Did you know there are a few stages of pregnancy that one doesn't expect until they experience them? If one is trying to get pregnant there is the "I am infertile" stage whereby one associates all abnormal-ish period signs to several diagnoses. Then when one does get pregnant there is the "Holy Crap! What was I thinking?" phase that usually lasts only until the morning sickness, breast tenderness, adult acne, tiredness ends giving way to the "Everything I do (or don't do) harms my unborn child" stage. This is the stage I am currently in.
It's 2 a.m. and of course, I'm surfin' the net like I always do when I can't sleep. I really should listen to Mark more when it comes to avoiding the internet. I had a flu shot today. My doctor recommended it even though I have an egg allergy. The pharmacist was a bit peeved that my dr. was so insistent given that I could have had a terrible reaction to the shot. Although it hurt (in my opinion) I didn't break out in itchiness or hives so all is well there..or so I thought. I did some research on the flu shot and really shouldn't have. I learned that the typical flu shot contains a trace amount of mercury. Interesting little factoid since preggo women should not have mercury and thusly, we are warned to limit several types of fish. Of course, I became curious about mercury and googled info on that only to learn that it's been associated with autism in children. Given what I know about autism, I was surprised to learn this, but because I'm in that aforementioned 3rd stage I grew a bit worried. And then I also came across an article that stated preggo women should not receive flu shots before week 15. I am exactly 15 weeks today.
My hypochondriac friend (hi!) won't exactly appreciate this post and now I'm convinced my unborn child will have autism. I think I'll try to sleep now!