I am tired today and I have a headache. If you know me, you would know that this is a very rare thing for me; I very, very rarely get headaches. If I didn’t know any better, I would say I have a hang-over. Last night we had a wonderful BBQ with our neighbors and a few other friends, and I had a little less than half a glass of excellent Italian red wine (a rarity here in Egypt) with my meal. I also had one sip of dessert wine to go with, well, the dessert. This alarmed one older American lady so, that she exclaimed to me “You can’t drink! You’re pregnant!” looking quite scandalized actually (all the while pouring her 5th glass of wine for herself).
There’s a lot of information out there urging pregnant women to stay away from alcoholic beverages, and especially in the US, this is the general advice. In Europe however, and especially in Western Europe, women are advised to ‘cut back’ on alcohol, rather than abstain. You are, in fact, even served beer in the maternity ward in Belgium, because it is considered nutritious. When I was going into labor with my first baby, my OBGYN advised me to go home and have a big glass of red wine to relax and enjoy a few moments with my husband as our life was about to change.
This time, during the first trimester, I had something of an aversion to anything alcoholic, but then as my body settled into being pregnant, I found that I can enjoy the occasional half a glass of wine or beer (since good alcohol is so hard to come by here in Egypt, this is still a very rare occasion). I’m not advocating drinking while pregnant, but I’m convinced a very moderate amount under the right circumstances (with a meal for example) is not harmful, and that your body will tell you what is OK and what is not.
Having said this, I think my body might be reprimanding me today. However, it’s not that I drank the wine, but that I drank half a glass of wine instead of my regular four large glasses of water with my meal. Basically, I’m pretty sure I got dehydrated, and that the headache is a demonstration of that. So here I am today, binge drinking – water – getting over my ‘hang-over’.
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4 comments:
I've heard from pregnant friends in the States that, quietly, their OBGYNs will give them this same advice: that drinking a little bit is just fine. But no one really wants to say that too loudly. It's part of the puritanical culture of the States--it's easier for people to understand "no" than to understand moderation.
I'm glad you had some wine but am sorry you are feeling so poorly today!
My SIL is a nurse in Canada and she was firm in the belief that the advice to give was "cut back" rather than "cut out." My mother even tells stories that during WW2 doctors advising women to drink the ocasssional pint Guiness because it had more nutrients than many of the choices available during lean the war years.
The advice you got in Belgium is the same as what doctors in Holland would tell you. WIth the extra caution to avoid any alcohol in the first trimester when the baby is developping fastest. (brains etc).
still love to follow your blog... Bye Anneloes
It's not that Americans can't tell the understand the word "moderation" just fine, we aren't stupid. The problem is that doctor's can't say it's okay to drink alcohol because of the fear of being sued with all the frivilous lawsuits allowed in the USA.
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