One of the many questions expectant parents ask at the first ultrasound is “is it only one baby”? That’s because the possibility of having twins or multiples exists for all of us. Some families however, are more likely than others to have more than one baby at a time. Twins and multiples are more common since  fertility drugs and assisted reproduction technology have become such an accepted part of our culture.

Group B Strep (GBS) has been around for a very long time. But like so much in the area of obstetric care, we continue to understand more about it. Most of us carry this bacterium in our gut but in around 15-30% of women, GBS also colonises their vagina. This can create problems during pregnancy because GBS can make microscopic (very small) holes in the amniotic sac and infect the baby through the amniotic fluid. Around 7% of women with GBS develop an infection of the amniotic sac, otherwise known as chorionamnionitis.

All of us have one type of four blood types – A, B, AB or O.  And as an extra bonus, blood types are either positive or negative - this is known as the Rhesus factor (Rh) factor. If you have a specific protein, also known as an antigen, sitting on the surface of your red blood cells then you are positive and if you don’t, then you’re negative. 

One of the joys of being pregnant is to feel our baby’s movements.  But it can seem a long wait until those first little flutters make themselves clear. At first, it’s common to feel uncertain about what their movements feel like.  Early in the second trimester, lots of mothers say they’re not sure if they’ve felt their baby moving, but are open to the possibility that they may have.