To which of the following would you have a mostly negative reaction?

smoking and drinking. That's it. If I see what appears to be drunkenness or track marks, I'd consider the fact it could be something else before I'd think something negative.

Most of them. I dunno, I still kind of think pregnant ladies should stay at home receiving belly massages from and being fed grapes and coolled with ostrich feather fans by gorgeous, tanned and topless men.

And since I didn't get that while pregnant, I should get that NOW.

It's not the pregnant woman part, it's the smoking, anorexia, or being obese whether she has a proto-human parasite growing in her or not.

I would not have a negative reaction to any of these things here because I am female and have seen all of this

> smoking and drinking. That's it. If I see what appears to be drunkenness
> or track marks, I'd consider the fact it could be something else before
> I'd think something negative.

Smoking and drinking and all of this have seen it all with pregnant women nothing could surprise me Linda been
around to long

Happy birthday

#1: smoking
#2: drinking
#3: home birth
#4: anorexia

The other stuff I wouldn't think too much about.

> Happy birthday

Thanks and i am now 53 at last

> #1: smoking
> #2: drinking
> #3: home birth
> #4: anorexia
>
> The other stuff I wouldn't think too much about.

My friend she is over-weight and really heavy set and she has had 2 children a girl and a boy and she even looks
pregnant when she is not?
Yes Southernyankee i truly have seen it all in my 53 years on earth and yes pregnant women do go out jogging
that is nothing new with me

Pregnant woman or ANYone smoking a cigarette; several large glasses of spirits might not be a good idea; one who appears to be drunk; track marks; no exercise at all; obese or morbidly obese; anorexia nervosa; junk food.

About 4 years ago, I saw this heavily pregnant women smoking outside my workplace. She worked next door and was always outside having a laugh with her ciggie. I decided that I would write her a letter anonymously and send it to her (the letter was an article on smoking when pregnant: i also wrote "Do you even care?".

The next day, she walked outside (with a cigarette) and showed the letter to her friend. Then she started crying.

AT LEAST SHE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRY AND SHOW HER FEELINGS ON THE MATTER, UNLIKE THE POOR BABY THAT WAS INSIDE HER FOUL BODY!

Obviously I would have (and do have) a negative reaction to seeing a pregnant woman smoke.

Drinking a small glass of wine gets a pass, but only if it was a one off. Drinking spirits, being intoxicated and taking drugs are all obvious no-nos. So too would be evidence of an eating disorder (although being overweight goes with the territory).

Refusing scans would be on my list as a Brit because they're free, but I could understand it if a woman in the US decided not to have any on the basis that she couldn't afford it (I don't know what the provisions are for low income women and sonography as far as Medicare goes).

Supplemental folic acid is only really helpful during the month either side of conception, so a visibly pregnant woman not taking folic acid is no big deal.

My SO had a craving for KFC when she was pregnant, so I can't complain about junk food once in a while.

Smoking, drinking a lot, c-section without necessity.

I also have a negative reaction to morbidly obese pregnant women, only because I've been told by fertility specialists that part of my problem is my weight -- and I'm not anywhere close to morbidly obese like some women that have no problem having babies. This issue is one of jealousy.

What you think might be track marks could indicate medical issues, not drugs. Dialysis, or just multiple hospital stays. I know after a long stint in the hospital, I have looked like I had track marks also.

I chose cigarette, appeared drunk, and appears to have anorexia.

coward

Just as a note - this survey (my first in almost four years ) was inspired by a pregnant friend of mine who intends to continue drinking alcohol (because there's no evidence that a low intake of alcohol will cause her or her baby any harm, despite UK government recommendations). I agree with her, but can't help but wonder what kind of a reaction she might get from others.

> coward

Pregnant woman smoking, pregnant woman drinking a lot, jogging, or a very skinny one.

If somebody was really fat, I don't think I'd notice they're pregnant. Eating all these food, well I know some of these are not recommended, but then again it's hard to stop yourself once your cravings get a hold of you.

Not taking follic acid, not doing scans, or wanting a homebirth is completely okay with me - women have living like this since, well, women came to exist.

And although I think c-section might be something unnecessary, it's up to everyone to choose their method of giving birth. At one point I thought I wouild've requested c-section but now I've changed my mind.

> About 4 years ago, I saw this heavily pregnant
> women smoking outside my workplace. She worked
> next door and was always outside having a laugh
> with her ciggie. I decided that I would write
> her a letter anonymously and send it to her (the
> letter was an article on smoking when pregnant:
> i also wrote "Do you even care?".
>
> The next day, she walked outside (with a cigarette)
> and showed the letter to her friend. Then she
> started crying.
>
> AT LEAST SHE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRY AND SHOW
> HER FEELINGS ON THE MATTER, UNLIKE THE POOR BABY
> THAT WAS INSIDE HER FOUL BODY!

