Re: Re: Living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

March 5, 2004

Wow! You have put into words the exact way I have been feeling when the first

post hit about having the 1/2 glass of wine. I have to take pain medications

because of severe arthritis and fibromyalgia, and since there has been alot of

press lately about people getting addicted to pain meds, I have been judged

harshly about this even before becoming pregnant. I choose to cut my meds in

half when I found out I was pregnant even though I had the ok to keep everything

the same from my OB, I just felt it was I wanted to do it, unfortunately there

still have been many people, even in the medical community, that have judged me

harshly for my choices. One doc even said that she thought that it was better

for me to be bedridden the entire 9 months than to take my pain meds to help me

walk and function in life. Thanks again to this poster for showing that what

works for one person doesn't work for all and that though we may be pregnant, we

still have to remember we are individuals, not living just for our babies inside

of us.

Axelrod

Re: Living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

I am not pregnant at this time, but I am a mmember of this group. I am mostly

a lurker but I feel like I can offer my opinion and some information on this

topic. This said here is the information part: as a social worker who works

with people with severe and persistent mental illness it is not always so black

and white. Yes, heavy drinking/drug use in ppregnancy is not a good thing and

can cause a lot of damage but, mental illness/ mental retardation is not always

cased by something that is so easily pinpointed. Often it is genetic, so if you

have family mmemberswith mental illness it could be passed on, and often it is

unclear as to the cause.

this is the opinion part: women are so often seen a vectors for babies, once

a woman becomes pregnant she is no longer a person with her own thoughts a

feeling but she becomes the " host " for a baby. Yes, there is truth to a lot of

what you are told to watchout for when you are pregnant, and I believe in taking

precautions but within reason. So, that said my OPINION is women in France

partake in moderate drinking during pregnancy, women in Japan eat sushi, woman

in Holland eat " questionable " cheeses and they have healthy babies that are

thriving. I think that the key is there is not a one size fits all answer. You

need to do what makes you comfortable and moderation is key with a healthy

pregnancy and all else in life.

Just my opinion.....

March 6, 2004

,

I know that you have seen my posts about pain meds, and I what I was/am on.

My doctor actually told me to continue taking my meds, since if I didn't, that I

would be going through withdrawl, RJ would have been also. Also with the amount

of stress I would have been putting my body under RJ would have been having the

same stress related problems. My speicalist actually told me the pain meds I

was on wasn't really what he was worried about (lortab 10), rather the amount of

tylenol that was I was taking daily in the pills. He told me he actually had

one patient on OXYCOTTON due to a kidney shunt. SHe had a normal baby, which

had to be minorly detox'ed.

Niki

Re: Living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

I am not pregnant at this time, but I am a mmember of this group. I am

mostly a lurker but I feel like I can offer my opinion and some information on

this topic. This said here is the information part: as a social worker who

works with people with severe and persistent mental illness it is not always so

black and white. Yes, heavy drinking/drug use in ppregnancy is not a good thing

and can cause a lot of damage but, mental illness/ mental retardation is not

always cased by something that is so easily pinpointed. Often it is genetic, so

if you have family mmemberswith mental illness it could be passed on, and often

it is unclear as to the cause.

this is the opinion part: women are so often seen a vectors for babies,

once a woman becomes pregnant she is no longer a person with her own thoughts a

feeling but she becomes the " host " for a baby. Yes, there is truth to a lot of

what you are told to watchout for when you are pregnant, and I believe in taking

precautions but within reason. So, that said my OPINION is women in France

partake in moderate drinking during pregnancy, women in Japan eat sushi, woman

in Holland eat " questionable " cheeses and they have healthy babies that are

thriving. I think that the key is there is not a one size fits all answer. You

need to do what makes you comfortable and moderation is key with a healthy

pregnancy and all else in life.

Just my opinion.....

March 6, 2004

Niki,

That sounds like what my OB worried about, the amount of Tylenol, not the amount

of narcotic. We have also given a " heads-up " to the ped doc running the NICU at

the hospital that I'm delivering at about my condition and he said its no

problem and he is pretty sure because of my low doses that the baby won't have

any withdrawal problems, so I'm holding on to that. Hubby and I have also made

an appointment with a ped doc to interview to see if we want her to care for our

baby after she is born, she came recommended to us by my OB, we see her next

Tuesday. We will fill her in on everything so when the baby is born she can

come check on her in the hospital as well. So far there have been no problems

with the pregnancy so I am feeling more comfortable that everything will go ok

once I deliver. How did RJ do once he was born, did he go through any

withdrawal?

Axelrod

Re: Re: Living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

,

I know that you have seen my posts about pain meds, and I what I was/am

on. My doctor actually told me to continue taking my meds, since if I didn't,

that I would be going through withdrawl, RJ would have been also. Also with the

amount of stress I would have been putting my body under RJ would have been

having the same stress related problems. My speicalist actually told me the

pain meds I was on wasn't really what he was worried about (lortab 10), rather

the amount of tylenol that was I was taking daily in the pills. He told me he

actually had one patient on OXYCOTTON due to a kidney shunt. SHe had a normal

baby, which had to be minorly detox'ed.

Niki

March 6, 2004

,

The only problem we had with RJ, which I am not even sure is due to the

meds, it he started not to thrive in-utero, so they took him at 38 weeks. He

was 5lbs 9 oz at birth, and 8 lbs 3.5 oz at 1 month check up. He also was a

little cold at birth, so they kept him under the lamps for a little longer than

usual. I doubt either of these things were caused by the meds, and I was taking

60mg of narcotics, and 1850mg of tylenol a day. I am still taking the meds and

nursing him at least 3 times a day, the only " side effect " is that I normally

have to wake him in between each breasts, which I am sure is not that uncommon.