scared & looking for sharing about alcohol consumption - Page 3

[jugistar84]

Can anyone else add?

[Mama2Kayla]

Before I was a mother, I drank, smoked ciggs and pot, and even used cocaine.
I was doing all of this when I found out I was pregnant with my first. I even had my
21st birthday before I knew...and trust me, I drank A LOT that night

I was 7-8 weeks along when I took the test and freaked out of course. I quit everything immediatly and never touched even a drop of alcohol or smoked the rest of my pregnancy. Dd was born 2 weeks late weighing 8lbs 1oz and was perfectly healthy .
She is the healthiest person in our house and is very bright.

Hope this helps...mommy guilt is hard, don't beat yourself up too much. All you can do is try to do better in the future.

[jugistar84]

Thank you for that.

This just keeps going over and over in my head. I know it wasn't that much, but now (as weird as it sounds) i wish i wrote down the times!
Just so i could feel a little better....I'm trying to breathe when i feel panicked about it, because i know the stress isn't good for the baby either.

I'll be 27 this month.
I think with my 1st i was young, just finishing college, i didn't worry so much. I didn't even know i was pregnant until about 10 weeks as my periods are irregular.
I ate so much better with that pregnancy & didn't have worries about what i did in the 10 weeks. I know this one is different because i knew i was pregnant and continued to drink, but I've been getting prenatal care since the very very first month, on prenatals for almost a year because we had been trying for about 6 months...
I feel guilty about this & about not eating right. I only eat what my stomach tolerates....sometimes i don't get enough vegetables in...
Ugh..
I don't know, I just feel so anxious inside about this. It hurts.

[Caryliz]

The very best parenting advice anyone ever gave me was "stop beating yourself up about this." So I'll be generous and share that advice with you, too!

Seriously, there is cause for concern, but at the same time, you have every reason to believe that from here on out there is a good chance that everything will be fine. And stressing out about it - nay, OBSESSING about it (as one is wont to do when the preggo hormones are raging out of control) - isn't going to improve the situation any.

Like many PP, I did not realize I was pregnant until I was about 10 weeks along. My cycle has always been wildly irregular AND we weren't trying so I honestly didn't think about it. And then we had a wild wedding and honeymoon in Italy, during which I drank about a bottle of wine a day for 3 weeks, drank a pot of espresso every morning, sat in saunas and steam baths and had hot mud wraps (which required that I sign a release saying I wasn't pregnant, which I didn't think I was), and ate a fair amount of crudo (raw fish). Of course I was horrified once we got back and I realized what I had done. But my midwife was very sane about the whole thing, which helped me stay sane, too. And you know? My son was and is FINE. He is a healthy, bright, energetic 5-year-old who has never had a health issue in his life. Not even an ear infection! My Italian husband actually attributes this to all the Italian wine I drank early in my pregnancy

Hang in there mama! Just breathe and believe.

[mama2toomany]

I can tell you that my mother drank very heavily for all of her pregnancies. She drank non stop all the time.

She had 5 children, all but one were born healthy. My older brother was not so lucky and he has fetal alcohol syndrome. He is disabled for life.

But if it makes you feel better, she did have 4 healthy children even though she never slowed down her drinking.

I am not saying your baby won't have any affects but it is possible. sorry your going through this.

[jugistar84]

Thanks Ladies! I appreciate your sharing so much.
The only things that give me sanity are the facts that:
1. i never drank days in a row
2. have gone weeks without drinking
3. days i even had 2-3 beers or 2 larger glasses of wine within a 5 hour period give me huge guilt, and i know i'm not the only one who has done this
4. i take care of myself otherwise & take vitamins & drink lots of water
5. i haven't had anything since about 20 weeks and i am now over 23

it just hurts that i was neglectful and did what i did in the first place--there is no excuse for it. Also the fact that i cannot exactly pinpoint the times i drank scare me. I know it was more than 7 but it can't be more than 10. when i refer to these times i'm talking 4 or more drinks which is considered binging...
not eating 100% according to recommended guidelines also worries me but i'm praying everything is and will be ok.

[jugistar84]

I wanted to add that the eating part i worry about has to do with not eating enough vegetables/fruit because my stomach doesn't take that stuff as well as meats, breads, grains, etc. It has gotten better though.