Having an abortion does not trigger mental health problems, according to a Danish study of 365,550 teen girls and women who had an abortion or a baby between 1995 and 2007. In fact, what makes a woman most at risk for mental health problems is having a baby, the study published in The New England […]
When I was fresh out of college, I worked at an egg donation agency, which paired egg “donors” with potential parents willing to shell out a lot of money for the possibility of having children. At parties, when I was asked what I did for a living, it was inevitable that a group of girls […]
A year and a half ago, I tossed out hormonal birth control in favor of … no birth control at all. Well, that’s not really accurate. I do practice a method of birth control, one that’s commonly relegated to the realm of hippies and the uber-religious. And although I am neither super crunchy nor super Christian, […]
Eating placenta might sound like the most hippie of hippie-dippie pursuits. But if an article in New York magazine is to be believed, eating your afterbirth (or placentophagia) is trés, trés chic. In Western hospitals, placenta has traditionally been disposed of alongside medical waste. Some women would ask to take their placenta home with them […]
Being the youngest in a large family has its advantages: My siblings provided plenty of grandchildren already, so there’s no pressure on me to make more. (Christmas presents are expensive, y’all.) My family has also known since I was 19 — when I fainted while watching my older sister have a sonogram because it grossed […]
As women, we hear a lot about what we should and shouldn’t do to our bodies. Drink this much water, take x-amount of these vitamins, or stay away from certain foods … it’s so confusing! What’s a girl to do? Can you get pregnant while you’re on your period? Do antibiotics decrease the effectiveness of […]
I am 19 weeks pregnant. In pregnancy, everything is measured in weeks, and I keep wanting to wish my fetus a happy beginning-of-the-next-week birthday. Because we made it this far and we should celebrate, damn it. But I guess that gets a little excessive. People keep telling me, “You barely look pregnant!” And it’s frustrating, […]
As women, we hear a lot about what we should and shouldn’t do to our bodies. Drink this much water, take x-amount of these vitamins, or stay away from certain foods … it’s so confusing! What’s a girl to do? Can you get pregnant while you’re on your period? Do antibiotics decrease the effectiveness of […]
One night, while six months pregnant, I woke to the sound of something crashing down the stairs. That something, I discovered, was my husband Jason, who lay sprawled on the floor like a limp marionette. At first, I was worried. Had he broken his neck? Was the father of my unborn child alive? But my […]
