Quoting God:“ I hear you about chewing tobacco. I was very drunk one night and I had a friend who used chewing tobacco, ... [snip!] ... very drunk he convinced me to try some. And, being drunk, I accidentally swallowed it... and puking ensued as well. heh C.”

I was dating a guy who chewed and hated smoking. I smoked and hated chewing. So we made a bet and whoever lost had to chew/smoke. So I took a redneck sized dip and accidentally swallowed some. I really hated him for a long time after that. In fact, I think I still hold that against him.

i've been watching/researching this phenomenon of marijuana use during pregnancy/bg-ing w/ a great deal of interest.

before being pregnant, i always assumed that no self-respecting mother would play w/ a recreational drug while pregnant/bf-ing (actually i didn't know it passed through breast milk until i looked it up).

you know, it was like the women who drank alcohol during pregnancy... clearly, they were selfish horrible women.

after looking into this and watching the debate on here and other forums for months and months, i've yet to really come to a clear conclusion...

BUT from what i can tell the reason it's even up for debate (as opposed to recreational alcohol use during pregnancy) is b/c of the theoretical good marijana use (note: not smoking) can do.

the benefits of marijuana during pregnancy (consumed via vaporizing and/or eating) i've seen are as follows:

1) prevents and/or alleviates the dangers of hypermesis (extreme morning sickness)
2) can be used as an anti-depressant and/or anti-anxiety agent

further, there are decent studies out there that indicate that-- in isolation (meaning, w/out alcohol and/or other psychoactive drugs being used in conjunction), marijuana use during pregnancy and/or bf-ing has little to no negative cognitive effects on the infant

as a result, many young pregnant women who are loathe to entirely give up all recreational drug use (alcohol, caffeine, etc.) feel they've found a caveat to the rehab program they're otherwise socially expected to follow as an act of motherly sacrifice during their pregnancy.

despite the research out there that claims there are no negative side effects from pot consumption during pregnancy/bf-ing, i don't think using it recreationally (in order to get "stoned out of your mind") on a regular basis is something any woman can or should do w/ good conscience.

on mothering.com (i believe), i remember reading the testimony of one woman who claimed she never stopped smoking during pregnancy or bf-ing and proudly stated that her baby slept eight or nine hours through the night.

obviously, this woman had been smoking too much pot and/or was too ignorant to recognize that an infant should not be sleeping for that many hours straight... and i have no doubt that her child's lethargic behavior was a direct result of her pot-smoking and detrimental to the baby's current brain development (on every level, since an infant needs to be awake to start hardwiring its responses to outside stimuli).

from what i know and have personally experienced w/ marijuana, there are therapeutic amounts that can be consumed and then there are recreational amounts -- which leave you a drooling idiot stuffing your face w/ cheetos and mars bars (or whatever).

at this point, i view marijuana as a medicinal herb which has dose-related effects. therapeutic amounts would be derived from much less than one joint (probably one or two "hits") or a few bites of a cookie/brownie (depending on the concentration of plant used in the recipe), whathaveyou.

if you respect the medicine and its effects on your body and your baby, you will not ingest receational amounts of marijuana until your child is no longer dependent on your body for its physical well-being.

Quoting Mara:“ i've been watching/researching this phenomenon of marijuana use during pregnancy/bg-ing w/ a great deal ... [snip!] ... not ingest receational amounts of marijuana until your child is no longer dependent on your body for its physical well-being.”

I agree.
Even though I had really terrible morning sickness, I still never even though about using marijuana to help it. Even if I thought it would help, I probably wouldn't have used it. Usually, when I would get morning sickness, It would be at work (because I would wake up an hour before I had to go to work) so it would be stupid of me to go to work high in the first place. I also do live with my parents and I'm not just going to go sneak off and get high...
As I have said, I did smoke once when I knew I was pregnant and I felt horrible about it and gave me an uneasy feeling. It just really isn't for me at this time and if some of you ladies on here feel that it has helped you with extreme morning sickness and you didn't overuse it and used it specifically for that reason, then I don't think there is too much problem in that..
I do think that many women do use it as an excuse to still get high when their pregnant. As if they're trying to convince themselves it's okay or something and I don't think that is right. I think that being pregnant is a time to really take care of yourself as best as you can and be responsible and I don't think getting baked outta your mind constantly is an okay thing to do at all just because "there's no proof" of negative effects.