When doing research of any kind, the National Institutes of Health considers pregnant women a vulnerable population. I really believe this is true and I also believe that pregnant women are vulnerable to fear mongering more than ANY other population. I believe this comes from not only family, friends, but also from the medical community itself. I think a lof of the fear mongering that comes from family and friends is done out of ignorance, but I think the fear mongering from those in the medical community is done intentionally in order to cover butts of liability.

Its impossible to know everything, and many of you dont have access to REAL research articles and data bases and rely on MSN, or CNN to deliver news. And even if you did look at the research articles it VERY hard to detect bias in studies (yes, whoever funded the study has a vested interest in the outcomes).

That being said, please, believe almost nothing of what you hear. Seriously. Use sources like the IOM, the CDC, the WHO, or the NIH, AAP for info (and even they can be pretty conservative or behind the times).

And please remember, we know what will damage our unborn child and what wont. New, untested meds in pregnancy, are risky, drinking 10 drinks a day is risky, exposing yourself to high doses of radiation is risky, shoveling snow off a roof at 9 months is risky, smoking 5 packs of ciggs a day is risky.

There has been enough research in the past 50 years that we KNOW whats risky. If someone tells you something and you "have never heard that before" its because it aint true!