Ok! So I'm pregnant! Now what! You research the internet only to find more information than you really care to read, so you put it off reading everything for a little bit longer, you might even join up to a pregnancy website and receive their weekly newsletters, how harmful could that be! But after a while you begin to feel the cells inside you growing and you are feeling the nausea of morning sickness, so you put the newsletter reading aside and concentrate on getting over the latest bought of tiredness and sickness.
After about three months you have now gotten over it and are ready to tackle the insurmountable amount of information that your friends and family, by now know you are pregnant and are very willing to share your experiences with you.
You try to define some useful information and store it away in your mind for when the time comes and you think Oh! Yeah! I will remember that when I'm pushing or changing the nappy whilst vomiting up all over you.
But your curiosity makes you return to the internet to read some more information about the latest research according to some very well-meaning full scientist in Europe.
Who carried out a study at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and commissioned by green peace and WWF, so at least you think that it must be important.
So you read on to find out there have been studies done and they show that the blood of unborn new babies contains dangerous amounts of compounds found in everyday household cleaners, perfumes and cooking pans and furniture.
The chemicals, can be passed from the mother through the umbilical cord, and have been linked to cancers, genital abnormalities and birth defects.
By this stage the article has really gotten your attention, you're not having any baby born with any abnormalities! You think to yourself.
Not quite convinced with just one article and one scientist saying this so you continue to read more about what researchers are doing.
This time they have checked for 35 common chemicals in blood taken from the umbilical cords of 30 newborn babies and from more than 40 new mothers.
All the babies had at least five compounds in their blood and some had as many as 14.
But hang on! Where could all of these chemicals be coming from? You sigh to yourself.
The study revealed that mothers can pass on up to a third of the pollutants which may have built up in their bodies over a long period of time.
Among the chemicals were phthalates, which are used in soap, make-up and plastics and were shown earlier this year to disrupt the development of baby boys reproductive organs.
After reading this paragraph you begin to think about what I'm putting into my mouth and what am I touching that will be passed onto my baby! Still not quite convinced that chemicals are playing a major role in the growth of my unborn child who by now is about 26 weeks old and can feel them kicking you and you're getting quite uncomfortable with the large mass that has developed in you.
So you think to yourself, maybe I just better compare some other studies or what are other people saying.
Then you come across another blog site that has a similar study showing similar parallels to the research you were reading earlier.
So you continue to read on, that if there are lots of people saying the same thing there must be something to question about it! Research earlier this year in the United States, found 287 chemicals in the umbilical cords of ten randomly chosen newborn, including mercury, pesticides, flame retardant, and incineration pollutants.
After reading that statement you really want to tell your partner by now and that everything in the house must be thrown out because it could end up in our baby's umbilical cord.
"Your just over reacting! says your partner, get off the computer and come to bed.
Whilst you lie awake at night uncomfortable you start thinking about what the scientist have said, until recently scientists thought that the placenta shielded cord blood, and the developing baby, from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment.
This is the first time many of these pollutants have ever been found in cord blood.
You also thought that as well.
And the exposure doesn't stop there.
Australian research has confirmed that breast milk can contain pesticides and other pollutants at higher than set safety levels.
When is this all going to stop? After another sleepless night, your friend who is pregnant shows you an article about what researchers at the University of Washington have found recently and confirmed that children eating mostly organic food had far lower levels of pesticides in their urine than children eating mostly conventional food.
A follow-up study has also shown has levels of pesticides fall dramatically when children switch to organic food, and then rapidly rise when they start eating non-organic food again.
By this time it's too late to change your lifestyle to accommodate what the scientist have been saying, all along your thinking are they for real! Is this just scare mongering so they will buy your products.
Just then you get a phone call to say that your friend has had her baby and it's a girl, after you congratulate her and are all excited about the new bundle of joy you arrange a time to met the new arrival, only to find that your friend wanted to warn you before you came to see the baby, you see she became a victim of what the scientists have tried to tell us, she was born with a birth defect leaving her very disfigured.
Your heart drops to the ground and you place your hand over your own 32 week old baby ready to be born any minute and feel a deep sense of regret, I should have taken those cleaning chemicals out of the kitchen, I should have not cleaned the bath room with chemical laden products.
And now I really which I had listened to what those organic pregnancy newsletters where telling me, about how to look after yourself and being aware of the silent killers.
After you get over the shock and pick yourself up off the ground, you put your confidence in some research that you also read that there are a very small number of people who are going to be affected by the chemicals and they are so low that they are within the regulated range and they must be safe to use.
So after you counsel yourself about that positive side to this free chemical saga you have had in your mind, you finally have your baby and sigh a breath of fresh are that she is normal.
But you think to yourself, should I get an umbilical cord blood test just to see if the scientist were right and just actually how much of the worlds poisons end up in our newborn babies? The question will forever remain...
You hear so much about what you should do and shouldn't do that you are left standing there wondering which way to turn.
I'm now faced with this dilemma of I know all of this information and how harmful it can be to my baby and even my health.
I never knew that it was going to be this hard to make a decision about what information I should believe.
Do I believe everything that scientists find? Should we take their evidence as the only information that we base our decision-making on? There will be scientist who says these pollutants will be doing us no harm and that the levels are too low.
If you'd rather not gamble with your children's health or your own health, on the off-chance they may be wrong, there's never been a more important time to watch what you put in and on your body.
The best thing to do is go with your gut instinct and the education you have been taught, if you feel that you want to make changes in your life to accommodate the rising sickness from chemicals then you will need to search for natural and organic products who do not use any chemicals or are substituted with less impact ones.
There are so many items in our everyday living that it would be unrealistic to throw them all out and start again.
I suggest you replace one item at a time when it runs out with a natural and organic alternative.