Archive for August, 2010
Alcohol Rehabilitation and Birth Issues
If you are unable to stop drinking, and have found out that you are pregnant, you are strongly urged to seek out alcohol rehabilitation as soon as possible. In many cases, the more you drink means the higher likelihood that your baby is going to come out with a serious problem of some sort. Among the potential problems (which would be with your unborn baby for its entire life) are fetal alcohol syndrome (also known as FAS), fetal alcohol effects (or FAE), alcohol-related neuro-developmental disorder (abbreviated to ARND), and another set of issues known by the blanket term of alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD). While these are not guaranteed to happen if you drink alcohol during pregnancy, every time becomes another risk to your baby’s entire future.
If you drink alcohol while you are pregnant, the alcohol in your blood will go directly to your baby through the umbilical cord. But unfortunately, the cord that normally provides your baby with the nutrients of life will also pump the poison in, as well. Keep in mind, firstly, that alcohol is a poison. But as an adult, your brain is developed enough, and your body resilient enough, that you can shrug off the effects. The worst you will likely sustain is a hangover. But your baby is different.
A fetus’s brain is just starting to develop. It is rather like if the foundation of a building were built crookedly – the rest would be sitting atop a flawed foundation, and could not be built correctly despite everyone best intentions. During the rapid formation of nerves and cells inside your unborn baby’s brain, any kind of effect that would barely faze an adult can cause unbelievable damage. They can be born with permanent physical and mental problems that they will never outgrow. A few drinks you have now could be with your baby for the rest of its life.
