stage I was at and the amount of drugs I had taken. I went on to give birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy just before Christmas - we called him Deaven (from heaven!) and he's been a constant joy to all our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you." - A Motherisk caller Every day, Motherisk counsellors answer calls from hundreds of women and their doctors, seeking important information about the safety or risk of common medications, drugs, medicinal plants, chemicals, infections and other agents that might affect their unborn children. Some of the questions are easy -- our advice reassuring. Others are a lot harder. As you might guess, not every question has a ready answer. Each day, women and their doctors are faced with new drugs and diseases that simply have not been studied for their potential risk to the unborn. Yet mothers-to-be desperately need to know, if they are to make informed choices that will affect them and their children for life. That's why at Motherisk, research is a vital part of what we do. Right now, pioneering research is underway to establish the risks infectious diseases and their treatment during pregnancy, determine the safety of herbal products such as echinacea, and establish once and for all the devastating effects of acute morning sickness in pregnancy. And the research, education and counselling that we're doing are paying off. Since 1985, Motherisk has delivered authoritative and often reassuring information about the safety of important drugs for women