Alcohol during pregnancy, let's get wasted!

Hey folks,

You're probably angry now and wondering whether you should start insulting me in the comment section.

No worries, it was just clickbait. Of course I'm not getting wasted during pregnancy (I hate getting wasted in general, it makes me lose an entire day of my life in hangovers), but yesterday something funny happened.

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I went to have dinner with my friend Sasi like every week, and last night we decided on pizza. It was my last night out with a friend before leaving for the city to push a little human through my va-jay-jay - my due date is now less than 3 weeks away. Needless to say, I can barely move now, and walking starts to become really painful. I'm pretty much a couch potato these days, but without the fun as no position is quite comfortable. I'm not even steeming (sorry!) But let's not get sidetracked...

So last night we sat at the table, and the waitress comes over to to take our drink order. My friend orders a glass of red wine, and then she turns to me and I say same for me please.

The reaction of the waitress is why I'm writing this post today. She laughed at me, and said yeah sure, I'm gonna bring you a glass of water . My first thought was que huevos! which means she's got some balls challenging me on my choice, but then I realized, most people believe that when you're pregnant you can't consume one single drop of alcohol.

So I laughed it off, and told her no, seriously, it's OK you can bring me a glass of wine. Doctor's orders. She looked at me still a bit doubtful, but seemed to believe me in the end. I understand she didn't want to be responsible for a miscarriage, but it made me realize how little people actually know about the topic.

The common belief is that..

...when you're preggo, you can't drink, PERIOD, because it may hurt the baby. But listen up people, the critical period during which you shouldn't consume alcohol is the first trimester, especially the second half of it. That's when all the organs and brain of the baby develop.

Moderation is key

Think about it, how many women don't even know they're pregnant until they're several weeks in, and consume alcohol as usual until they find out. Most of these women (myself included) end up having a perfectly healthy baby anyway, so no stress! Of course, this is assuming you are a normal consumer, and don't binge drink on a daily basis.

Once the critical period of the first 12 weeks passes, it's OK to consume 2 units of alcohol per week according to the scientific literature I found online. This can be the equivalent of 2 beers, or in my case, 2 glasses of red wine per week.

Of course you will read different statements according to the country that publishes these findings. If you search in English on Google and read an American website, they are most likely to tell you DON'T DRINK AT ALL during pregnancy. But then again, the US is always a bit exaggerated with everything...I mean, hello abortion laws in Alabama!?

Even so, you have to keep in mind that studies are extremely limited in this field, because, well, you can't really ask a future mom to drink on a daily basis "just to see what happens". So all these theories are only based on outcomes of births given what we knew about the lifestyle of the mother during pregnancy along with some animal testing. This leaves room for lots of speculation, which is why most medical journals will prefer to be on the safe side, and recommend no alcohol at all.

On the other hand, if you do your research in French or German, things look more lax. Yes you can, occasionally, of course in moderation. This is what I've decided to stick to. I'm European, and don't like extremes either way. I'm a smart woman and I know where to draw the line. But of course, I also asked my gynecologist about this, and her response was of course you can drink your glass of wine with dinner, no worries! So when I say Doctor's orders I mean that quite literally.

My mom, who's a retired nurse also told me one glass of wine is nothing, and won't have any effect on the fetus. The amount of alcohol in your blood is so small.

She asked: do you really think that my generation didn't drink when we were pregnant? She added, I drank my wine every night, and you and your brother came out just fine!

I guess she has a point there =)

So to conclude this topic, next time you see a pregnant lady enjoying a glass of wine in a restaurant, raise your glass to her and say CHEERS!

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Let me know your thoughts below !

PS: This is not medical advice, just my personal opinion/experience, so don't take it as such =)