Category: General
Your Obstetrician’s Holiday Tips for Expectant Moms
The holidays bring a dramatic change in our usual routines. For most of us the festivities include more food and perhaps alcohol, travel, large gatherings of friends and family, more stress, and less rest. We wouldn’t have it any other way! But if you are pregnant, many holiday traditions require some special consideration. Here are a few tips to help our expectant moms enjoy the holidays safely…
Katie Couric’s Breast Cancer Announcement—with a Few Words from Dr. Favor
Today former news anchor Katie Couric revealed that she has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Her announcement on social media read:
“Every two minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. On June 21st, I became one of them.” You can read her full post here. Seeing this headline and realizing that Breast Cancer Awareness Month is just a few days off, Dr. Favor wanted to pass along some important facts about breast cancer risk and breast care.
Dr. Favor emphasizes that the latest strategies against breast cancer include identifying women at higher risk and…
We Appreciate Your Feedback
Online reviews help us to improve. And women seeking a new provider often find online reviews helpful. Click below if you’d like to leave a Google Review for our practice.
To leave a review for you individual doctor, you can find her page by clicking the “About Us” tab in the page menu above.
Leave a Review…
Long Acting Reversible Contraception: A Birth Control Method Many Gynecologists Choose for Themselves
Surprising Facts:
Over 40% of women’s health providers choose the Intrauterine Device (IUD) for themselves according to one study. However, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that only about 12% of American women overall are choosing an IUD or other long-acting reversible contraception methods (LARC). These gynecologists and other providers help their patients learn about the advantages they enjoy themselves. Long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods like the intrauterine device (IUD) and arm implant (Nexplanon) are very reliable types of birth control that provide years of protection against pregnancy with a single device.
Why Do So…
What Influences a Woman’s Reproductive Biological Clock?
On average, an American woman in 1970 was 21.4 years old at the birth of her first child. By 2006 a woman’s average age at her first delivery had risen to 25. And by 2014 it had crept up further to just over 26. During that same period the percent of first births to women over 35 increased from 1 in 100 to 1 in 12! The average U.S. woman giving birth (any child) is now 30 (2019), compared with 27 in 1990. As women choose more and more frequently to postpone childbearing, many of them begin…
5 Reasons Your OB Doctor Wants You to Think About Your Birth Plan
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…
Your Relationship With Alcohol: Just Another Reason For Women To Feel Guilty?
To start, I am not writing about Alcohol Use Disorder specifically. I just want to offer a little sip of caution to those who drink alcohol socially—almost half of Alabama adults. What is social drinking? Well, some people are more social than others. But if you’re rethinking your drinking habits, you really want to know “Where do I fit in?” “Are my alcohol choices affecting my health or quality of life?”
April is Alcohol Awareness Month. Scroll to the end of the post for a refresher on the medical facts of alcohol consumption. But if you clicked on…
Our Patient Portal Makes Your Ob-Gyn Care More Convenient
We hope you will register for our Patient Portal if you are not yet registered. It gives you a secure, reliable way to reach us. (Example: In the event of phone service interruptions). It also gives us a reliable way to communicate Personal Health Information to you. Our PORTAL is HIPAA compliant, so your privacy is protected. We cannot use regular email (outside of the PORTAL) to send you personal information about your care.
We may not be able to reach you by phone in timely circumstances, and normal SMS (text) messages containing Personal Health Information are prohibited. We do…
From Dr. Favor–March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
We understand that, through a large part of her life, her gynecologist may be the only physician a woman sees every year. While our focus is your reproductive health, we want you to be well-informed about other health issues you may face now or in the future. Colorectal cancer is one of these risks.
Despite the fact that these cancers are highly preventable and very treatable in earlier stages, they are the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. for both men and women. Factors that increase your risk of colon cancer include:
Age
Personal and…
Ovarian Cancer: Educating Women about Symptoms
In my last blog post, I talked about Chris Evert’s ovarian cancer diagnosis and the importance of knowing your family medical history. While reviewing my medical journals this month, I found another reason to write about ovarian cancer: the importance of recognizing symptoms.
About OVarian Cancer
About 13,000 women in the U.S. die of ovarian cancer each year—making it the deadliest of all cancers of a woman’s reproductive system. Survival rates are poor because the cancer is usually not discovered until an advanced stage (III or IV). Only about 10 to 30% of women diagnosed…