Fetal alcohol syndrome is a serious disorder. If women don't miscarry, their babies can be physically, mentally and behaviorally disabled. Kids can have distorted facial features, stunted growth, vision problems and learning deficits.
Most women who know they are pregnant avoid alcohol if they can. They know it's not good for the baby. Women frequently agonize together over whether it's OK to take ibuprofen when they're pregnant, or eat fish, or soft cheese. They worry about whether they're exercising too much or too little.
But it's also possible to not know you are pregnant. Younger women may be painfully aware of the odds of being pregnant, but I had been married a long time and unless you're doing the let's-time-it-for-conception thing, the thought just isn't there.
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