Ahh - I have been living the high life - am I ok?

[AlexisScared]

I am 27 and in a stable relationship. My period is late and on Saturday I did a test and got a positive. I'm really happy. I am just very worried because I work in London in PR and typically I am out most nights with work at parties and drinking. I didn't know I was pregnant, obviously. But I am wondering what damage I might have done? I will tell work very soon and obviously I have stopped drinking, but does anyone know whether I need to talk to my doctor or anything? Or does this happen to everyone? A friend gave me Mumsnet as a place to go about birth advice, but her little ones are quite grown up now.

[policywonk]

You're probably completely fine. Many, many babies get conceived non-deliberately, often after a drunken session. Talk to your GP about it if you want to set your mind at rest, but you've almost certainly not got anything to worry about.

Welcome to MN and congratulations on your pregnancy!

[paddingtonbear1]

Congrats Alexis!
You should be fine, something similar happened to me - I found out after a heavy time socially. The doc said it was ok, so long as I stopped drinking now I knew, and I did - as you have.

[Ewe]

I work in Media in London and felt exactly the same as you do when I found out I was pregnant.

Went to see GP and he told me there was nothing to worry about in the very early stages of pregnancy as there is very little of your blood feeding into the embryo.

It's a very very very small chance that you have caused any problems, I think most people who haven't been actively TTC have been in the same boat.

My DD is now six months and absolutely perfect by the way, just look after yourself now.

[wilkos]

congratulations!

realised i was 6 weeks pregnant with dd beginning of december 06 after a month of pre xmas drinking and one mahoosive company do where i really overdid it

needless to say i went into a truly dreadful panic and stopped drinking immediately.

however dd was born absolutely perfect in august 07

[thank god] emoticon.

[April2009Baby]

I am in the same boat.

I am now about 10 weeks and conceived on holiday. I feel a bit daft because we were 'trying', but for various reasons I was convinced that that month was not the month. I had just come off the pill a month previously and had had a very short (one day) period, followed by cramping most of the way through the month. I was convinced my cycle was all over the place and I wasn't ovulating again yet.

Anyway, we were on holiday and drank wine with dinner every night (almost). One night we went to a swanky restaurant and had the tasting menu, with wine for every course...

Like you, when I was late and did a test, I panicked about what I had done to the poor little thing. All the books said "don't worry if you've had one boozy night out" and I'd had 'a few' (ahem) nights of putting away half a bottle of wine a time.

I found some medical research online which I found very comforting. In line with what others have said, it had basically found that alcohol in the early stages (i.e. before a missed period) was unlikely to cause an issue. If drinking was really extreme, there seemed to be a slightly increased risk of miscarriage (although the report was at pains to stress that, as miscarriage is unfortunately so common at a very early stage, this did not mean that women should blame themselves if it happened), but it seemed to be unlikely that the pregancy would continue but the fetus would be harmed. As others have said, this was to do with there not being an established blood supply at that point.

Basically, so long as you stop when you know, that seems to be the main point.

Hope that helps. I am aware that Googling things is not the most scientific approach, but it's so frustrating when the books don't answer your particular question, and I found that information comforting. Happy to be corrected by actual medical experts!

[EffiePerine]

most women would say the same - I ofund out I was pg with DS just after the new year soo you can guess what my lifestyle had been like

there is a comforting stat about what you eat and drink not being passed to the baby before the placenta is formed or summat? Maybe 1st 6 weeks?

the main thing is to make sure you are taking your folic acid and being careful about eating and drinking now

[tostaky]

My doctor told me that the most damage from alcohol would be serious drinking around the 36th day after conception.
that's when they observed most damages to the foetus.

[AlexisScared]

Thank you everyone, that's really reassuring. I think a lot of people must have the same issue, its just that I'm in a very social-orientated line of work, so probably drank (much!) more than average during the week, due to the nature of the work. Can I ask anyone with the same sort of work whether you had a nice non alcoholic drink worked out events? The thought of endless orange juice doesn't exactly appeal!! Thanks again. It was horrible to be so happy but so worried at the same time!

[ChocOrange05]

I took my pregnancy test after a month of heavy drinking and after I had just drunk 3 pints!! It wasn't a planned pregnancy but something felt different and I decided to take the test to put my mind at ease so I could carry on drinking without worrying - ha, look how that turned out!! Needless to say, there were no more pints for me! I am now 33+4 and all seems ok and the multiple sambucas haven't stopped this bump kicking the hell out of me!

Congratulations on your pregnancy

[kingrolo]

After some experimentation I found that for me the best non-alcoholic drink was slimline tonic with lime and lots of ice as it looks like a real G&T and kind of tastes like one too!

You can get non-alcoholic / very low alcohol wine at Sainsburys and low alcohol (-1% vol) Becks is nice too. Don't think they sell this stuff in many bars though.

[mrsruffallo]

Congratulations.
Don't woory, I thnk many babies are conceived in a drunken haze

[jette]

Lime and soda is pretty good - its the recovering alcoholics drink of choice!

Allegedly.

[nowirehangers]

congratulations alexis
And please don't worry, like many others here my dd1 was conceived accidentally in a drunken haze. What was more I didn't realise I was pg until I was nine weeks as I continued having periods. During those nine weeks I drank, smoked and worse ... I went on holiday to France where I ate nothing but unpasteurised cheese, shellfish, rare meat ie everything on the banned list
DD1 was fine and healthy, at least I think so She is three and a half now and thriving. The chances of any harm being done at this stage are very small. Your child will be fine. Enjoy your pregnancy

[LiegeAndLief]

My ds was conceived just before Christmas, and found out I was pg just after New Year. I'm sure you can take a guess at how much high living I did before I found out... ds now 2 years old and perfect

Congratulations!

[AnathemaDevice]

Well, I'm hoping alcohol doesn't hurt in the early stages, as I was around 2/3 weeks gone when I was at Glastonbury. Didn't find out until nearly a month later, think the baby is swimming in pear cider rather than amniotic fluid. Midwife and doctor say there's nothing to worry about, so I'm not worrying.

[1stMrsF]

non alcoholic drinks I have found useful:
Cranberry juice and soda/fizzy mineral water, in fact any juice with fizzy water - makes it a bit less sweet and easier to drink several of them.
Fizzy water, with lime or lemon
Tomato juice (not too many as they are quite salty, but when a craving for a pre-dinner drink kicks in, it hits the spot rather well, even better if you are in a decent bar where they can make it a virgin mary)
At home I've also got elderflower cordial (looks quite like champagne in a flute made with fizzy water) and some organic homemade lemonades and ginger ales (brand is Luscombe) - I just try to keep them for a treat because of the sugar. I've also got cranberry juice with no added sugar (it's sweetened with apple & grape juice) Otherwise at home I'm drinking milk all the time!