Vicodin and pregnancy...need advice

I just found out im 4 months pregnant. I had no idea, didnt have any early symptoms and spotted for 4 months. But now im freaking out cuz I have taken about 4 5mg vicodin daily the entire pregnancy. I was prescribed it for pain after my back surgery. I know everything develops in the first trimester so im wondering how much harm i caused my baby. My dr isnt being very helpfull, just says not to worry cuz there is nothing that could be done now. Has anyone taken that much vicodin in the first trimester??? any advice would be great. I feel terrible.....

[Ashelen]

You should be fine. vicodin is not known to cause birth defects, and in fact is prescribed fairly regularly during pregnancy. I have to take a low dose of lortab (vicodin) for breakthrough pain with debilitating migraines and I'm 28wks pregnant with a healthy boy...and when I was pregnant with my daughter they prescribed strong painkillers for kidney stones and my daughter was born perfectly healthy.

The only time during pregnancy that you want to avoid narcotics is near the due date, because they can depress breathing after birth and cause withdrawals if the mother was physically dependent. It is IDEAL to avoid painkillers during the first trimester, but it won't cause birth defects.

Just take a deep breath and don't worry about it, I'm 99% sure your baby was not hurt by the vicodin. Try to limit your usage in the future to an as-needed basis, but some women have to take strong painkillers their entire pregnancy and the babies turn out JUST FINE. You can message me if you have any questions :).

[sky36]

Thank u so much!!! I was reading all kinds of posts about it on here and some people talk about how terrible it is. And others say they were prescribed it so im so confused. But u made me feel so much better so thank u so much!!!

[Ashelen]

you're very welcome. everyone has different opinions about certain things during pregnancy, but scientifically and medically speaking, there's no reason to think that vicodin would cause any sort of a defect, and since your OB knows you're taking it they can monitor you for all of the things around your delivery date that they need to be checking up on. you can see on my profile that my daughter is a very happy and HEALTHY 19-month-old now, and they were giving me stuff WAY stronger than vicodin for my kidney stones. Congrats on the pregnancy :). When do you find out if you're having a girl or a boy?