According to recent research, adult women who were breastfed as infants have a higher chance of not getting breast cancer than their counterparts who weren't. Oddly, this result didn't necessarily apply to first-born children. Women who reported they were breastfed as babies were 17 percent less at risk for getting breast cancer. This was not observed among women who were first-born however.

The mother's age at the time of birth was used to predict how many environmental contaminants were in her breastmilk, suggesting a possible link between the amount of contaminants and the woman's likelihood of developing breast cancer. Over 2,000 women between the ages of 20 and 69 with breast cancer and just under 2,000 at that age without it were studied. All three factors--the mother's age, the daughter's birth order and whether or not she was breast-fed--were given consideration for the study.

Women who were not breast-fed, reduced cancer risk was noted when the mother was older. Birth order did not affect this group, while in those who were breast-fed group it was noted women with three or more older siblings had a lesser chance of getting breast cancer than first-born women. As is the result with most research, more study is needed.

You probably know a little something about the old school pregnancy test devised in the 1920's. A woman's urine was injected into an immature mouse, rat, frog or rabbit. If the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) was present, the animal would go into premature heat. Unfortunately, the only way to confirm the result was to dissect the animal. This is the source of the euphemism "the rabbit died", but in reality the rabbit (or frog, mouse, rat) was always destroyed after the test.

This hormone testing on animals is pretty well known, but did you ever wonder how pregnancy tests were performed in ancient times? Me either, but Mental Floss has an interesting article on the subject. Ancient Egyptian women were doing the equivalent of peeing on a stick long before EPT modernized the idea. The sticks were actually wheat and barley stalks and the diagnosis was made by seeing which one grew. If the wheat grew, you were having a girl. If the barley grew, you were having a boy. If nothing grew, you needed to go back try, try again. (A 1963 study found this method to be 70% accurate!)

Pee was still key even in the Middle Ages. Sometimes prophets could tell just by looking at it (clear pale lemon color leaning toward off-white, having a cloud on its surface) or by mixing it with wine and looking for certain reactions. My favorite method, however, has to be the peeing on a ribbon and burning it. If the smell made the woman nauseous, she was likely feeling nauseous for two.

Today, we are still peeing on things to find out if we're pregnant, but we have sure come a long way. We can do it ourselves in the privacy of our own homes and best of all, no animals need give their lives for the cause.

MSN is reporting, as they and many other media outlets before them have been since Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had their first offspring, that the TomKat super couple is planning another baby. this will be at least the fifth time I've read such a thing, which in my mind is really nothing more than speculation.

Not so, says a source who revealed all to E News: "[Katie] said she's got "the itch." I don't think they mean poison ivy. Apparently Mrs. Cruise is longing for another infant in the house. The insider also said Katie felt Suri would make a good big sister. It is alleged that Katie was the one who wanted to hold off on having more children, not Tom--until now.

All eyes are once again on Katie's stomach--did she eat a sandwich? Is she having a fat day?? Is she--OMG, pregnant??? Not that those eyes ever left her stomach in the first place. Well, if they are in the planning phases of having a new baby, good luck, Cruises! Hopefully they'll be able to keep things under wraps until they're ready to share such news with the world...and the paparazzi!

Pic of Katie pre-TomKat by mricon.

With my due date now only one day away, I am looking forward to the labor and delivery of this baby, my fifth, with an entirely different energy and perspective.

For one, this pregnancy has been different. Physically, the last nine months have been harder than prior pregnancies. More kids to take care of, less rest, and a heavier belly due to weaker, older abdominal muscles.

On the other hand, the familiarity of it all has also made it easier. With the exception of a few splurges at an overpriced children's boutique and a new Boppy pillow cover, I haven't had to buy anything. No stressing over strollers, infant carriers, or nursery paint colors. My preparations have consisted of washing linens and baby clothes from my "newborn girl" bin in the basement and a trip to Wal-Mart for diapers and wipes.

Have plans for Wednesday, May 21st? Well, even if you do, if you happen to be pregnant, make sure you stop by Baskin Robbins. They're offering those expecting a new addition a taste of their own new addition--soft serve.

Now, you may say Baskin Robbins offering soft serve is pure ice cream blasphemy, but, if you're pregnant (and having a craving for ice cream, with or without the pickles) you can enjoy a free three ounce serving of the new soft serve from 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM. My advice? Locate the various Baskin Robbins stores around you and hit them all.

Unfortunately, the offer is limited to those lucky gals in California, Chicago, New York, Nashville and El Paso. if you don't happen to be located in one of those locations, you have two options:

1. Hop on the next train or plain and get yourself there to satisfy your desire for soft serve.

2. Consider that your OBGYN would probably say ice cream isn't good for you anyway.

I happen to be pregnant, located in New York, and a supreme lover of Baskin Robbins. So if you're looking for me on May 21st, you know where to find me.

