I ended up getting sick over the weekend. The kind of sick that makes you feel weak all over and puts a cloud over your head and chest area. I tried looking up online the safest meds that pregnant women can take and Robitussin seemed to be a decent enough of a diversion from regular cough syrups. My mom made a trip to the pharmacy only to be told by the pharmacist that really no cough meds are considered “safe” at this point.
I don’t know if she simply didn’t want to look up the active ingredients of each of those syrups or she really was concerned but I wonder where the line is drawn between what’s best for the mom and the baby? Is it really better for the baby if no meds enter the system and the mom feels like shooting herself for weeks at a time? I remember working with a girl who had a hereditary condition: diagnosing pregnancy was nearly impossible for doctors with her until very late in her term. She only found out at 6 months along! She happened to go to the hospital for food-poisoning-similar symptoms and after 8 hours of tests and scans, they sent her home saying that they couldn’t find anything that was wrong with her. The doctor had to chase her down in the parking lot asking her to return because they noticed in the ultrasound she may be pregnant! But all up until that point she’d have negative blood tests and all that entailed. Then she says that she was really worried about her baby because just a few weeks prior to it she drank a whole lot of alcohol celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday. Her baby was already 1 or 2 years old when we were having this conversation and healthy as a clam. So I’m wondering how much control do we really have over these things? You could do everything by the book, eat the most organic vegetables and exercise as prescribed, and still end up with sketchy test results if you were really meant to be confronted with it. And you could also do everything they tell you not to do and have your fairytale happy ending.
Now I’m not promoting drinking / smoking / using drugs in pregnancy by all means. But I’d say a little cough syrup to ease the suffering of the mother might also be good for the baby? Just a thought. Off for bed rest once again. Wish me luck with the natural remedies.
