h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Well, ain't that just knee-jerk scaremongering of the highest calibre?

Oh, bxllxcks Kelli

*looks around at the hordes of young mothers in the waste land that is my town*

*points* That one drank

*points* That one drank and smoked

*points* That one drank, smoked, and smoked other stuff

*points* That one spent more time in the boozer than at home

Oh look, they've all got perfect little sprogglets.

My mother drank shandy right up to about six months. Okay, not the best example. But I'm *intellectually* sound

Their point was that there are probably huge numbers of people around that have this 'syndrome' but are undiagnosed. Maternal drinking apparently is the cause of all sorts of behavioural, emotinal and learning problems.

*sigh*

Hmmm.

"You have this terrible syndrome caused by maternal drinking"

"Really? I feel fine"

"No, honestly, you have deep-seated emotional and learning difficulties caused by an imbalance in your brain chemicals"

"Well, um, how come I've got to 35 and no one has noticed before?"

"We've, umm, only just discovered it"

"So you've just discovered this terrible disease, that millions of people have got, that so bad none of us have ever noticed?"

"Yep"

"Crikey, what's the cure?"

"Can I interest you in these very expensive revolutionary new treatments?"

"Go back to the scientologists this *instant*.

Kelli, on the woman's hour website it says that the government says that 1-2 units a couple of times a week should be fine.

I know that in your situation I'd be worried, but that's just because I could worry for England, and I always have been able to, even since I was 2. But from what you've said you haven't gone above that threshold.

I expect that people say "don't drink at all" because a lot of people find it much easier to stop at no units than at 2 units.

Well I won't drink at all now I know I'm knocked up - that is easily done. It is the glasses of wine I had before I knew - I've worked out that I had three or four about five days after conception, and one glass a week after that. Probably not the end of the world, it is just the thing I'm worrying about this morning - I really loved the 'we don't want to alarm people...' bit!

piddle, piff and pah!

If we listened to every warning about this that and the bloomin other we would never leave our homes, never eat, never use technology (in case it fired our brains), never have sex, never have a fricking life.



Kelli, enjoy this pregnancy. Of course be sensible and don't do the stupid things that you'd never do anyway but please stop worrying about it.

I get annoyed every time "they" say that _this_ is harmful, or _that_ can cause cancer etc. Every day we go out and cross a road or drive a car...the most dangerous activity known to man!!!

Live your new life. Love your new life.

Don't worry, be happy

(in case it fired our brains) - of course I meant fried!! haha! looks like that one is true then!!

Congratulations to Kelli and Sol

Hello kelli, hope it's ok if I but in here
Please, don't worry about the alcohol you had before you knew you were pregnant, i.e. about the first two weeks after conception- the embryo was still independent of your system anyway, because it was still on it's way to the uterus to dock on
I have no idea what sort of campaign that is to make women feel guilty of drinking some alcohol when they don't know they're pregnant, it's rubbish and mean, imho.

Hi B'El, thanks for that you're always welcome I'm probably going to worry about pretty much everything for quite some time yet!

Teuchter - great to see you! Good hols?

Not feeling quite so sick the past day or so, which is something of a relief (I expect I'll start worrying about why not imminently) but dismayed to find that my boobs have grown already! Feels like I have two beachballs stuck to my chest - good lord, I didn't actually think it was even *possible* for them to get any bigger!

Right, must go finsih nesting activites

k
5 weeks 6 days.

I'm glad if I could help a bit
Try not to worry too much, in most cases, everything is just fine and nothing to worry about.
I've never suffered from morning sickness, but having seen how ill my sister used to be , I know just how lucky I have been.

I'm like J. My biggest fear was not being able to get pregnant. Even the whole miscarriage thing doesn't worry me as much as that did. It may sound a bit callous, and I'm not sure I'd be this calm if it did happen, but at least there's a distinct ray of hope that we'd be able to have another go. But I do worry there's something wrong with it.

However, I did promise myself that I wouldn't be as stressed as Best Friend, who seemed to spend the whole of her perfectly normal pregnancy which produced perfectly healthy baby at the end in a state of what I then thought of as groundless panic. Ho hum.

Hello Kelli.

I haven't read all the back log but was I right then, that you got preggers first time round and you realised pretty much straight away?

Congrats to you both. It's the best thing ever.

XX

Certainly seems that way Alex! Ta

Sol - I can't seem to worry too much about stuff I can do nothing about. If there is something wrong that doesn't show up on a scan then there is nothing much I can do about it - I won't know until I have to deal with it. It is the near stuff that scares me - I'm looking forward to the 1st scan (which should be at the end of august sometime) to confirm that this isn't all one big horrible mix-up but at the same time I am nervous about it in case they find that there is something wrong and I'll have to make a terrible decision.

Boy oh boy am I *tired* Fell asleep at the computer yesterday

I know how you feel,kelli, the only advise I can give is: think positive! Don't let your worries prevent you from being happy

Does that first scan have a purpose? (Other than confirming why you've been feeling so unwell for what feels like forever ) Around here they offer what's called a triple test (I have no idea what it's testing for because I refused to have it) and this test has to be done at 16 weeks, I think, so they do an early "dating scan" at around 11 weeks, so they know exactly when to do the triple test. And literally all they do at the dating scan is measure the foetus and tell you when you conceived it, practically to the minute. But I know other health authorities do it differently.

Mol

The 12 week one is the nuchal volume test scan - there is a fold at the back of the neck and the size of it is a predictor of down's syndrome. Also, they can look for any other abnormalities like the one my friend had - she paid for the 12 week one privately because in her area they didn't do one until 20 weeks. Good job she did as the foetus wasn't developed properly and she had to have a termination (it wasn't viable and might have taken her with it eventually). Heartbreaking stuff.

Got my nuchal scan through for the 9th August and the other one through for 31st. They seem to be planning a battery of blood tests for the second one too.

I went to see the doc yesterday about a mole. Which isn't a mole but some kind of wart. Apparently they get bigger when your pregnant as your immune system is temporarily occupied elsewhere. Curioser and curioser.

Anyway, while I was there I asked about the alcohol thing as it had officially reached the stage of preying on my mind. I was extremely reassured by the dissmisive way in which she snorted. Dissmissive towards Women's Hour, I mean. She was rather nice to me.