Young and pregnant for the first time back in 1992, I picked up "What to Expect When You're Expecting" because pregnancy literature was pretty sparse and blogs had yet to be invented.

Predictably, I spent the remainder of that pregnancy freaking out over what that I should and should not be eating and that every twinge was a sign of a Rare but Potentially Fatal Badness due to something I had or had not done. The "Best Odds Diet" (which should have been called "The Best Odds for Making You Insane Diet") was a total bust for me. During pregnancy was NOT the time for me to give up all refined sugar and flour so I just ate whatever and then felt bad about it.

Even the cover of the book was disturbing. An illustrated pregnant woman in a huge mauve tent dress and wearing ugly, but sensible shoes sat in a rocker looking pained (or gassy) while reading a book. (Perhaps she just read that in rare instances, the shrimp she had in her salad at lunch can cause children to be born with cloven hooves and horns?)

The other day I found myself wandering the aisles of Babies R' Us looking for a few small items for my almost-toddler aged son. I was surrounded by hundreds--no, thousands--of items, and by nearly as many bewildered parents-to-be, all of them searching for just the right...everything!

Seems like first time parents have a really hard time making sense of what they really need, what can wait, and what is fad or just plain silly (see, in my opinion, wipe warmers). The second time around, though, it should be easier to figure out what you need, right?

And, what's moreso, you should already have all the stuff, or at least most of it, right? Here is the thing, though--well, several of them:

1. People tend to get rid of stuff, whether or not they need it.

2. Even if they do have the space to store baby items, it's entirely possible the old version will be covered with baby much OR, what's worse, the item will be declared unsafe or find itself recalled.

3. Some people really have an issue with using the same items--sheets, blankets, clothes--for children of the opposite sex. Not many of us really have that much green or yellow baby clothing. And bedding and that sort of thing tend to be very specific toward one sex or the other.

Women going through childbirth might as well check their modesty at the door. Depending on how you handle your own labor experience, any number of medical professionals, friends, and family members may be privy to parts of your body that you yourself need a mirror and an awkward angle to see.

Then, afterward, the cameras come out. The baby is cute and the husband is dressed and well-rested, but mom? Well, if your pictures look like mine, you look sweaty, pale, and exhausted.

According to the New York Post, some moms -- influenced by today's celebrity mom lifestyle -- are taking steps to look their best in their post-labor pictures. Some are even planning appointments around their due date, making sure that they have fresh manicures, pedicures, hairstyles, and even bikini waxes.

I've always wished I had detachable arms because they always got in the way when I try to sleep. (Of course, I've never solved the problem of how one would get them reattached when one woke up, but I'm still working on it.) Babies, according to just about everyone, have a similar issue. They prefer to be wrapped up with their arms tucked in tight at their sides.

This is called swaddling a baby. We did this for our first two and I assumed that I would remember how to do it for our third who was born earlier this week. Alas, I am old and forgetful, so the process didn't come back to me. Now, I could have just asked a nurse to show me how to do it, but being the complete nerd that I am, I turned instead to the internet. There are quite a few videos on YouTube that demonstrate various ways to swaddle an infant.

The one that I like best is the ultra swaddle, although the blankets at the hospital weren't long enough to do it right. If you're using a really big blanket, the Baby Burrito video makes it look pretty easy. Taking the simple swaddle one step further, this video uses a second blanket to create a burka-like wrap that seems pretty secure. Lastly, here's a fun pastime for new parents and their friends -- a swaddle battle. See who can swaddle the kid the best, the fastest, and the most successfully.

After watching all these videos, you'd think I'd be a swaddle master, but unfortunately, I'm not. It's not all my fault, however; I have a very uncooperative partner -- one who likes to wave his arms about and kick his legs like mad. Still, I'll keep practicing and, someday, I'll get it right. Probably right about the time he's ready to go off to college.

Just how much are you supposed to eat when you're pregnant? According to MayoClinic.com, the average (not overweight, not underweight) woman should gain between 25-35 pounds during pregnancy. But, does it matter what your doctor says, what your friends and family say, or what the little one inside you dictates?

With my first pregnancy, I was advised to consume between 300 and 500 calories extra per day. Not a drop more. Gone were the days when I thought I would be able to eat anything I wanted, the way things used to be

Back when my mother-in-law was pregnant with my husband her doctor prescribed her diet pills to take during her pregnancy so she wouldn't gain too much weight. Scary thought, eh, but it's the truth. How she managed it I'll neverk know. Now that I'm in the second trimester of my second pregnancy, I am starting to remember what it was like the first time around.

