Summer Banks's blog

I remember being pregnant with baby one and baby two – no contractions,
no symptoms of labor – nothing but planned C-sections due to my
interesting ability to grow larger than normal fetuses.

I have two friends that suffered breast cancer before the
age of 40. Breast cancer is not the only form of cancer affecting women
of child-bearing age. Young women suffer from colorectal cancer,
lymphoma, leukemia and other forms of cancer.

Every one of my pregnancies was plagued with hot flashes. My first time around I swore the heat was associated with being extremely pregnant in the summer, but my second child was born in January and I suffered the same hot flashes. By my third pregnancy, with twins, I was uncomfortable for the last few months.

During all three of my pregnancies I swore my feet were growing. Even
the comfy shoes I loved so much no longer fit and I was left with
slippers and oversized shoes that I inevitably threw away after birth.

Teen pregnancy rates are dropping, but there are still many teen pregnancies reported each year. Should teen girls be routinely tested for pregnancy no matter the age or claimed sexual status?

 It is safe to say that nearly 100% of parents suffer from infant-induced sleep deprivation at some point in the first six months, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend every day in a state of exhaustion.

According to research and practice in the UK, women may be able to stop menopause and preserve fertility for as long as they’d like. We currently freeze eggs and sperm, so is it such a big medical jump to freeze ovaries whole?

Many newly breastfeeding moms believe they have to control diet with strict guidelines to prevent gas, fussiness and passing bad stuff on to their baby, but research suggests all these strict rules could be for naught.

Fiber is something that needs to be added to your diet slowly to prevent excessive gas and pain. Eating too much fiber too quickly can leave a pregnant woman feeling bloated, gassy and crampy, but it will not hurt the fetus.

An impulse buy plays on your emotions as an expecting or new parent and
lures you into the “that’s so cute” zone. Before heading out for a day
of shopping for baby, learn the top 4 things you should not buy for
baby.

Just because labor is over and you’re holding the cutest baby on earth doesn’t mean the pain of pregnancy is over. Pregnancy and labor pains are taken over by postpartum pains almost immediately after giving birth.

With all the talk about skipping processed foods to improve health, many mothers are thinking twice about picking up those tiny jars of baby food.

Parents are as varied as the infants they bring home. When I was
pregnant, I shopped thrift stores, the Goodwill, the Salvation Army and
thousands of yard sales in an effort to fill baby’s room with furniture
and clothes without breaking the bank.

Teens that have sex are increasing their risk of contracting sexually
transmitted disease (STD) and few teens understand how to use the most
effective barrier – condoms. This is especially true of teen girls.

One of the hottest topics of debate in the breastfeeding community over
the last decade has been about when to introduce solid foods.

A study was recently published in the journal Clinical Obstetrics and
Gynecology explaining the potential side effects of cocaine use on the
pregnant woman and her offspring.

The term nulliparous refers to a woman who has never given birth – she has no children. In our fast-moving world, many women choose not to have children until much later in life and some choose to never start a family.

The point when boys turn into men is signified by the “wet dream” or
nocturnal emission. Nocturnal emissions occur when spontaneous orgasms
happen during sleep. While the “wet dream” phenomenon has been touted as
a male-specific trait

As a teenager I remember the first time I looked down at my feminine
napkin and saw a blood clot. I immediately thought I was dying and after
bawling my eyes out right there in the bathroom I searched for my
mother to find out what was happening to me.

In some countries and cultures, female genital mutilation is considered
culturally accepted. The practice varies widely from one culture to the
next, but all cultures remove some portion of the female genitalia for
non-medical reasons.