Jennifer and Noah Canvasser’s twin boys Micah and Zachary were born in 2012 at 27 weeks’ gestation, each weighing only about 2 pounds. After six weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), both boys were doing well. They were up to 5 pounds and beginning to nurse. “We were full of hope and excited…
Lately, the only thing consistent about your menstrual cycle is that it’s inconsistent. At night, you find yourself checking the thermostat after a hot flash, or you wake up in a dreadful sweat. Perimenopause is here, and you’re coming to terms with it. But what does this mean for your fertility? If you’re in midlife…
Health, Menopause, Pregnancy and Maternal Health, Women's Health
If you are pregnant, choosing a person to manage your pregnancy is a big decision. Some women choose an obstetrician, while others opt for a midwife. Midwives are specialists in low-risk pregnancies, and you don’t have to be crunchy to benefit from using one. UNC Health certified nurse midwives Meg Berreth and Jamie Martin answer some…
Most people think that preeclampsia, a high blood pressure condition that occurs during pregnancy, goes away after the baby is born. That’s why Noelle Roth, who was diagnosed with the disease just two days before having her daughter, was surprised to learn that her short stint with the condition had long-term ramifications. It puts her…
If you are pregnant, it’s important to consider who will be in the delivery room with you when the time comes. Some people hire a doula to support their birth experience—but how do you know if that’s the right choice for you? Rhonda Lanning, a certified nurse midwife and director of Birth Partners, the UNC…
Congratulations! You gave birth, and now your sweet bundle of joy is in your arms. Those nine months of pregnancy may be over, but your body hasn’t finished adjusting to motherhood. You’re now in the fourth trimester, the 12 weeks after birth when your body will work hard to heal from major physical and emotional…
Micah and Malachi Plumber just turned 1—a major milestone for any child. Watching the adorable twins crawl, giggle and play with their older sister, Kinsley, it’s hard to believe they had a medical condition that required surgery when they were still in their mother’s womb. The boys had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a prenatal condition…
Babies, Maternal Health, OB-GYN, Pregnancy and Maternal Health
Angie Yawn, 49, is used to solving problems. She’s been setting up and fixing computers in the Henry County school district in Georgia for more than two decades. But when she started experiencing a mix of seemingly unrelated symptoms that lasted more than six years and stumped eight different doctors, she thought she had run…
If you’re pregnant, you have a lot to do to stay healthy for you and your unborn baby—take a daily prenatal vitamin, eat a healthy diet and attend routine checkups, to name a few. It’s also critical to stay up to date on your vaccinations, since being pregnant puts you at a higher risk of…
Whether you know it or not, you probably practice some form of emotion regulation almost every day. “Emotion regulation” is simply what a person does to manage their response to an emotional experience in their life, especially when the experience is negative. Positive emotion regulation is a skill that can be difficult at times no…
Editor’s note: This article originally ran December 3, 2021, and was updated January 10, 2022, to reflect updated public health guidance. Pregnancy is all about timing: when you ovulate, when you conceive, your first, second and third trimesters, your due date. So when should pregnant women or women trying to conceive receive their COVID-19 booster…
“You have a blood clot.” Hearing these words from your healthcare provider can be shocking—and scary. Blood clots can break loose and go straight to your lungs, causing sudden death, right? Can’t they cause strokes or heart attacks? Yes, but not always. In most cases, clots can be treated successfully without long-term problems. So before…
