Obstetricians, gynecologists, and the women they treat writing on KevinMD about pregnancy, fertility and IVF, postpartum recovery and the pelvic floor, maternal mental health, PCOS and menopause, abortion law and maternity care deserts, and the conditions women say went undiagnosed for years. Most contributors are OB/GYNs; many of the most-read posts are by patients. One maintained record draws on this archive: Women's health: what physicians say, in their own words.
Oluyemisi Famuyiwa, MD is a double board-certified reproductive endocrinologist, infertility specialist, and obstetrician-gynecologist, and the founder and medical director of Montgomery Fertility Center in Rockville, Maryland. She has published 21 essays on KevinMD since June 2024 and has been a…
Oluyemisi Famuyiwa, MD is a double board-certified reproductive endocrinologist, infertility specialist, and obstetrician-gynecologist, and the founder and medical director of Montgomery Fertility Center in Rockville, Maryland. She has published 21 essays on KevinMD since June 2024 and has been a
Throughout pregnancy, clinicians carefully monitor a woman's health. Vitals are obtained, laboratory testing is performed, growth is monitored, and complications are identified. Then, a new life is brought into the world, and medical attention dramatically shifts. The medical attention previously…
Throughout pregnancy, clinicians carefully monitor a woman’s health. Vitals are obtained, laboratory testing is performed, growth is monitored, and complications are identified. Then, a new life is brought into the world, and medical attention dramatically shifts. The medical attention previously directed toward a mother abruptly ends, and the infamous “See you in six weeks” appointment is scheduled.
Unfortunately, childbirth is often considered a marker of the end of maternal medical risk …
A 30-year-old man with obesity and longstanding type 2 diabetes comes in for a routine follow-up. His glycemic control remains poor despite treatment. As the visit unfolds, his physician notices persistent adult-onset acne. Years ago, the encounter might have ended…
A 30-year-old man with obesity and longstanding type 2 diabetes comes in for a routine follow-up. His glycemic control remains poor despite treatment. As the visit unfolds, his physician notices persistent adult-onset acne. Years ago, the encounter might have ended there. Today, I imagine asking another question: “Does anyone in your family have what we used to call polycystic ovary syndrome?” His sister does.
My wife and my daughter both have endometriosis. I have spent nearly thirty years working in community health, much of that time leading a federally qualified health center. I know how health care works. I know how referrals work. I…
My wife and my daughter both have endometriosis.
I have spent nearly thirty years working in community health, much of that time leading a federally qualified health center. I know how health care works. I know how referrals work. I know how to ask questions, find resources, and push when something does not make sense. None of that shortened the road for the two women I love.
Pregnancy is a well-documented risk factor for intimate partner violence (IPV), with homicide reported as a leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States. As abortion policy has shifted in the wake of Dobbs v.…
Pregnancy is a well-documented risk factor for intimate partner violence (IPV), with homicide reported as a leading cause of death for pregnant and postpartum women in the United States. As abortion policy has shifted in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson (the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade), researchers have begun examining how abortion access intersects with IPV in a post-Roe world. The sudden changes in abortion access have …
I didn't know what maternal alloimmunization was until it changed my life. At nine weeks pregnant, my routine antibody screen came back positive for anti-Kell antibodies with a titer of 1,024. My obstetrician had practiced medicine for roughly thirty years…
I didn’t know what maternal alloimmunization was until it changed my life. At nine weeks pregnant, my routine antibody screen came back positive for anti-Kell antibodies with a titer of 1,024. My obstetrician had practiced medicine for roughly thirty years and had never seen a case like mine. He explained what he could, but I left without understanding how much risk my baby faced, what my care should look like, …
1. The 6-week myth vs. the 30-year reality We all know the current standard of maternal health care operates on a dangerous illusion: the big ole' 6-week checkup. We tell moms that once they pass this test, congrats! Recovery is…
1. The 6-week myth vs. the 30-year reality
We all know the current standard of maternal health care operates on a dangerous illusion: the big ole’ 6-week checkup. We tell moms that once they pass this test, congrats! Recovery is complete and they are cleared to return to normal life and exercise.
It would be convenient if bodies healed by the calendar, wouldn’t it? What really happens during pregnancy, birth, and lactation …
Today, less than half of rural hospitals in the U.S. still offer labor and delivery services, and since 2020, 139 of them have stopped delivering babies altogether. That is usually treated as a public health statistic. It is also an…
Today, less than half of rural hospitals in the U.S. still offer labor and delivery services, and since 2020, 139 of them have stopped delivering babies altogether. That is usually treated as a public health statistic. It is also an economic one. Each closure does not just push expectant mothers into longer drives to the hospital, it pushes out physicians, jobs, young families, and the investment that follows them. So, …
A recent article discussed the inequitable nature of infertility treatment, with which I agree. Yet, its remediation raised several ethical questions. First, why use IVF when there are 329,000 children in domestic foster care in 2024, many awaiting adoption? The…
A recent article discussed the inequitable nature of infertility treatment, with which I agree. Yet, its remediation raised several ethical questions. First, why use IVF when there are 329,000 children in domestic foster care in 2024, many awaiting adoption? The drive to reproduce may be biological, but the desire for an infant is societal, and there is no evidence that adopting an older child is less rewarding.
