Re-Reading the series: Pregnancy and alcohol.

As I was rereading the series, I took note that during her pregnancy, there was an extended scene where Sharleyan, Caleb, and the Archbishop were enjoying glasses of whiskey.

Now, as this is well after all three had access to OWL and more importantly medical knowledge on the impact of even small amounts of alcohol on fetal development, Sharleyan should have known better than to drink even one, let alone the 2+ drinks of distilled whiskey.

ryndieum wrote:As I was rereading the series, I took note that during her pregnancy, there was an extended scene where Sharleyan, Caleb, and the Archbishop were enjoying glasses of whiskey.

Now, as this is well after all three had access to OWL and more importantly medical knowledge on the impact of even small amounts of alcohol on fetal development, Sharleyan should have known better than to drink even one, let alone the 2+ drinks of distilled whiskey.

Personally, I think that the dangers of moderate drinking while pregnant are greatly over blown. While I have no doubt that frequent binge drinking is harmful, a drink or 2 now and again is not. Many of our mothers drank while pregnant, and I don't think that many of us suffered for it.

Keith_w wrote:

ryndieum wrote:As I was rereading the series, I took note that during her pregnancy, there was an extended scene where Sharleyan, Caleb, and the Archbishop were enjoying glasses of whiskey.

Now, as this is well after all three had access to OWL and more importantly medical knowledge on the impact of even small amounts of alcohol on fetal development, Sharleyan should have known better than to drink even one, let alone the 2+ drinks of distilled whiskey.

Personally, I think that the dangers of moderate drinking while pregnant are greatly over blown. While I have no doubt that frequent binge drinking is harmful, a drink or 2 now and again is not. Many of our mothers drank while pregnant, and I don't think that many of us suffered for it.

From the CDC:
There is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy or while trying to get pregnant. There is also no safe time during pregnancy to drink. All types of alcohol are equally harmful, including all wines and beer. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her baby.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/alcohol-use.html

nanites perhaps? they could well prevent any damage to the liver or to the child.

ryndieum wrote:From the CDC:
There is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy or while trying to get pregnant. There is also no safe time during pregnancy to drink. All types of alcohol are equally harmful, including all wines and beer. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her baby.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/alcohol-use.html

FAS is a real and terrible thing; My daughters' half sister is afflicted with FAS. But as far as I can tell, FAS is totally random -- or at least so poorly understood that it might as well be random. I've known women who drank like fishes and had absolute genius children and I've known women who drank only on their birthday and New Year's and had FAS children.

I suspect that Terran Federation medical nanites know more about FAS than the 20th century (or 21st century if they've updated the warning) US-CDC.

ryndieum wrote: quote="Keith_w" quote="ryndieum" As I was rereading the series, I took note that during her pregnancy, there was an extended scene where Sharleyan, Caleb, and the Archbishop were enjoying glasses of whiskey.

Now, as this is well after all three had access to OWL and more importantly medical knowledge on the impact of even small amounts of alcohol on fetal development, Sharleyan should have known better than to drink even one, let alone the 2+ drinks of distilled whiskey. /quote

Personally, I think that the dangers of moderate drinking while pregnant are greatly over blown. While I have no doubt that frequent binge drinking is harmful, a drink or 2 now and again is not. Many of our mothers drank while pregnant, and I don't think that many of us suffered for it. /quote


From the CDC:
There is no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy or while trying to get pregnant. There is also no safe time during pregnancy to drink. All types of alcohol are equally harmful, including all wines and beer. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her baby.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/alcohol-use.html

I suppose we are getting into the realm of politics here, but I still think this is overblown. I read the whole article. You shouldn't drink and have sex because you might become pregnant? While I recognize that alcohol contributes to a lot of problems, I still believe that moderate drinking is OK. There have been a lot of things that have been listed as evil for us to intake, eggs, butter, margarine, coffee, wifi ( ) white bread, that have later been proven to be not particularly bad for us. Next week they will probably be bad again . or something else will. I didnt see any connection to any studies that proved that drinking moderately is bad for you. I saw a list of things that the CDC claims might happen if you had a drink. The problem is that this is literally unprovable. What affects one person a certain way does not affect another in the same way, so there is no way to run a double blind test on fetal alcohol syndrome. Besides would you want to do that? I certainly wouldn't. Which is probably why the CDC goes overboard on saying no booze at all if there is a chance of getting pregnant.

Lighten up, Frances.

It's called "suspension of disbelief".

In their universe or reality, maybe FAS doesn't exist.

Any way, we are talking about a fictional construct in a Sci-Fi novel, not a real person.

Sci-fi is supposed to be pleasure reading- an escapist indulgence. Personally, I try very hard to keep it that way.

Thanks for trying so hard to be a buzz kill bringing up something as horrible as FAS. Tell me, do you have to work at sucking the joy out of the lives of others or does it just come naturally?

I wouldn't imagine it took any more effort than you put into this.

jtg452 wrote:Lighten up, Frances.

It's called "suspension of disbelief".

In their universe or reality, maybe FAS doesn't exist.

Any way, we are talking about a fictional construct in a Sci-Fi novel, not a real person.

Sci-fi is supposed to be pleasure reading- an escapist indulgence. Personally, I try very hard to keep it that way.

Thanks for trying so hard to be a buzz kill bringing up something as horrible as FAS. Tell me, do you have to work at sucking the joy out of the lives of others or does it just come naturally?

jtg452 wrote:Lighten up, Frances.

It's called "suspension of disbelief".

In their universe or reality, maybe FAS doesn't exist.

Any way, we are talking about a fictional construct in a Sci-Fi novel, not a real person.

Sci-fi is supposed to be pleasure reading- an escapist indulgence. Personally, I try very hard to keep it that way.

Thanks for trying so hard to be a buzz kill bringing up something as horrible as FAS. Tell me, do you have to work at sucking the joy out of the lives of others or does it just come naturally?

So I am going to point out three things:

First, if you are trying to keep this series as an "escapist indulgence", I highly suggest you avoid this forum. For years, people have been asking questions about the "reality" of this or that in regards to the universe RFC created.

Second, most of the best science fiction takes one or two things that have to be taken with a suspension of disbelief. Usually that is FTL travel or Unobtainium or something like that. Aside from those limited plot devices, the universe usually behaves as the reader would expect it to, allowing the reader to both relate to the universe created as well as fit into the inherent assumptions that readers take for granted about how things work within the universe.

Third, pointing things like this out furthers the conversation about the series, the universe, and the story. Filling plot holes, timeline issues, or even minor things like "Hey, she probably shouldn't have had that drink" (Minor in terms of the story, not in terms of what FAS actually DOES) keeps the conversation going.

Oh and Louis was right, the initial post and my CDC quote took a grand total of about 30 seconds. Google is a wonderful minion.

Susceptibility to most things is usually a matter of genetics. Take smoking and other tobacco products. I had two friends who died several years ago. The first was a two pack a day smoker who died at age 91 with as far as I know no cancer or other smoking related health issues. The second started doing smokeless tobacco at age 13, I was pallbearer at his funeral nine years later. He was a real mess at the end having had his tongue, lower jaw, esophagus and part of his right shoulder and neck removed.