Oh look! A chicke....hey, here's another post!

I feel trapped in my body today. I've finally caught A and M's head/chest cold. Just in time to wake up to this news about a link between Paracetamol (Tylenol) use in pregnancy and higher incidence of ADHD diagnoses, from mild to extreme. 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/26/adhd-linked-paracetamol-during-pregnancy-study

Great. Because, see, in my family, this card is really funny:

There are a number of us who are easily distracted, bouncing from one topic to another, sometimes without finishing a sentence. Or two. Or three. Me, included.

So it isn't like we need a little extra push in that direction. And how come it has been so long the story that this drug is "completely safe" during pregnancy? Apparently, this isn't the first time a study has found a link. WTF?

This means that, in addition to rationing out my inhaler today, I'm not taking pain killers. So far, that latter point isn't too big of a deal. Most of the commotion is in my chest and lungs. Being sick when pregnant sucks. You just have to wait it out.

And yet, this state of no (or not enough) medication, whether by choice or access, is common for pregnant women around the world. And if it is by choice, then that makes the pregnancy longer and harder. Just getting through days of feeling bad, in so many ways, is hard work. So I think it is time to acknowledge that we can't ask women to both sacrifice their feeling better AND expect them to act as if pregnancy doesn't change a thing (about how much they can work). You can't have both. You want women able to choose less medication for reflux, depression, asthma, nausea, then be ready to stop holding them to some superwoman standard. I'm talking to other women, here, too. I don't have it in me to hear how much you're getting done during pregnancy. I'm pretty much at the level where I'd like to hear how much you're having to set aside.

Now, just as a side-bar, this doesn't mean I'm not grateful to actually be pregnant. However, just because I've dealt with infertility problems for years and wanted desperately to be pregnant, that doesn't mean that this wishing is somehow built up in me to get me through these times easily. I will be happy to be past this part, this part that was so longed for (as a means to another child), and have a baby in my arms. I'll be exhausted, but happy. But exhausted.

Because sleep, too, is not something a person can stockpile for those sleepless, newborn-baby nights.