Risk Aversion

I'm sorry about no post last night, between my class and watching/reading what was going on in Haiti, I completely forgot. But I have been inspired, hence today's topic.

I will admit it, I am a stickler for the rules. And when it comes to the "shouldn'ts" of pregnancy, doubly so. I know plenty of women who had the occasional glass of wine, deli meats and soft cheeses without any problems. And I know women who did everything right and still had children born with problems. The biggest issue is that for a lot of things, nobody knows for sure how much of something might hurt a fetus. The reaction to alcohol, for instance. This most likely has a genetic component where some women can drink like a fish (see the 60s) without harming the fetus where others are risking fetal alcohol syndrom with only a couple of drinks before they even know they are pregnant. The chances of consuming a raw egg infected with salmonella is like one in 10,000. Listeria poisoning is similarly rare. But, as far as I'm concerned, why take the chance?

My life has already been a series of lucky breaks. If there is a natural phenomenon for the US, I've been in it: hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes; I've been on an airplane that was struck by lightening two feet outside of my wingside window. I've been evacuated from my home because of chance of flooding. The house next door to mine burnt to the ground and the only thing that kept mine safe was that the prevailing winds were freakishly not blowing. I lived six blocks from the Capital on 9/11. Need I go on? I'd rather not push my luck on some of the stuff I can control.

So, no sushi, no chevre, no wine. I don't eat deli meats, so it just gives me an excuse to bypass that hoagie. I called every single grocery store in a 30 minute radius looking for pasteurized eggs so that I could make the chocolate mousse in the Buche de Noel for our holiday party (I also totally do not trust the USDA and their food safety testing). And you've already seen my opinion on skin care products. I believe that the FDA rules prohibit doing drug trials on pregnant women, so what is considered "safe" is frequently that which has not been shown to be detrimental. So, yes, no drugs for me. Obviously, if something became life or death, I would relent, but I see no reason for antacids or painkillers. If I can handle natural childbirth, I can deal with some heartburn.

And as a final emphasis on the Fates and not tempting them: really, what were the odds that I would have gotten Swine Flu when I did with the effect that it had?