Maternity

Now that I'm back in the office full time after a few months of maternity leave, I've got to reorient my thinking and remember how to act when I'm around adults more often. I also need to return to my workplace habit of making to-do lists to stay organized. To that end, here's the Top 8 things I need to stop doing now that I'm back in the office: 1. Going to the bathroom with the door open so I can hear whether anyone is crying or up to any mischief. (Or both.) 2. Corollary: Announcing that I'm going "potty" now. 3. Going "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I have lots of questions about the Black Guerrilla Family case, starting with this: Was the warden of the Baltimore City Detention Center asked to approve maternity leave for any of the female correctional officers allegedly impregnated by inmate Tavon "Bulldog" White? I thought it was a pretty good question. A taxpayer's question. According to the U.S. attorney's office, White got four of his jailers pregnant. (Do you think these women knew what was going on before the indictment came down?

Rent-a-dressBuying enough maternity clothes just to get through the work week can be such an investment that some pregnant women will forgo a black-tie occasion altogether rather than sink money into an expensive maternity cocktail gown to be worn only once.Indeed, even for those with unlimited funds, finding attractive maternity formal wear can be next to impossible.One solution to the dilemma, however, is a rental service, such as Judy's Maternity Rentals, a 3-year-old company based in Alexandria, Va., which offers not only custom-made evening gowns, but also dressy separates and even bridesmaid and wedding gowns.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act. The 1993 act is a federal law requiring employers to provide employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons, including pregnancy. On this anniversary, we should reflect on how the U.S. is unacceptably lagging behind on parental leave and on what we should do to overcome this gap. Researchers at McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy compared policies across the globe and found that among the 173 countries studied, five did not offer any paid parental leave.

I am not going to spoil this video from Thursday's night's "Daily Show" by giving you my views on it before you have seen it. It's vintage Jon Stewart with the comedian in this case ridiculing the Fox News host for what he presents as her flip-flop views of maternity leave before and after she was a beneficiary of it. Lots of talk of entitlements and suggestions of hypocrisy. What do you think? I'll join the discussion later. The Daily Show - Lactate Intolerance Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook

St. Agnes Hospital said yesterday that it will apply to the Health Services Cost Review Commission to change its maternity rate.St. Agnes had announced last week that it would offer a second day free to newborns and mothers. Many insurance plans pay for only a 24-hour hospitalization for routine births.But the cost review commission, which sets hospital rates in Maryland, said St. Agnes could not make such a change without documenting that the free day was not resulting in a shift of costs to other patients.

I have lots of questions about the Black Guerrilla Family case, starting with this: Was the warden of the Baltimore City Detention Center asked to approve maternity leave for any of the female correctional officers allegedly impregnated by inmate Tavon "Bulldog" White? I thought it was a pretty good question. A taxpayer's question. According to the U.S. attorney's office, White got four of his jailers pregnant. (Do you think these women knew what was going on before the indictment came down?

It should be enough that Veronica Johnson, an on-air meteorologist for WMAR-TV, has to look great at 5: 30 a.m. Add to that task the fact that she is the mother of three, including a 2-month-old son. How does she do it?By making a science out of dressing for work.Her lab is a color-coordinated closet with a 12-foot ladder that reaches up to boxes of sweaters and shoes."I ordered that ladder, and my husband didn't know how tall it was going to be until he looked in the closet," Johnson says.

Deborah Norville, former co-host of NBC's "Today Show," is an advertisement for maternity chic.Throughout her pregnancy, Ms. Norville wore bright dresses and separates that looked feminine and flattering but professional enough for a serious discussion on the Persian Gulf crisis.Here's the surprise: She didn't wear maternity clothes. She carefully picked styles that accommodated her expanding figure."The wonderful thing is that my timing is perfect for current trends. The swing dress, the little trapeze of the '60s is back in style," said Ms. Norville, who recently gave birth to a boy.One fashion expert agrees.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act. The 1993 act is a federal law requiring employers to provide employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons, including pregnancy. On this anniversary, we should reflect on how the U.S. is unacceptably lagging behind on parental leave and on what we should do to overcome this gap. Researchers at McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy compared policies across the globe and found that among the 173 countries studied, five did not offer any paid parental leave.

