Photo from CelineDion.com

Back in August, I wrote about Celine Dion's pregnancy through IVF. One mom, Freela, commented how the announcement came very soon and was worried. Sadly, Celine has now had to "unannounce" her pregnancy. 

"We are living the reality of the majority of couples who have to use [IVF]. The process can be long and arduous," Celine's husband Rene Angelil, 67, told the Canadian paper Journal de Montreal as reported on Celebrity Baby Blog. "But today, we are full of confidence. Celine is more determined than ever."

At 31 weeks, I'm starting to think about where I will be when it's time for my twins to be born. If I'm at work, I'm actually a short walk away from the hospital. If I'm at home, it's a drive over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan and uptown, which could take anywhere from 10 to over 30 minutes depending on traffic.

Last week, one NYC woman had her baby in a taxi.

Vaginal birth after c-section (VBAC) is getting more and more common. My doula had one (part of her inspiration to become a doula) and my sister hopes to give birth vaginally after she had to have an emergency cesarean with her first child. But I just read a story about a mom who says her hospital has banned VBACs.

Joy Szabo lives in Page, Arizona, and her local hospital -- Page Hospital -- will not perform VBACs because of the higher risk of complications.

Photo by diamondchic

There's nothing like a first pregnancy that makes you think about death. I mean, I don't mean to be all doomsday, but I've thought more about my own mortality since becoming pregnant than ever before. I'm going to be a mom! My kids need me and oh how nice it would be for us to all live very long healthy lives together.

When my husband and I saw a piece on the news that babies born now can live to be 100, I thought great! That means I'll be 137 when I die if I live as long as my kids.

Photo by honeybee69

I'm a little late on this one, regretfully, but this week is National Midwifery Week -- October 4th through the 10th.

So what exactly is a midwife?

I can't say I was free from all psychotic tendencies when I was a teen. I had some moments that I'm sure had my parents questioning what the heck was going on with me.

But according to this study, it wasn't me being boy crazy or my hormones in a rage, it was because my mom smoked when she was pregnant with me.

See...not my fault!

Earlier this year, a man from Spain announced he was pregnant with twins via IVF. Twenty-six year-old Ruben Noe Coronado Jimenez  was born a female, but has lived life as a male since 18, removing his breasts, but his female reproductive system stayed intact. 

Jimenez suffered a miscarriage at 18 weeks back in May. But now he and his 43 year-old girlfriend, who cannot have children, are trying again.

Me at 21 weeks pregnant with twins

There are lots of big babies being born and plenty of them are very healthy. A women I know birthed a 10.7 pound baby and another had one at a little over 11 pounds. And of course, the news of this woman who had a 19 pound baby.

Like I said before, plenty of bigger babies are healthy, but there are some that aren't, so says a recent study in Norway examining over 35,000 births, found in the October issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

This morning my husband called me to his computer to show me a news report he found about a pregnant woman getting pregnant again.

We're having twins and while I'm 26 weeks along, we still joke about what if we got pregnant again when we have sex. It's not a funny haha joke.

I was told my twins were conceived on different days -- granted only two or three days apart the doctors seem to think -- but still different days, yet they are still twins. It's called superfetation. My husband likes to think it was his super sperm.

But this Arkansas woman, Julia Grovenberg, had two and a half weeks between the two conceptions. Still, why wasn't I that impressed?

After my doctor, OBGYN, sister-in-law who is a doctor, and my husband urged me to get the flu shot, and my heart of hearts telling me to get it, I went to get it yesterday. It's all for my twins and I live in NYC, which may be the germ capital of the world.

But when I got there, my doctor told me he was out of the preservative-free flu shot, the one they give kids and pregnant woman, so he wanted me to wait until he got more in stock next week. I had no idea about preservative-free -- it's free of thimerosal...the mercury in the shot.

And even though my OB wants me to get the H1N1 shot as well, I just can't do that one. Too new in my opinion.

Apparently evidence suggests when a pregnant woman gets the flu shot (for the regular flu), once her child is born, baby is protected for six months from getting it as well?

That's good news for me since I will be having my twins during flu season.

Despite all this, many pregnant women do not get the flu shot according to Med Page Today.