How the Hours You Clock at Work Affect Your Fertility

Is your job preventing you from putting a bun in the oven?

I'm working 12-hour days back-to-back. Can that keep me from rolling out an egg? —Lara, New York City

Burning the candle at both ends causes stress, which can disrupt the hormone signals that initiate ovulation. The result: You may ovulate later than usual—or not at all, which can delay or make you flat-out miss your period. If you can't cut back at work, try your best to sleep seven hours each night, eat a balanced diet (including a prenatal vitamin), and get 30 to 45 minutes of moderately intense exercise three times a week (which can provide a boost of energy to help you get through the long days). If you work crazy hours and still eat well and sleep enough, you should ovulate.

Sheeva Talebian, M.D., reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York

I Was Birth-Shamed for Wanting an Epidural

I Was Birth-Shamed for Wanting an Epidural

I never knew so many people cared about labor until I was pregnant. About two seconds after my husband and I announced the news, I was inundated with input on how I should give birth.

“What’s your birth plan?” one relative asked immediately after I told her I was pregnant. Uh…to get the baby out—preferably while experiencing the exact opposite of excruciating pain? She proceeded to preach to me about the benefits of natural childbirth, throwing out intense adjectives like “primal” and “empowering” while getting misty-eyed about her own birth experience. There’s really no polite way to end a conversation about how a baby should come out of me, so I just smiled, nodded, and entertained myself by reciting the lyrics to “American Pie” in my head.