* My boyfriend and I have lived together for almost 2 years and we’re now trying to have a baby. I think he might be cheating on me, so how do I find out for sure?

Let’s get our priorities straight. Ever hear the song “First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes you with a baby carriage”? In my book that’s still the recommended order of things, although an extra step has been added since I was young: “First comes love, then comes living together, then comes marriage. Then comes you with the baby carriage.” It spoils the rhythm of the ditty but doesn’t interfere with the expected order of things. So until you’re married baby making might be postponed. It ought to be postponed indefinitely if you don’t trust your guy and can’t talk to him about your fears. Whether he is worthy of your trust is another matter. Ask him what’s going on. Yeah, I know, cheaters also lie, but talking about your feelings is a good place to open the discussion. If you don’t believe his answers you can snoop for signs like changes in his grooming or routine, ask your mutual friends, hire a detective. Unless you catch him with his hand or some other body part in the cookie jar you can never know for sure, but your mistrust is not a good sign of a happy future family.

* My wife and I haven’t had sex for a very long time. (It’s been more than a year, but who’s counting?) Whenever I try to bring up the subject she avoids it. I think we need to see a sex therapist to sort things out. I don’t know how we got to this point, but I sure know I don’t want to stay here. How do I get her to see a sex therapist with me?

First of all, I think you need to be more forceful about allowing her to avoid the subject. Choose a time and place where there is privacy and lay it on the line just as you did here: “Here’s the situation. I don’t like it and want to change it. Let’s see someone about doing just that.” Then you beg, bribe, badger or barter to get her to go with you. If she absolutely refuses, go alone. Really. There is much that one person can do to change the dynamics within the couple. You do have options other than being stuck and celibate.

* Have you ever heard of sex as a cure for hiccups? I know I heard about it somewhere but my husband refuses to believe me. There is a bet riding on this.

I can more easily imagine hiccups as a cure for sex. However, I am currently reading and very much enjoying Mary Roach’s popular book on sex research, Bonk, wherein she reports: In 1999 somewhere in the state of Israel a man began hiccuping and could not stop. He tried the silly things his friends suggested. He pulled on his tongue and rubbed the roof of his mouth with a Q-tip. He tried chlorpromazine, metoclopromide, defoaming anti-flatulent even. Nothing worked. The man grew increasingly anxious. He could not sleep or concentrate on his work. On the fourth day, still hiccuping, the man had sex with his wife. His condition persisted all the way through the act, and then, once he ejaculated, the hiccups stopped. Canadian Family Physician published a report about the man under the title “Sexual Intercourse as a Potential Treatment for Intractable Hiccups.” Unattached hiccuppers were advised that “masturbation might be tried.”