The vegan proselytizers at Mercy for Animals, PETA, and the Humane Society of the United States have propaganda campaigns claiming that housing pregnant pigs in individual maternity pens is inhumane, but their shrill screeds aren't backed up by veterinarians. ("Glen Burnie Walmart shoppers to be confronted with giant, bloodied, inflatable pig," Sept. 18). The American Association of Swine Veterinarians finds that individual housing is a humane method, and the American Veterinary Medical Association finds that maternity pens provide for animal welfare.

A few years ago, I vowed that there was one topic I would never bring up again on social media: sleep training. As my maternity leave wound to a close at the end of 2008, my baby stopped sleeping. We'd been spoiled, no doubt, by his good sleeping before that, but we found ourselves up several times a night, rocking him back to sleep, sometimes for hours. We were completely thrashed. My husband and I did some reading, and we did a version of sleep training that I now know it known as " controlled comforting.

In our 24-hour, bloggy, never-stopping, celebrity-saturated culture, which seems obsessed with the "baby bump" hunt, it's hard to be pregnant without knowing which stars you are pregant "with. " My first time around, I was pregnant at the same time as Jessica Alba, who I'd previously given little to no thought to. But knowing we were due around the same date, I felt warm feelings toward her knowing we were both having this experience, pseudo-together. Her daughter was born just a few days before my son … and three months later she was photographed in a bikini frolocking in the waves looking just as fit as before the baby.

Now that I'm back in the office full time after a few months of maternity leave, I've got to reorient my thinking and remember how to act when I'm around adults more often. I also need to return to my workplace habit of making to-do lists to stay organized. To that end, here's the Top 8 things I need to stop doing now that I'm back in the office: 1. Going to the bathroom with the door open so I can hear whether anyone is crying or up to any mischief. (Or both.) 2. Corollary: Announcing that I'm going "potty" now. 3. Going "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

We live in fascinating times. On the one hand, it is OK to detail the most intimate aspects of a woman's reproductive health in congressional testimony and to demand "free" birth control pills from employers and/or the government. It is also OK to label those who object to such public displays of personal choice and state-sponsored free love as leading a "war on women. " On the other hand, it is also OK for those who hew to the same ideology as that above to condemn a woman who chooses to raise her children for a living as someone who "never worked a day in her life.

Martha Gardner takes the maternal approach to teaching. She ushers in every new school year "with butterflies of anticipation" as she welcomes her newest students into her family. After 32 years in the classroom, that family has grown very large. "If you are part of my life, you are family," she says to those students about to join her in a yearlong adventure. "I am excited to see their faces on the first day. These smiling, uncertain people don't know it yet, but they have just met the newest member of their family — me. " Those sentiments helped earn Gardner recognition as the Anne Arundel County Teacher of the Year.

Cosmetics by Calvin You can't get much cooler than Calvin Klein's sleek, minimalist clothes. Unless, of course, you consider the popular designer's new color cosmetics line. Calvin Klein color cosmetics, which debuted in stores recently, include lip, eye, cheek and face color, as well as seven skin-care items and accessories such as brushes and sharpeners. Calvin himself reportedly picked the shades for his 180-piece line. Look for everything from robust red to nearly nude. The overall look is translucent and natural.

25 years agoAfter one week of thinking it over, Taneytown residents have responded with some very definite opinions concerning a shopping center in their city. The majority are enthusiastic. The following are the comments we have received so far: "I'm tired of spending my money in Westminster and Hanover," "[It] would make Taneytown grow and make more jobs, too." -- The Carroll Record, Jan. 13, 1972.50 years agoEditor: Since my letter to you, in which I stressed the difficulty of obtaining beds for patients in nearby hospitals -- Frederick, Hanover and Baltimore.

"Women are not dying because of disease we cannot treat; they are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving. " — Dr. Mahmoud Fathalla, author of the "World Report on Women's Health" A young woman, large with child, took a long journey with her husband; during the trip she went into labor and delivered her baby in a barn. There was no room at the inn, nowhere else for her to go. After delivery, she made a bed for the baby out of a feeding trough.

As a family physician who delivers babies, I read the article regarding competition among maternity wards ("Baby Battle," Sept. 25). Although the focus of the short piece was clearly on the style of local labor and delivery facilities, it seems remiss to neglect the quality of care as a major influence in a woman's choice of where to deliver. A savvy pregnant medical consumer will not only view the "walls with warm, earthy colors" and hardwood floors during her tour, she will ask relevant questions regarding the hospital's cesarean section rate, support of breast-feeding, and use of episiotomy.