Medication Safety in Early Pregnancy: First Trimester Concerns

Question
I am in my first trimester and came to know that I am pregnant only few days back. I assume the conception date is around May 1st, 2008. Without knowing that I am pregnant, I took the following medicines due to my high fever & cough during 3rd week of pregnancy.

May 14: Started course on Antibiotics named MOX-500mg (I assume my baby is in 3rd week during this time). The course was completed in 5 or 6 days

May 15 & 16: Took total of 4 tablets of Prednisolone. Didnt complete the course (I assume my baby is in 3rd week during this time).


Will this have any adverse affects on my baby? I read somewhere that prednisolone taken during first trimester may cause cleft lip or palate. Is this true? I am in deep agony and I really wish that my baby is safe throughout my pregnancy period. Please help to clear my doubts.

Answer
Dear Lakshmi,

Your conception date would be about 5/1 if your last period was approximately 4/17. You didn't give me dates, so I thought you might like that information. If that is the case, the fetus would have been in the 2nd-3rd week of gestation.

However, there is a fairly common theory amongst health care providers called the "all-or-nothing phenomenon". Essentially this refers to a window of time in the first 2-3 weeks after conception when there is none of the crucial fetal development going on. During this window, if the new fetus is exposed to anything which will prove to be "defective", the strong likelihood is that it will spontaneously abort. However, in most cases, this window allows for great latitude. My personal suspicion is it was a nature-made, Divine protection since most women will not know they are pregnant for at least 2-3 weeks after conception has occurred.

Try to relax. You have no idea how frequently this happens that women are exposed to things early on which they never would have exposed themselves to had they known they were pregnant. Typically these babies are fine if the exposure is within those first 3 weeks.

I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.

Brenda