What do you know about your thyroid gland? Did you know it's one of the most important glands for the development of your tiny baby's brain in the very first weeks of pregnancy?

Your thyroid, it's health and the levels of iodine in your diet can have dramatic effects on the development of your baby's brain and it's a mineral that's not always included in pregnancy supplements.

Every woman takes a journey to become a mother. Luckily for most of us it's a lovely experience, punctuated with some natural ups and downs, and a flurry of activity at hospital that makes us happy and glad and relieved and joyful and we realise that the biggest journey of motherhood is all ahead. But for many of our comrades in arms this is not quite the case, for these brave hearts pregnancy can mean loss and sadness, fear and trepidation, it can leave you wondering how they ever cope.

Is it possible to 'Have It All' if you are a mother? Do all mothers feel this guilty or is it just me? What are the mummy wars and how on earth did we all get involved in other people's parenting choices? Who is making who feel guilty and what are we doing about it?

Pre-eclampsia is potentially the most dangerous condition you might develop during pregnancy. Essentially it's caused when the mother's body starts reacting adversely to the placenta. It is one of the more common causes of babies being delivered before they're due and it can strike almost any pregnant woman but is made more likely if you're expecting twins, older, or surprisingly if you haven't been living with the baby's father for very long.

For most mothers Sunday morning will be a day of crumbs in bed, dodgy cups of tea, presents (all made and wrapped with love) and maybe some time doing what mothers really want (spending time with the family.) However for many women, mothers day will be another reminder that not all her pregnancies ran according to plan. There might be some time during the day when you want to remember however painfully a stillbirth, a miscarriage or a pregnancy loss, a child that never was. Is there room in Mothers Day to celebrate or remember the children that might have been? We know that one in four pregnancies do not continue to full term and for many women that amounts to an often unacknowledged grief for what might have been.

What does it take to be a bad mother? Not much all you have to do is forget sunscreen, pack an unhealthy snack for your school child, use disposable nappies, or have a toddler who knows their way around the ipad a bit too well!

Luckily for us Annemarie Flemming has been taking down the "Collected Minutes from the Bad Mothers Meetings" and is prepared to enter into a discussion on why she's a worse mother than you!

As we begin to celebrate milestones in the Great War it's important to remember although there was great loss and sadness, there were also some great changes and innovations that came with the experiences of Australians at war. One person changed by her experience working as a surgeon in a military hospital run by radical suffragettes came back to Australia full of confidence and organisational skills that were used to establish the first state run infant welfare centres. This is the war story of Dr Vera Scantlebury-Brown.

How hard would it be to write a children's book? Not so tricky... something you could knock up in a couple of hours? Maybe you should think again. From what I've seen writing children's books is hard work and the good ones involve much creativity and intense cooperation between writers and illustrators. As any parent who struggles with their child's choice of favourite book knows there are a few really well written children's books and there are some disasters (all of which I'm too terrified to name!)