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[quote=Anonymous]I have suffered anxiety so I get it. Alcohol is a great coping strategy for anxious feelings and stress and it’s pretty acceptable, socially, unless you are pregnant. I loved my evening wine pre-pregnancy and I was resentful about giving it up during pregnancy when DH didn’t have to, but I pretty much did, save a few sips of wine and beer here and there because I missed the taste, and a few half beers in my last few weeks when i knew all the baby’s organs were formed. And I definitely drank when nursing and still continue to do so in moderation, so I am by no means a Puritan.

What concerns me about your post is that you don’t talk about any other coping habits for stress. Having a newborn, for most women, is a lot more stressful than being pregnant and you need coping skills beyond drinking with DH. Also, have you considered how you would feel about your drinking if anything was wrong with your baby after he or she is
Born? I know for me I didn’t want that guilt for the rest of my life to wonder “if only.”  If you feel ashamed about your drinking or you are lying to your OB and only telling the truth on these boards, I think that’s a sign of a problem. Also, when you say 1.5–what do you mean exactly? Are you measuring your glasses out? Are you downplaying the actual amount? It seems that if you were 100 percent comfortable with your choices you would not be online seeking validation.

It sounds like you may need some more tools in your tooolkit for stress management and perhaps some reassessment of your relationship to alcohol and if it is serving you and your family well. I know for me at times I have gone cold turkey for a week or a month when I felt Iwas relying too heavily on wine to feel better about challenges in my life and always felt that doing that forced me to confront issues I was avoiding or stuffing down.

I may be reading into your post a bit, but I would ask yourself what issues are you stuffing down with alcohol? Is there a part of you that resents pregnancy? Are you and DH clinging onto drinking behaviors that are not things you can continue to do as parents of a young infant? Are clinging to an old way of life you feel sad about giving up? If alcohol is a big part of your child-free life, it can be hard to give up happy hours and boozy brunches and late night bar nights, etc.

For the best interests of yourself and your family, I’d urge you to explore your feelings around alcohol, parenting, and your relationship and work on coping skills for stress because birth and postpartum will test your limits much more than pregnancy will, and demand a great level of personal sacrifice. If you haven’t considered therapy to help you adjust to these big life changes and explore some of these topics, I would strongly encourage it instead of seeking validation for something you seek to know is not necessarily in you or your baby’s best interest. [/quote]

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