The Rules

I’m obsessed with learning the rules for preggers ladies. I receive several weekly and monthly newsletters. I read different kinds of websites—the science-y ones, the hippy ones, the capitalistic ones—they all serve different needs I have to learn the rules. And I google a new question everyday. They always start like this: “safe during first trimester to…” Then they are followed by things like: eat Caesar dressing, high impact exercise, step classes, go to beach, symptoms of overheating, use sunblock, take nexium, take tums, paint rooms, bike on bumpy streets, etc. Many of my daily activities are verified for safety with a quick google check, then a bout of intense fear, curiosity, comfort, and often, moving full steam ahead.

It appears that much of daily life is just fine for pregnant women save exposure to the hundreds of chemicals all around us. I have been embarking on a chemical cleanse since the start of the new year. I’ve tried about 3 or 4 crappy all natural shampoos by now, I order $35 moisturizer online, and I am over time getting rid of all of my cleaning products in favor of less toxic options. But, now that I’m pregnant, it’s a whole new ball game. I never clean without rubber gloves. I don’t drink tap water (the pipe going into my home is made of lead, as I’m sure some of the city’s pipes are). I buy almost all of my body products online. And I LIVE by the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database which allows you to enter products, analyze the ingredients, and learn about research-demonstrated risks of the included synethetic and natural compounds. It’s a sick game when I get excited about a new product, type it in, and see a disturbing 5 or 6 rating (0 is the best). Then it’s back to the drawing board. Yeah, I’m on that site’s newsletter list too.