American Mother's Guilt 6-28-11

It starts early. Already I feel it at 10 weeks. All the things you can't do as a pregnant woman. No booze. That's not a big loss to me. I do enjoy the occasional glass of wine with a nice meal to relax. That's out for a good year. I've seen too many little ones with fetal alcohol syndrome and the less serious fetal alcohol effects. The problem is that people don't really know the threshold. I was a little surprised when my Irish friend said that pregnant women should drink Guinness, I believe, for the potassium. I'm sure there are lots of European folks who would advocate for the prenatal benefits of imbibing various local tipple.

Then, there's smoking. That's not good for anyone. (Well, except there was some hint a few years back that smoking may be beneficial for BRCA carriers??) Pregnant smokers are more likely to have low birthrate babies. I wonder what the story is with second and third-hand smoke. Our town just went smoke free, BTW. Great news! Smoking is no loss to me.

Then, there's all of the other things you have to avoid. Lunch meat! Apparently, lunch meat is prone to listeria and is verboten. This was a shock to me when I went to my PCP, as I had just had a yummy Cold Cut Combo from Subway a week ago :( So there's one more thing to feel bad about. My cardiologist had recommended lunch meat to me to help control my vasovagal syncope because it's high in sodium-but I'll have to look elsewhere. I read somewhere that if you douse lunch meat with mustard, it can kill most listeria, or there's the option of cooking the lunchmeat, I guess. I can't say I'm excited about either option.

Sushi, also out, or at least the uncooked fish variety. There's all of the various organisms in raw meat, but there's also the mercury contamination. Oh, I mourn the loss of spicy tuna rolls. I wonder if Japanese mothers have the same worries? Do their OB's forbid sushi? I did have a veggie avocado roll a few days ago. And I've been eating cooked shrimp. It's just a matter of picking fish lower in mercury, I guess.

Another thing I feel guilty about: taking meds. I pretty much just quit taking everything, but severe morning sickness had me a bit desperate. Baby's gotta eat! I tried to use the Pregnancy Class A meds, which are considered safe, but they just didn't do much at all. I moved on the Class B meds, which are thought to be safe, but they haven't done in randomized trials in pregnant humans. So, I resorted to Zofran and already feel guilty. There's also the issue that: Momma's gotta make money! And even with Zofran, I'm not completely there. So, at least I'm somewhat tortured and don't feel quite as guilty.

Pretty much everything I do, I wonder, "Will this hurt the baby?" There's always something to worry about, and it won't end at pregnancy. The fun is just beginning :)

For a nice website that covers many of these topics, you may want to look at this from the CDC.