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By Guest Author Alex Pejak

Pregnancy and the process of childbirth have come a long way in the past century or so, and huge advancements are happening more and more frequently that make pregnancy safer for the mother and the baby. In the mid-1800s, the mortality rate of women during childbirth was greater than 1 in 10, even at some of the worlds top hospitals at the time. With modern medicine and hospitals, that number is closer to 1 in 10,000 now. The entire process of pregnancy and giving birth will undoubtedly get even safer as technology and medicine advance further, and pregnancy is also going to change and evolve in other ways besides just safety.

Lets take a look at the future (and present) of pregnancy, including such topics as choosing the sex of your baby, prescreening for diseases, and fertilization techniques that allow couples to have babies though they wouldnt have been able to in the past for numerous reasons.

You dont have to look far into the future to find some very interesting advancements that have taken place when it comes to pregnancy. Before we start to look at whats coming up on the horizon, lets discuss whats currently taking place with PGD.

PGD stands for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, also known as embryo screening, which is a process that has been practiced since the 1990s. You can think of this as a type of filtering process in which a three-day-old embryo has its six cells tested to see if it contains any genetic markers that would indicate the potential for disease. Only the embryos that have tested negative for signs of disease would be implanted into the womb of the mother. As such, the likelihood of the baby being born with disease is reduced. This process has been improving, and it opens the doors to all sorts of other options for selective reproduction in which parents could choose other traits for their children as well, such as gender, height, and a lot more.

Lets not forget the 3/4d ultrasound, which gives us a much clearer image of the baby. It wasnt that long ago that there werent any ultra sound photos at all, but the level of detail we can see today is very impressive.

Undoubtedly, pregnancy is going to become even safer as time passes. Even though its become much safer than it was, becoming pregnant remains the single most dangerous thing a woman can do, statistically. According to ABC News, approximately 1000 women die each day giving birth, mostly due to bleeding or infections. Safety isnt the only thing thats going to change as the future draws nearer, however, so lets take a look at advancements when it comes to being able to design your baby, artificial wombs and more.

In this day and age its possible to customize everything from a cellphone case, to a t-shirt, to a home. Whats next, designer babies? Yes, quite possibly, but it doesnt quite work how many people might imagine. Its not a matter of filling out a checklist that says I want a male baby that grows up to be six feet tall, with blonde hair, a lean body type, and a fondness for mathematics and science. Thats just not how genetics work, however if you recall the process of filtering embryos to select the ones that are disease free, the process of choosing other traits could work similarly.

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