Picking a name for a new baby is not as easy as it might seem. Sure, some people have it easy -- their first born son is always named Humphrey or daughters' names always start with M -- and some people have the name picked out even before they hit puberty. But for the rest of us, it can be a nerve-wracking, marriage-wrecking experience.

My wife gave birth last Monday afternoon to a baby boy (9 pounds, 4 ounces; 20.25 inches) and we still didn't have a name for him. I was supposed to pick the name, but none of the ones I picked -- River, Tuolumne, Alder -- passed the mother-in-law test. (If she didn't like the name, she wasn't going to take care of it.) Even my son changed his recommendation from Firebaby to William Shakespeare Sinasohn (which has a nice ring to it, but my wife had issues with the name William.)

Girl's names are actually easier, I think -- had he been a girl, this one would have been named Tenaya. Finding the right boy's name, though, was a real challenge. I wanted something unusual and representative of my love for nature and the Sierras in particular (my first son was supposed to be named Redwood, but that got over-ruled too.) My rule of thumb is that if you can think of a famous person or more than one non-famous person with the name, then it was out (unless the famous person was someone really cool.)

So I spent a lot of time on-line looking for the right name, and I thought others might be interested in the resources I used.

First she married, now she wants to mommy? Mariah Carey, the woman who recently claimed the act of motherhood would violate her but who has now found the soulmate she's always been searching for wants babies.

According to reports, Mimi is planning for children in the months ahead with new husband Nick Cannon. According to the Daily News, the 39-year-old Grammy winner is moving forward with plans to bring some mini-Mimis into the world, wasting no time in listening to her biological clock.

Carey reveals that her marriage, which she claims was planned and not out of the blue, was all part of her mommy plan. Says Carey, "It's part of the whole purpose of getting married." She also goes on to say she wants her kids to have the best childhood and upbringing possible. I'm elated by all this just imagining hearing that voice in the halls of the maternity ward during Mimi's final stages of pushing! Or, better yet, will she be wearing stilettos???

Good luck, Mariah!

Cookie Magazine and the AOL Body Website conducted a poll of 30,000 mothers to find out just what is going on in their bedrooms and in their minds. The survey, called Sex and the American Mom, asked some interesting questions and got some surprising answers.

Most surprising - at least to me - was the fact that 34 percent of married moms said they had cheated on their spouses after having children. Why all the sneaking around? The answer may lie in another statistic: only 36 percent said they are as attracted to their husbands now as when they first married.

And according to the survey results, even those who haven't cheated are thinking about it. More than half admitted considering an affair since having children. "That's a far cry from just fantasizing about it, which I think is an important distinction," said Pilar Guzman, editor-in-chief of Cookie magazine.

Clearly, most of us are not looking for love outside our marriages. And whatever the reasons for unhappiness in the bedroom, the survey shows that many wives are at least trying to work it out. When asked if they would have sex with their husbands if they weren't in the mood, 69 percent said they would. But 22 percent are thinking about George Clooney while they are doing it.

Take the survey yourself and see how your love life compares.

Based on my own personal experience, I've decided that getting pregnant is more of an art than a science. Those who've spent some quality time getting pregnant, and perhaps even those who got pregnant after only one attempt (and I find myself in both categories) would agree, even with the factual information out there.

According to the powers that be--scientists, doctors, your health teacher from the 6th grade--pregnancy occurs one way and one way only. A sperm, offered by the male, implants itself in an egg, supplied by the female, and voila'--you make a baby. Science also points out that whether you do it the old-fashioned way, through intercourse, or through other means such as in vitro fertilization, the mechanics are the same. Sperm meets egg, and the rest is history.

But, getting through that simple task can be daunting. It can seem to take forever. Many gals have turned to old wives tales and gossip heard through friends and family to get themselves in the family way. Do any of these methods work? Well, science would argue no, they don't. Experience might say otherwise, however.

Guess what, folks--it can't be done. Unless you have a bonafide medium/psychic in your midst, hard science makes it darn near impossible to prove there is a way to determine your baby to be's gender without the aid of one of those scary blood tests or a good old ultrasound at around the 20th week of pregnancy.

But, if that is the case, then why do all these other options persist? Maybe it's simply because it's fun, or gives the new parents to be something else to think about rather than worrying that everything is ok in there (the womb). Maybe, though, there is something more to it. After all, those old wives tales the modern world has eschewed seem to turn out to be true, or at least relevant, more often than we think.

I have a pal, a guy, who, for some reason, is almost always able to tell the sex of the baby after spending time with a pregnant friend (nothing more!). Now, I know there are only two choices involved, male or female, but still--he is almost NEVER wrong!