Oh, heck, I'd give the mens the "utopia" badge if they'd pick one list of pregnancy commandments and stick with it. I've looked at pregnancy, childbirth and newborn guides from 1931 to present. Every guideline they laid down, the medical professionals believed in their hearts, I'm sure, that this was the best possible advice.

And then they'd switch things up in a decade or so. And I don't see that stopping anytime soon. I think the medical establishment is just in love with the idea of getting women to change their behavior, even if it's just for a few months.

When I was born, if you cared about your and your baby's health, you did what the doctor said, and you gave birth drugged to the gills.

When I had a baby, if you cared about your baby's health (and to some extent, your own) you gave birth with no medication. And there was social pressure, at least around here 28 years ago, and everybody was very sure it was based on medical fact. Apgar scores and early brain development and bonding, etc. were at stake.

Nowadays, I don't know anyone personally with a child 10 or under who didn't have pain meds and/or epidurals.


With alcohol, public health policy is there's no safe amount of alcohol at any point in the pregnancy. Got it.

If you're a "good child-bearer," you ignore your doctor saying a glass of wine every month or so is okay, because... studies!!!

But if he tells you to have a drink to stop Braxton-Hicks contractions or whatever, I guess you do that, though, because a good child-bearer should do what her doctor says...

One study I read said that the mostly likely mother-to-be to have an occasional drink (like a couple of glasses of wine during the pregnancy) was a white, middle-socioeconomic class, college educated woman in her late twenties.

I'm not getting the impression that this is the group birthing FAS babies. But it's probably the group that's going to be shamed the most if she does it in public.

cm