early regrets - is this normal?

[redhead07702]

I know this sounds silly but I am 3weeks 4 days pregnant. (just found out). I am really freaking and worried because I ate cold pepperoni 4 days ago (worried about listeria) and then today I had a manicure/pedicure and was so sick for two hours from the fumes so am now worried this could have caused birth defects. Did you all do things when pregnant but before you found out? Is this normal to be so worried?

Yep, we've all been there. You are probably sick from the fumes due to just an increased sensitivity to smell. Lots of smells made me nauseous early on. With ds, I knew to avoid soft cheeses but somehow missed out on the lunch meat thing! I had deli sandwiches all the way through my pregnancy with him And even now with this pregnancy, I was trying to be really good, had a veggie sandwich, then halfway through noticed I was eating feta cheese in it.

redhead, I completely sympathise because I was like this throughout my entire last pregnancy (all 42 weeks of it). Everyday there seemed to be something new to worry about - ultimately mention any concerns to your midwife/GP but you probably will continue to worry until the day you hold your (perfect) baby. For what it is worth the dangers we are told about hold a very low risk but of course we have to be told about them just in case. I had manicures and pedicures throughout my last pregnancy (and in my current one) and also ate some salami and everything was fine. It is normal to worry but try not to - I blame the hormones. Congratulations by the way.

yes it is, and remember it will only get worse - baby comes out, guilty chip goes back in! lol.

I went out on a major drinking bender with DH and some friends on the saturday, ate raw cake mix on the sunday - raw eggs etc, (didn't recover from the night b4 till about 5pm sun) got a BFP on the tues night) wasn't even trying that month.

I now have a perfect normal v active and boistrous 8 month old sleeping soundly!

big congrats.

if it helps my friend who's a gp once said that before the embryo implants at (?) around 14 days after fertilisation that nothing the mother consumes affects it.

when trying for DS ...got pregnant first try..never ocurred to be i would get pregnant so quick...it was over Xmas new year,, so i was horribly drunk most of the time and eating all the wrong stuff!!

DS is 7 now, healthy, happy & doing well at school.....!

as long as you take reasonable care, eat well,take your folic acid etc...your baby will be jsut fine.....

and congratulations

you're just learnig you will never think about yourself first ever again

It's pretty normal, but do try to relax. If painting your toenails gave babies birth defects there would barely be an unaffected baby in Britain! Pregnant women NEED nice toenails!
Oh, and feta cheese is completely fine. very good for you, actually.

Think most of us have been there. My baby was conceived while on holiday in Turkey, on a diet of about 3 glasses of wine per evening, plus lots of feta cheese, ready-prepared potato salad and coleslaw, and all manner of other things I probably shouldn't have been eating.

Even since finding out I'm pregnant I've had occasional lapses from the straight and narrow - unintentional, but have often been halfway through eating something before realising that it contains something I shouldn't be eating (I innocently ate marlin fishcakes last week, I've had lots of prawn mayonnaise sandwiches, and some carbonara sauce made with raw eggs. I have probably also eaten more than the recommended 2 tins of tuna a week at times too).

I'm now 6 months' pregnant and baby seems to be doing fine. It somersaults for England all day and all the tests etc. have come back fine. Be sensible, of course, but don't be paranoid. Plenty of people drink alcohol, smoke and probably do drugs throughout their pregnancies (think Kate Moss) and end up with perfectly healthy offspring. Not that I'm advocating doing that, but it just puts it in perspective!

Please Please don't fret about the odd thing that you have eaten or drunk. At 3-4 weeks the embryo is not really using your body other than a bed to lie in. There is sooooooooo much hype these days on what you should eat, drink, smoke etc....... I am not against this advice but I remember having a similar panick when pg with my first. My G.P informed me that although it is good to follow the advice as much as possible. Most of these things are put out there for the minority of stupid people that if told they can do something they do it to the extreme. Anything in moderation and sensibly should have no reason to harm you or your baby.

Oh then i moved to France. Hehe, no rules here, eat what you like!!!!!!!!! Pate, liver, tuna, all cheeses are very much on the pg mothers menu. My midwife neally fell over when I told her in the Uk pg women couldn't eat these things. Seriously I'm sure you'll be fine.

I drunk a litre and a half of vodka two days before I realised I was pg with my first. He was ab fine. Although he is nearly 4 now and does like to steal his Dads beer, Maybe thats why!

Yes, it is sadly the norm to be worried like you dscribed. I was a bearly pregnant and was worried that I had damaged the baby because I spent hours and hours painting the kitchen with strong smelling tile paint,ate meat that was slightly pink in the middle, melted a sauce-pan handle and inhaled the fumes of melted plastic. The list of my worries - if they went on would be ENDLESS. My friend however, who has recently had a beatifulbaby girl, had a wonderful pregnancy because after reading two baby magazines decided that she was going to try v. hard to to worry all the way through. I wouldn't of even done aquanatel through fear of swollowing chemically-treated water when I was pregnant (which seems batty now!), and she floated around at her aquanatatel classes having moments of blissful euthoria with her unborn baby. The point is, it's the early weeks - you have a choice - you can either be like me and worry all the way through and not enjoy being pregnant or be like my friend and try your best to go with the flow,enjoy things, accept that worrying is pointless and enjoy this rare, special time in your life. Please, dont be like me!!!

Basically, birth defects happen but are statistically rare. They can happen for a number of reasons,virtually all of which cannot be helped. No-one has done studies on chemicals/fumes etc effecting nborn babies because they can't, but the consensus is that occaisional, limited exposure to fumes/paints etc doesn't cause any harm. It wouldn't be advisable to do it all the time as it wouldn't be advisable to spend allot of time exposed to chemicals while preganant. But just a one off won't effect anything. As I said earlier, I spent over two hours face to face with stinking,, fumey tile paint when I was at your stage!

People who work in professions where they exposed to paints/solvents while pregnant (such as painters/mechanics etc) have a higher instance of defects such as hernias etc. But these are people who are exposed allot.

Just be sensible, eat well, drink lots of water,limit your exposre to chemicals in cleaning products/cosmetics/nail polsih/paints and try to enjoy your pregnancy. Limited exposure wont effect anything, your GP will reasure you and tell you the same. Remember also that your sense of smell has been hightened and that is likely to make stuff smell allot stronger that it is.

Its normal to worry, you just want to do the best for your baby and that's what being a mum is all about. Just try your hardest to keep those worries in perspective and enjoy your pregnancy.

Sorry for long post!!!
Don't

Please don't worry.

There are such widely differing opinions on what the banned substances are that any pregnant woman who doesn't try to survive on overcooked meat and bread will at some point be told she is doing the wrong thing.

For example, I cheerfully gobbled prawns, but I know a woman who was told that prawns were wrong and it was OK to eat brie (which sounds strange to me).

And I had my hair coloured the day I found out I was pregnant.

Oh, and the Foods Standards Agency has a lot of sensible info about what to avoid.

You are so normal, I think 99.9% of women feel the things you describe in your OP.....

You can rest assured that your body is hard wired to nurture and protect your baby. I'm sure all will be fine.

I think this is natures way of preparing people for the lifetime of worrying that lays ahead once you are a parent

Btw, many congratulations. How exciting!