Did she eventually quit?

Smoking, several large glasses of spirits, drunk, track marks, anorexia, morbidly obese, c-section that isn't medically necessary.

Obese and anorexia - both have negative reactions with me - a pregnant woman would only magnify that negativity.

> |> About 4 years ago, I saw this heavily pregnant
> |> women smoking outside my workplace. She worked
> |> next door and was always outside having a laugh
> |> with her ciggie. I decided that I would write
> |> her a letter anonymously and send it to her (the
> |> letter was an article on smoking when pregnant:
> |> i also wrote "Do you even care?".
> |>
> |> The next day, she walked outside (with a cigarette)
> |> and showed the letter to her friend. Then she
> |> started crying.
> |>
> |> AT LEAST SHE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO CRY AND SHOW
> |> HER FEELINGS ON THE MATTER, UNLIKE THE POOR BABY
> |> THAT WAS INSIDE HER FOUL BODY!
>
> Did she eventually quit?
>

No, the silly slag kept on smoking. In fact, I think she smoked even more just to make a point.

Pathetic really

There are too many issues that would bug me for me to single out the most horrific.

A "mostly negative reaction" rather than "the most negative reaction" You can check as many as you want!

Fair enough. I would say summarily that any situation where an expectant mother was not taking the utmost care of her unborn child would just plain bug me.

stupid woman

Is this her?

How about just plain "A pregnant woman?" I think pregnant women are gross to look at.

There's an option for that - no-one has picked it yet!

Guess I missed it.

with drinking and smoking during pregnancy! Fresh needle marks? Then, that too. Otherwise, all kinds of women get pregnant (even the fat and lazy ones), some babies are born with problems despite the best efforts from mom (including taking folic acid, having all the scans and avoiding unhealthy food) and the choice of where to give birth is personal. Drinking and smoking, however, are known to be VERY dangerous for baby and BOOooo to the mom who does.

Of course there's evidence. Fetal alcohol syndrome. For starters. Unless you've got a trick sentence in there? Like, how low is her low intake of alcohol? One daily beer? Two ounces of spirits three times a week? A cooler a month? Two glasses of wine bi-annually?

drunk, anorexic and track marks

WOW, this survey is crazy. I smoked through both of my pregnancies and I am fat. I can see how disgusting I would have been to most of you. I stopped smoking a year ago.. but well.. My kids have never had any health issues. What a bunch of butt-hole comments... I think...

Nah, she was far more ugly!

Actually, all the evidence suggests that drinking no more than one glass of alcohol per day poses no threat to the unborn child.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is primarily associated with alcoholics and heavy drinkers.

Don't be misled by faulty science. The following article refutes the results you Brits have been given. Link below. Controversy ahead. I haven't read the study yet,, but I'm going to.. Meet you back here later!

"A national alcohol research group is concerned that the media's misinterpretation of a recent British research study could encourage pregnant women to be more at ease with temperate alcohol consumption.

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/133892.php "

Actually, the article is more of a refutation of the way in which the findings of the study were used by the media. And quite right too. Science is rarely reported in a responsible or intelligent way in the mainstream media (largely due to editors having little to no understanding or appreciation of medical science or statistics).

What the evidence showed was that light drinking during pregnancy does not present a significant risk to the unborn child. However, because it found a correlation between light drinking during pregnancy and increased cognition in toddlers (compared with toddlers whose mothers drank no alcohol at all during pregnancy), the headline in the newspaper was probably "Official: Beer Makes You Clever". However, this is an indication of the idiocy of newspaper editors rather than evidence that the study was based on faulty science.

The way I see it, there are two separate issues here. Scientific evidence and what people people might do when they hear that evidence reported in the media.

If a study says that drinking alcohol in low quantities during pregnancy presents no significant risk to the foetus, then the danger is that some people, on hearing the sensationalised version reported in the media, will become complacent and drink more alcohol than the ordinarily would have done.

If a study says that drinking alcohol in any quantity during pregnancy presents a significant risk to the foetus, then the danger is that some people, on hearing the sensationalised version reported in the media, will become so alarmed they will try and get an abortion for fear that their baby is irreparably damaged.

Low intake is considered to be no more than one or two units once or twice a week (so at most, four units a week, drunk over at least two days). Despite fetal alcohol syndrome being extensively investigated, there is no evidence that a low intake of alcohol would cause problems. In fact, the evidence suggests that a high intake of alcohol is necessary for fetal alcohol syndrome - such as that seen in problem drinkers and alcoholics rather than levels of drinking seen in the wider population. It's true that there may be some evidence of a dose-response relationship that should ensure all women aim to restrict their alcohol intake during pregnancy, but not at the lowest levels of alcohol consumption. When my friend says she intends to continue drinking alcohol, she isn't even talking about the upper limits of "low intake" - she means she may have one drink, once a week.

