Please Help: alcohol & pregnancy

My wife, not realizing she was pregnant, consumed about 4-5 drinks in
3 hours approximately 4-6 weeks into her pregnancy. I am very
concerned about the repercussions of this...she probably wasn't
getting the proper nutrition during this time either.

Am I being paranoid? Should this cause us to consider terminating the
pregnancy?

Please Help

wrote in message
m...
My wife, not realizing she was pregnant, consumed about 4-5 drinks in
3 hours approximately 4-6 weeks into her pregnancy. I am very
concerned about the repercussions of this...she probably wasn't
getting the proper nutrition during this time either.

Am I being paranoid? Should this cause us to consider terminating the
pregnancy?

Please Help

Things like this happen all the time.. I would not terminate a pregnancy
because of a few drinks one night.. Though I would not terminate a
pregnancy..

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Xavier due 10/17/04

wrote:

My wife, not realizing she was pregnant, consumed about 4-5 drinks in
3 hours approximately 4-6 weeks into her pregnancy. I am very
concerned about the repercussions of this...she probably wasn't
getting the proper nutrition during this time either.

Am I being paranoid? Should this cause us to consider terminating the
pregnancy?

Please Help



You are being paranoid and giving the anti-abortion believers
lots of ammunition with your seemingly casual attitude
regarding termination.

FWIW when I had my children in the 70's no one was suggesting
that alcohol was bad during pregnancy and my friends and I
continued to drink alcohol in moderation while pregnant. All
of the children I know who were born then are college graduates.
In fact, we were in a monthly wine tasting club that my OB
was a member of.

I'm not suggesting your wife continue to drink, but there
will be opportunity during sonograms to detect any problems
which might have resulted.

gloria p

Also not realising I was pregnant I had 2 reasonable drinking sessions, both
around 4 drinks in about 2-3 hours, it was both mine and my husbands
birthday. It never even occured to me to worry about them, in fact I only
thought about it when I heard on the news this week that some research has
shown any alcohol in pregnancy is bad. (UK recommendation has been no more
than 1 unit a day and you shouldn't do that everyday, don't know the US one)

My first pregnancy test came back negative, so I promptly went on a wine
tasting trip, and then ran the margarita bar at a party a few days
later... So far, everything looks fine with the baby. And from what I've
heard from OBs, midwives, and lots of women, it is *very* common for
people to drink without realizing they're pregnant.

You can't do anything about what happened in the past; you can just
concentrate on getting good nutrition now!!

Em
baby boy, due Nov. 18

wrote in message
m...
My wife, not realizing she was pregnant, consumed about 4-5 drinks in
3 hours approximately 4-6 weeks into her pregnancy. I am very
concerned about the repercussions of this...she probably wasn't
getting the proper nutrition during this time either.

Am I being paranoid? Should this cause us to consider terminating the
pregnancy?


When I was 4 weeks pregnant with my DD and did not realize it I went to a
stagette for a friend. I even took a HPT prior to going to make sure I
wasn't pregnant but it was negative. Anyway, I consumed quite a bit of
alcohol that evening (more than 4-5 drinks) and about 5 days later had a
positive HPT. I felt HORRIBLE, however, I never once considered terminating
because of this. I think this happens quite a bit because a lot of people
don't find out until they are further along that they are pregnant. My
daughter turned out perfectly. As long as she is now eating healthy and
taking her prenatal vitamins the baby should be fine.

wrote in message
m...
My wife, not realizing she was pregnant, consumed about 4-5 drinks in
3 hours approximately 4-6 weeks into her pregnancy. I am very
concerned about the repercussions of this...she probably wasn't
getting the proper nutrition during this time either.

Am I being paranoid? Should this cause us to consider terminating the
pregnancy?

Please Help

That amount of alcohol is not likely to be a major problem, IMHO certainly
not a sole reason to terminate. Check out this website for the
Massachusetts Teratology service http://www.thegenesisfund.org/pehhome.htm
You might be able to find a similar service in your state, or you can
consult a genetic counselor or teratologist.

Amy

From what I understand (please somebody correct me if I am wrong) the
baby and the mother don't share a blood supply in the first 4 weeks. And
I have never actually heard of anybody (and I know a quite a few, myself
included) who consumed a few drinks in the early stages of pregnancy
that had any trouble at all. Everything should be just fine. However,
the casual way you mention terminating the pregnancy is very alarming.

Wendy

While it isn't advisable to drink during pregnancy, this kind of thing
happens all the time before women realise they're pregnant. I for one
inhaled aerosol paint fumes early on (unintentionally) and 12 week old DD is
ahead in a lot of milestones.
The best thing you're wife can do now is ensure she has adequate nutrition,
and of course completely cut out any drinking or smoking.
I don't want to sound cavalier about it, because one drinking binge *can*
damage a developing foetus, but lets just say I think you'd be extremely
unlucky for your baby to have any long lasting effects. Most babies who
suffer from FAS have mothers who are regular drinkers if not alcoholics:
"The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recently conducted a
large study including 400,000 American women, all of whom had consumed
alcohol during pregnancy. Not a single case of fetal alcohol syndrome
occurred and no adverse effects on children were found when consumption was
under 8.5 drinks per week." (
http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info/FAS/FAS.html )I'm not advocating
drinking during pregnancy; I chose to abstain completely, but I certainly
wouldn't terminate what is likely a healthy baby over it.

--
Amy,
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04


wrote in message
m...
My wife, not realizing she was pregnant, consumed about 4-5 drinks in
3 hours approximately 4-6 weeks into her pregnancy. I am very
concerned about the repercussions of this...she probably wasn't
getting the proper nutrition during this time either.

Am I being paranoid? Should this cause us to consider terminating the
pregnancy?

Please Help

Most of the research and known effects on FAS/FAE were mothers who were
regular drinkers, and the greatest effects are in babies where the mothers
were heavy drinkers or downright alcoholic. I don't think you have to worry.
If you're seriously concerned, ask the OB/Midwife for a referral to a
Maternal/Fetal center for counselling.