BabyCenter

1 week ago | babycenter.com | Amelia Edelman

By Andrea Johnson, as told to Amelia Edelman. Content warning: The following is a personal story that contains experience with birth trauma. Advertisement | page continues below BabyCenter's series "So this happened" shares personal accounts of the rewarding, complicated, or straight-up messy parts of the pregnancy and parenting journey, from people in the trenches. When I saw the headlines about influencer Hailey Okula, aka “Nurse Hailey,” I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach.

2 weeks ago | babycenter.com | Kathleen Felton

It's important to keep your child up to date with vaccinations, and it's also natural to want to make the shots hurt less. Fortunately, a little love and distraction can go a long way when it comes to making vaccinations less painful, especially with a baby or toddler. Here are tips for what you can do before, during, and after shots to make the experience as comfortable as possible for your little one.

2 weeks ago | babycenter.com | Kathleen Felton

You know how important it is for your child to follow the vaccine schedule, but you may have also heard it's sometimes better to delay your little one's shots if they're sick. So when is it recommended to postpone your baby's immunizations? In short, it really depends on the kind of illness and how sick your child is. Many doctors do suggest postponing vaccinations in some situations, such as if your child has a very high fever or certain health conditions.

3 weeks ago | babycenter.com | Kelly Burch

When Eryn Schultz was pregnant, her doctor recommended non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), a blood test that can look for genetic abnormalities and also detect a baby's sex. It would be covered by insurance, she was told, and cost about $120 out of pocket. But when the bill arrived a few weeks later, it totaled much more – $1,200, to be exact. Insurance coverage surrounding NIPTs is confusing, says Schultz, a certified financial planner who runs Her Personal Finance, a finance blog for women.

3 weeks ago | babycenter.com | Kaitlin Ahern

We don't have scientific proof that pets sense their owners' pregnancies, but plenty of experts – and pet people themselves – have noticed examples of it. "My cat basically ignores me all the time. But with all four of the pregnancies I've had her with, she becomes obsessed with me," says BabyCenter Community member Wife&Mama21. "Sleeps with me every night, wakes me up meowing in the morning, and sits on my lap or just stares at me all day.