another pregnancy worry :(

[lil.michelle]

another pregnancy worry

OH MY GOD, i'm shocked at her saying about a termination. babys are VERY hardy little things. I work on a high risk delivery unit and deliever babies from drug users on a daily basis who have used and drunk throughout prengany and trust me, your little one will be fine!
I too made the same mistake with my first, i found out a morning after a HUGE bender. I stopped drinking right away and had a beautiful PERFECT baby girl.
Please don't worry at all!! Anymore questions, just pm me!
Sit back and relax. Stop searching stuff on the internet and enjoy the fact that you are having a little bundle of joy!!! CONGRATS

[MissMe]

another pregnancy worry

Hi Silly Mama,

I am now past childbearing age and terminated several pregnancies because I didn't want to bring a child into uncertain, even unstable circumstances. I am so sure that my mom not only drank but smoked during the entire time she was pregnant with me and although I seem to have inherited the alcoholism from grandpa, I am perfectly healthy and always have been. I am willing to bet that everyone in my generation would report something similar. Seems like recent generations are on the other end of the spectrum now. So considering everything, you're probably going to be just fine.

[Mish]

another pregnancy worry

I spent my entire first pregnancy worrying about a weekend I hardly remember I was so out of it, when I was around the 4 week mark. My wonderful daughter is 27 and funny, talented, intelligent and a University Graduate. If anything 'damaged' her more than the drinking it was that I was worried sick for most of the time I carried her. And I smoked.
When I was pregnant with my second daughter, I did (practically) everything by the book and she was a 4lb 4oz premmie. Thank goodness she was healthy and beautiful and highly intelligent, with the most amazing singing voice. It could have been very different.
No one can make the decision for you whether to terminate or not, but I hope you take all of these experiences into consideration. Oh, and please seek second, third, however many opinions it takes before going ahead.
Best wishes and love.

[silly mama]

another pregnancy worry

Thanks for your responses! I called the office of the genetic counselor (late in the day on friday, hope to get a call back tomorrow) to see if I can get in with a different counselor. I'm also thinking of taking one of your suggestions to talk with a pediatrician about this, as well. I definitely feel like we need more information before we can make a decision to terminate!
lil.michelle, I will PM you- thanks.
Mishmash, your story is heartening, and I can so relate to that fear and worry right now. I can't even remember what it feels like NOT to be stressed, and I know that's not good for me or the baby. Thanks for sharing- it is so good to hear that your daughter is happy, healthy, and intelligent after you had a similarly timed bender.

Thanks again to all of you for the support and encouragement.

[Choochie]

another pregnancy worry

SM - I am definitely pro choice, but I get sad when I think about you terminating the pregnancy. I'm not the one who would have to deal with the baby, though, so it's really none of my business - just sad to me.

[Sunnyvalenting]

another pregnancy worry

I share your concern and understand your difficulty here.
It is difficult to give an accurate risk percentage but I will try to help you put this into perspective.
Approximately 1/1000 births in US have FAS. Approximately 3% of pregnant women binge drink during their pregnancies. I would therefore say that FAS is approximately 3% on those who binge or drink heavily during pregnancy. I don't know of any counselling service who can help zero in on your particular risk. Unfortunately week 4 is a major week for organ development. I don't know if the timing of your binge put you at higher risk. I understand that a high level of alcohol is problematic at any time during fetal development. I understand and relate to your significant concern.
I hope you are able to get compassionate care and accurate information upon which to base your decision. No one else' good outcomes or misfortunes predict your own. Use your best judgment.
Other women should take this seriously and become mod or AF during their reproductive years.
Good Luck
Sunny

[Mish]

another pregnancy worry

FAS is usually found in babies whose mothers drink heavily throughout the pregnancy. It would be almost impossible for a child to have FAS after one binge. I know this because I researched it after my own binge.
When my daughter was born, the other woman in the maternity ward was a hard drinker and had had a number of miscarriages due to her drinking. The baby she finally carried full term, despite her being unable to stop drinking heavily every day, was a healthy son.
They are indeed hardy little creatures.

[Pink Angel]

another pregnancy worry

Silly Mamma, I am also 9 weeks pregnant. I have had two misscarrages and its taken a year to fall pregnant again. I had a bingey night at about the 4-5 week mark (before i found out) and all looks fine on the scan. TO ME termination is killing a innocent baby. There may be nothing wrong with it at all.
I would certainly at least have another scan before deciding something so drastic as to abort.
That baby deserves to have a life just like you did. Hun I dont want to sound harsh but im maternal and i dont want you to make a huge mistake. Do you have other kids? Ages?
I also have 7 year old twins which before i found out i was preggy was partying pretty hard. Of course i stopped as soon as i knew and they are healthy boys who eat non stop!
I think your midwife has put a very unlikely fear into you and if you are positive from here on about your pregnancy, you and bubs will be just fine. Would like to stay in touch, as we must be due around the same time? xx

[silly mama]

another pregnancy worry

Thanks Sunnyvalenting, I have studied all the numbers and statistics I can get my hands on, and I'm well aware that there is significant risk- it scares me and makes me sick. You're right- in a perfect world we would all be very careful about our alcohol intake when there's a chance of pregnancy.

Mishmash, thank you- whether or not it is a predictor of my outcome (as Sunnyvalenting points out) it does make me feel better to hear that others have had the same fears I'm having now only to have them assuaged by a happy ending.