Guidelines often have two sides to them. There's usually underlying evidence and then there is an element designed to try and get people to actually follow them. So, in the UK, the guidelines for fruit and veg intake is that we should aim for '5 a day' which is actually a lot lower than the evidence actually suggests it should be - because if they said something more accurate like '10 a day' they worry that people will think it's too difficult and not bother even trying. It's the same with alcohol - most people can't accurately assess whether their alcohol intake is low, medium or high, and if the guidelines said "low intake is fine" (which they actually did in the UK, until just recently) then that may give license to some women to binge drink once a week or drink half a bottle of wine a day, thinking that is okay when actually that behaviour can and does cause problems.

NB Not sure if you use units in Canada - a unit is the equivalent of half a pint of 3-4% beer or a small glass of wine.

Like icurok says, that article is about media misinterpretation, not the evidence itself. I presume you have access to various publications via Athens or similar? Have a look at:

Henderson J. Gray R. Brocklehurst P. Systematic review of effects of low-moderate prenatal alcohol exposure on pregnancy outcome.[see comment][erratum appears in BJOG. 2007 Jul;114(7):914-5]. [Review] [56 refs] [Journal Article. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't. Review] BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 114(3):243-52, 2007 Mar.

It's the most recent review that I can find (with just a brief search of the literature - I'm supposed to be reading about sarcomas at the moment!)

From what I've read in the past, while papers tend to shy away from actually condoning drinking alcohol during pregnancy, the general tendency is for them to find that there is no evidence that woman shouldn't drink, as long as their intake is low (and most find no evidence that even moderate drinking is problematic). That pretty much sums up current advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists too.

I don't think there's much evidence that being moderately overweight has a negative impact on pregnancy (and actually, carrying a bit of weight is probably beneficial) but morbid obesity is definitely far from ideal (though I'm not sure if the dangers to the mother or the baby are greater). As for smoking, I would never condone it during pregnancy because there is very strong evidence that it is linked to various problems (though it won't affect everyone, just as some people can smoke 100 a day for 60 years and never get lung cancer). However, I think some people fail to appreciate that smoking is an addiction that is probably 10 times harder to give up with all of the pressures of pregnancy. It's easy to criticise others and not so easy to be in that situation yourself. I think a lot of women who smoke during pregnancy feel incredibly guilty about it - criticising them is only going to make them feel worse, and more likely to continue. Did you get any hassle for smoking when you were pregnant?

I did not. My friends are all smokers and when I got pregnant, it wasn't a pretty situation (the guy hitting me and all). I was very stressed with both of my pregnancies!! I did manage to cut down though, it isn't as if I WANTED to smoke, it was just something that helped with the stress. I would have to say that most everyone I know smoked while pregnant and I haven't met one with any health issues yet. Maybe we are all just lucky. As far as the 'fat thing' I was/am morbidly obese (I hate that term, it should be chunky plus) anyhow, and my kids are fine, I was fine and I have no health problems what-so-ever. So, I guess from my own point of view and things that I have witnessed.. Babies born to drug addicted mothers, babies with fetal alcohol syndrome those seem to be A HELL of a lot higher on my list of things that would cause a negative reaction then smoking and a heavy mom. I also thing starving your baby to remain thin is more dangerous than being over-weight but hey... I may be wrong.. I was just kind of shocked by the comments and the answers.

I would hope that most people would recognise that individual circumstances are going to have a huge impact on a person's ability to give up smoking. I don't understand why people think that becoming pregnant means that women are miraculously able to put aside an addiction that they may have struggled with for years

Would have been nice!!! I could have saved so much money!!!

A pregnant woman who appeared to be drunk.

A pregnant woman with track-marks on her arms
I might have marked the one who appeared to have anorexia, but I am not sure I would automatically assume this.

OK, track mards may be a legit health issue. I for one, should have thought of that. Geez, I have track marks on my arms from being sick ten years ago..

> How about just plain "A pregnant
> woman?" I think pregnant
> women are gross to look at.

Wow, I'm shocked to hear anyone say that. I think there aren't many things more beautiful than a naked pregnant woman.

track marks.......

Personally I do not like preggo's in general... LOL But it is their life so they can do what they want...

Shocked? Pregnant women are disgusting to look at. Nothing beautiful about a big belly. And there is nothing beautiful or fulfilling about having children either.

> Shocked? Pregnant women are disgusting to look at. Nothing beautiful
> about a big belly.

Hmm, this is the sort of response I'd expect from a 9 year old...

Come on, you're better than this!!!

Hey, it's my personal opinion. What is beautiful about a woman with a huge beer belly? Having children is no magical experience, no fun and you have to deal with it the rest of your life. They never go away.