover, APRN, CGC MotherToBaby Nebraska, UNMC “There are so many risks to the baby if I go for dental work, right?” “What about x-rays?” “I don’t like going to the dentist anyway, so I’ll probably just wait until my baby is born. That should be fine, right?” Worries, excuses, we’ve heard it all at MotherToBaby when it comes to dental procedures during pregnancy. We often receive questions from women wondering whether dental care is safe. In short, the answer is….yes! What better time to talk about the reasons why it’s ok than during June – typically the month the American Dental Assoc ..read more

Emily called MotherToBaby and confided, “My husband and I are thinking about getting pregnant…I am so excited but scared, too. I am wondering what I can do to make it more likely we will have a healthy pregnancy and baby.”    I assured Emily that we love it when people call ahead of their pregnancy and ask these questions. Preconception health is a topic that does not receive as much attention as it deserves, and it is important for both Emily and her husband. Good preconception health care can impact fertility and make it easier to conceive, and also helps to improve pregnancy outco ..read more

My baby sister was 35 years old and pregnant with her first child. As a family, we were ecstatic. The family was expanding, and I was about to be an aunt for the third time. She was in her 3rd trimester and very pregnant, but she was up there in the choir singing and dancing her heart out at a memorial concert.  I, along with many others, was shocked at how energetic and agile she was that far into pregnancy. However, when the concert was over, I looked at her feet and they were very, very swollen. I was concerned and told her to speak with her doctor immediately.  Three days later ..read more

Participating in the HBCD study I recently came across a patient named Jamie when she asked some interesting questions about a new study she had heard about on child development. Jamie is pregnant with her second baby and got a flyer from the Healthy Brain and Child Development study (HBCD). The HBCD is a national study being carried out at 27 sites in different parts of the country, including at a site here at MotherToBaby Georgia’s location. At first, she was undecided if she wanted to volunteer to be one of the 7000 mother/infant pairs contributing their time and effort to this project. Her ..read more

I can’t begin to describe how organized I was during the holiday season when I was pregnant with my first child. Since I was pretty far along (5 months), I wanted to make sure each gift was chosen way ahead of time, I knew how long it would take me to get the food trimmings just right and whether I should emphasize red or green in my decorating scheme. All of this had to be done before that “pregnancy brain” I had heard so much about set-in. Little did I know, the most important items on my holiday to-do list weren’t sitting on store shelves or mixed in with the tinsel and mistletoe. Years lat ..read more

You may have heard that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recommended a new vaccine for use in the third trimester of pregnancy. Known as AbrysvoTM, the vaccine helps protect newborns against severe cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the United States, with anywhere from 58,000-80,000 hospitalizations occurring each year among children younger than 5. Even more upsetting is that 100-300 children under age 5 die from RSV every year. With these statistics in mind, this new RSV vaccine is exciting news for ..read more

Sara contacted us on the MotherToBaby live chat service after being referred by her OB/GYN who had told her that the Paxil (drug name paroxetine) she was taking could cause a heart defect. She was 14 weeks along and wanted to learn more, but was confused because all her genetic testing results had come back normal. She asked: “How could my baby have a heart defect if my non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) was negative?” During pregnancy, there are many tests done to check on the health and development of your baby. It can be difficult to keep track of what they are all looking for a ..read more

By: Kirstie Perrotta, MPH and Becky Spencer, PhD, APRN, PMHNP-BC, IBCLC, PMH-C, FILCA Shannon was newly pregnant and had been referred to MotherToBaby by her doctor. She was taking 50 mg of sertraline per day for general anxiety and her doctor thought that she may need to wean off the medication now that she was 5 weeks pregnant. Shannon had been taking the medication for 3 years and was feeling great on her current dose, so she had some concerns about this plan. On the MotherToBaby website’s live chat service, Shannon was connected with me, a teratogen information specialist, where she asked ..read more