Pink Angel- we are almost exactly at the same point: I will hit the 10 week mark on Friday. I know exactly what you mean about terminating. It wasn't something either of us even thought about until the midwife suggested it as a consideration. I feel like we don't have enough information or evidence to make that decision right now! If I KNEW that the baby had a very high chance of being profoundly retarded or deformed as a result of my drinking, I think I would abort with a very heavy heart. As it stands now, I want to know more before I start believing the worst.
Here's some more info I've found which has helped me and might help you, too, if you're still worried. Although implantation does occur about 6-12 days after fertilization (so at the 3rd to 4th week of gestation as measured from a woman's last menstrual period, because ovulation occurs at about the 2nd week) it takes a few more days for the placental connections to form, exposing the embryo to toxins ingested by the mother. The critical period of vulnerability usually begins somewhere between the 15th and 21st day after fertilization. This is a little later than most reports will tell you, and it means that you probably don't have to worry as much about what you did before the 4th, and possibly the 5th, week... Sorry if this is redundant information to you- but it helped me feel better that the baby wasn't exposed as much or as long as I'd feared.

To answer your question, yes, I have two other kids- ages 12 & 14. I know I drank some and smoked, etc, before finding out with my eldest (I was only 19 and pretty immature) and she is a wonderful kid- bright and beautiful. But I know also that women who have borne children before, and are over 30, are at higher risk for delivering FAS/FAE babies than younger women in their first pregnancies. Also, this time I really got DRUNK- not just a little tipsy.

I would love to stay in touch- yes Congratulations and good luck with your pregnancy- and thank you for your support.

Thank you all so much for all the great feedback. I really appreciate getting your opinions and I value hearing all sides. I don't feel like I have anyone to talk with about this IRL, except my SO, and we've done so much worrying and crying about this- we're spinning in circles.
:thanks: thanks again.

[Mish]

another pregnancy worry

I was 28 when I had my first daughter - the one I had the hideous binge with, and Maggie, the woman who was with me in the hospital (the woman 'town drunk') was 42, and still had a healthy boy.
There's a picture of my girls in my gallery pictures.

[hopefulwoman]

another pregnancy worry

Hello. I am the woman who posted several months ago (drank like 6 bottles of wine over 5 days while six weeks pregnant; I had been told it wasn't a viable pregnancy because we couldn't find the baby on the ultrasound and was devastated).

Fast forward to now and I am 32 weeks pregnant. I was honest with my OB and the genetics counselor about what had happened. Since six weeks pregnant is a critical time for organ development, I have had a fetal echocardiogram and baby's heart is healthy and normal! As for the brain, well there is no way to test for FAE/S and I've read that symptoms often don't even show up until 3 years of age, so yes, I do still worry about that from time to time, although it is reassuring to me that the heart is healthy, considering I drank so much during its development.

The other thing that I find comforting is that the placenta isn't fully functioning until 12 weeks. Baby was getting most of his/her nutrients from the yolk sac until that time.

Honestly, I still worry. But I am also so in love with this baby and now so many months have passed where I have taken all the necessary vitamins and supplements, eating well, AND haven't had any alcohol.

I decided not to terminate and in my heart I truly feel as if this baby will be born healthy and develop into an intelligent and compassionate person, blessed to have been spared from my childish self-pity party where I drank all that wine. Please keep us posted on your decision and rather than read FAS literature read the responses to my previous post as well as Google "binge drank while pregnant" and you will find so many REAL LIFE stories of women who did the same thing as you and I and gave birth to amazing little people. It is their true stories and their honesty that gave me hope.

[JackieClaire]

another pregnancy worry

hopefulwoman,
Thank you so much for coming back and giving us an update on your baby. I don't know if this is your first but I still worried until about 10 minutes before my two were born despite all the scans and tests. They are both fine now at 22 and 24 years old.
Please come back and let us know whether it's a boy or a girl.
Wishing you a safe and speedy delivery.
J x
:l

[silly mama]

another pregnancy worry

hopefulwoman, thank you for your response, and for your update! Congratulations on your healthy pregnancy, and I wish you the best with your baby.

I had an ultrasound today, and so far everything looks healthy. Seeing the baby in there, and watching (him/her?) move around made it all so much more real and I know that I could not consider termination at this point unless there was a VERY high probability of profound problems.

The ultrasound tech was more thorough this time than last, and the estimated dates have changed- they are guessing me about a week farther along than they previously thought. This is a little scary, because previously I could hold on to the hope that the placental connections were not quite formed when I had my binge, and now I know that the baby was indeed exposed to alcohol that night.

We were so relieved that everything looks good, though. We talked with the radiologist and the ultrasound tech about our concerns, and while they are of course unable to be sure, they did say that things look great- perfectly normal- from what they can tell at this point.

Good luck to you, hopefulwoman. I hope you enjoy the rest of your pregnancy, and that you will come back and update us on your baby once the happy day arrives.

[Wagoneer]

another pregnancy worry

Sillymama and Hopeful - so happy to hear you are doing well. Sneding happy thoughts and prayers to you both. Good luck and let is know how you and the babies are!

[Choochie]

another pregnancy worry

SM - so happy to hear this news!:l Hopefulwoman - thanks so much for your post. We are thinking of you both.