One of the great privileges of our work as obstetricians is the opportunity to witness, again and again, the moment when a man becomes a father. During the pregnancy, he waits in a supporting role. He attends prenatal appointments and childbirth classes, assembles a crib, installs a car seat, and offers his partner whatever help and comfort he can. During the first minutes after the birth, he watches his partner hold their tiny infant against her skin while a nurse works to clear the baby’s nose and mouth and dry the skin. Someone calls out a few numbers (the…

Happy New Year 2023! Over the years, we’ve posted many greetings in this space suggesting healthy resolutions to start the year. The typical list includes weight-loss, smoking cessation, exercise, preventive healthcare, and so on—worthwhile goals for any new year.

This year we decided to change it up a bit. We begin 2023 with resolutions to make you happy. While none of these “resolutions” can minimize the burden of life’s serious challenges, they might offer you a few more smiles, moments of fun, chances to relax, or personal satisfaction over the next twelve months. Our list got…

Are you planning to become pregnant?
Will you have contact with an infant this year?
Are you attending college?
Have you reached age 60?
Are you planning foreign travel?
Most of us are very aware that children need immunizations to protect them from contagious diseases and to enroll them in school. Each summer, moms plan visits to the pediatrician to update the important blue slip, the Alabama Certificate of Immunization. But our need for vaccinations extends beyond childhood. The questions above are reminders of just some of the situations for which adult women need to consider their immunizations.
We know…

All the physicians at Sparks & Favor welcome birth plans. Whether you have a written plan or just a mental note of a few items, it helps us to know what is important to you.
A True Birth Plan Story
Many years ago, Dr. Sparks and his wife looked forward to the birth of their first child. Dr. Sparks, an army physician, had just received his new duty assignment to the 130th Station Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. They would travel over a month before the baby’s due date, get settled, and then spend some time enjoying this beautiful city…

The average age for a woman to reach menopause is about 51. A woman has reached menopause when she has had no menstrual periods for 12 months. The transition between the reproductive years and menopause is gradual and can last for several years. Doctors call this phase perimenopause. Periods become more irregular, and other symptoms like night sweats, hot flashes, mood changes, changes in sexuality may become bothersome.
What Causes Menopause
Very simply, a woman reaches menopause when she runs out of functioning eggs. The journey toward menopause actually begins before birth! At 24 weeks of pregnancy, a baby girl…

The year 2020 affected all of us in ways we could not have imagined. But in February as we were beginning to realize how Covid-19 might alter our lives, I confronted another difficult life event. My annual screening mammogram revealed an abnormality that would require surgery and was likely to be malignant. I feel very fortunate that, in this case, the routine care I recommend to women each day allowed me to receive early treatment. I look forward to continued good health.

Each October, I now experience Breast Cancer Awareness Month as a survivor. Much of my personal experience…

I would like to share with my patients that I will be taking a short leave of absence from my practice beginning later this week. I have received an abnormal result on a recent mammogram, and surgery will be necessary. I feel very fortunate that, in this case, the good routine medical care I recommend to women each day has allowed me to receive early treatment, and I look forward to returning to my full schedule in a few weeks.

I regret this inconvenience to my patients, but I confidently place your care needs in the hands of my partners…

“Approximately 43% of American women report experiencing sexual problems, with 12% considering this problem to be so bothersome that it leads to personal distress.[1]” My hope is that providing some basic information here will encourage women to speak to their physicians if they are having this experience.

Doctors use the term female sexual dysfunction to refer to a group of problems including lack of interest in sex, pain with sex, and lack of satisfying sexual experience. A woman’s sexual response depends on many physical and psychological factors, so it is often difficult to identify and treat a single…

An episiotomy—the small surgical incision made to enlarge the vaginal opening shortly before a baby is delivered—was not a commonly accepted birth procedure until the twentieth century.  But by mid-century, over half of vaginal deliveries included an episiotomy. The idea was that making a small incision would reduce the risk of a large spontaneous tear in the tissues surrounding the vagina (the perineum) as the infant’s head delivered.

As physicians, we want to offer our patients only medical interventions that—based on solid evidence—actually benefit them. By the 1980s, we began to realize that the…

As some of my patients know, I began my professional life as a registered pharmacist. Caring for women in my ob-gyn practice, I still answer many questions about substances available without a prescription that some people believe are medicines. Have you heard about these dietary supplements?

Acidophilus
Echinacea
Ginger
Glucosamine and/or Chonodroitin Sulphate
Omega-3 Fatty Acids  (from fish oil)
St. John’s Wort
Saw Palmetto

They are a few of the many that Americans buy and consume trying to stay healthy. In fact, the National Center for Health Statistics tells us that more than half of us…