Siya was 35 when she first came to see me. She had been married for seven years and she had not been able to have intercourse. She had seen gynecologists and obstetricians before me. Two of them told her, "Take…
Siya was 35 when she first came to see me. She had been married for seven years and she had not been able to have intercourse. She had seen gynecologists and obstetricians before me. Two of them told her, “Take a glass of wine, all is good.” A few told her to use a numbing gel. Some told her, “First time can be painful, bear with it.” One of them …
Your doctor may help you live longer, but has likely never asked if intimacy still matters to you. In this episode, Michael Reed, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, certified menopause practitioner, and fellowship-trained cosmetic gynecologic surgeon, explains why so many women are…
Your doctor may help you live longer, but has likely never asked if intimacy still matters to you. In this episode, Michael Reed, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, certified menopause practitioner, and fellowship-trained cosmetic gynecologic surgeon, explains why so many women are never given the chance to raise sexual health concerns with their physician. You will hear why medicine taught women that …
A few years ago, in a clinical trial my colleagues and I ran, something happened that I still find myself thinking about. We asked postmenopausal women who were having frequent, disruptive hot flashes to change one thing: their diet. They…
A few years ago, in a clinical trial my colleagues and I ran, something happened that I still find myself thinking about. We asked postmenopausal women who were having frequent, disruptive hot flashes to change one thing: their diet. They shifted to a low-fat, plant-based pattern with a serving of soybeans each day. We weren’t testing a drug or a hormone. We were testing food.
If you have acne, irregular periods, and trouble with your weight, the cause may not be three separate problems. It may be one condition affecting your whole body. PCOS, long called polycystic ovary syndrome, was recently proposed for renaming to…
If you have acne, irregular periods, and trouble with your weight, the cause may not be three separate problems. It may be one condition affecting your whole body. PCOS, long called polycystic ovary syndrome, was recently proposed for renaming to reflect its hormonal and metabolic roots, and Oluyemisi “Yemi” Famuyiwa explains …
Last month marked the fourth anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision that fundamentally changed reproductive health care in the United States, returning many parts of the country to a reality that most practicing physicians…
Last month marked the fourth anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision that fundamentally changed reproductive health care in the United States, returning many parts of the country to a reality that most practicing physicians and many patients had never experienced. Since then, access to reproductive health care and even routine pregnancy care, like miscarriage management, is based not on medical evidence or clinical judgment …
"I just don't feel like myself lately." It is one of the most common opening lines in midlife primary care, and one of the least diagnostically useful on its face. The patient is forty-four, sleeping badly, irritable in a way…
“I just don’t feel like myself lately.”
It is one of the most common opening lines in midlife primary care, and one of the least diagnostically useful on its face. The patient is forty-four, sleeping badly, irritable in a way she describes as unfamiliar, and struggling to hold a thought through a meeting. Her cycles are still coming, roughly. She has read about perimenopause and dismissed the idea, because she …
The occasional "Doc, can you look in my ear?" or "Doc, my throat's been scratchy, can you check it?" used to catch me off guard. I'd oblige, but with a disclaimer: "Well, I'm just a vagina doctor, but you're here…
The occasional “Doc, can you look in my ear?” or “Doc, my throat’s been scratchy, can you check it?” used to catch me off guard. I’d oblige, but with a disclaimer: “Well, I’m just a vagina doctor, but you’re here and, for some reason, I have an otoscope in my office, so let’s take a look.”
It never quite made sense to me. Why ask your OB/GYN to sort out an …
After almost any major medical event, someone walks you through what happened. A surgeon explains the procedure, a cardiologist reviews test results, and even a routine outpatient visit ends with some version of: here's what we found, here's what it…
After almost any major medical event, someone walks you through what happened. A surgeon explains the procedure, a cardiologist reviews test results, and even a routine outpatient visit ends with some version of: here’s what we found, here’s what it means, here’s what’s next.
After birth, that conversation often doesn’t happen at all.
I had a birth that didn’t go the way anyone planned. There were interventions I didn’t fully understand in …
After performing more than 600 IVF cycles a year for nearly two decades, I've noticed something that has little to do with embryology and everything to do with expectations. The couples who cope best with this process aren't necessarily the…
After performing more than 600 IVF cycles a year for nearly two decades, I’ve noticed something that has little to do with embryology and everything to do with expectations. The couples who cope best with this process aren’t necessarily the ones with the best prognosis. They’re the ones who walked in with a realistic picture of what they were about to go through.
Fertility specialist and Montgomery Fertility Center founder Oluyemisi "Yemi" Famuyiwa discusses the article "What no one tells you about fertility, from a doctor." Yemi discusses the article through a compassionate look at the emotional, biological, and practical realities patients often…
Fertility specialist and Montgomery Fertility Center founder Oluyemisi “Yemi” Famuyiwa discusses the article “What no one tells you about fertility, from a doctor.” Yemi discusses the article through a compassionate look at the emotional, biological, and practical realities patients often discover only after struggling to conceive. She explores fertility myths, …
In 2019, Kentucky lawmakers passed the Human Life Protection Act (2019 HB 148), a law designed to take effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned. On June 24, 2022, following the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, that…
In 2019, Kentucky lawmakers passed the Human Life Protection Act (2019 HB 148), a law designed to take effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned. On June 24, 2022, following the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that law went into effect, banning abortion in nearly all circumstances. Today, the only exception permitted is for serious medical risk to the pregnant patient. There are no exceptions for rape …
