Question for you all

It might seem a bit silly as i am very new to this and really dont know a thing. But say if you were off the pill but not officially TTC and it happened on its own AND before you found out you had a few nights or a night where you had a few drinks. Is this really bad? ie will you have done any damage to the tiny weeny unborn??

Let's just say that I didn't know I was pregnant for 16 weeks. I was a student. In Dunedin. Working in a bar.

Lots of drinking involved (not to mention the other stuff going on!) and after worrying about it and telling a doctor she said that the amount of alcohol which would result in fetal alcohol syndrome are unknown. Anyway, Han turned out ok. (Well, ok-ish... there are plenty of things like her bossiness, independence, and strange things she does that I would like to attribute to alcohol and not the strange genes that she inherited from me.)

Just steer away from the organisations dedicated to fetal alcohol awareness... they are super over the top and it is petrifying for the many women who drink unaware. I almost cried after reading that brochure.

You'll be fine

I was 8 weeks when I found out I was pregnant and had already had a couple of drinks in that time. Also I was so convinced that I wasn't even ovulating (hahaha) that it took me a few more weeks to actually remember to NOT drink lol. Anyways, this bub is fine (per scans etc) with no probs.

They aren't really that sure how much alcohol affects the babies. I try to avoid alcohol and coffee during pregnancy but am a little relaxed about the odd one. Anyways, I'm sure a lot of bubs conceived over Christmas/New Year get a little drowned to start with!

I got pregnant with Bailey on my honeymoon (first night as it seems) the next week we were drinking most nights (not many but still I was drinking!)
My son is fine and healthy

The night before I found out I was preggy with no #1 I went on a huge bender. I and spent the next 7 months worrying on and off that I'd hurt my daughter until she was born absolutely perfect.
As the others have said, I'm sure its a lot more common than the organisations would have you believe and many of the healthy little munchkins running around out there got a drink before Mummy knew she was preggers!

I think its only a problem for bubs if you drink excessively through the entire pregnancy. I know sooooo many people who have gotten absolutely plastered before they found out that they were pregnant and all bubs were fine

I think it depends on the amount of drinking too eg unless you are drinking a bottle of wine or doing multiple vodka shots you should be OK. My mum (who comes from Europe) had a few drinks while pregnant with me - mostly bubbly/champagne (a glass every couple of days or so) and I've turned mostly OK
I actually asked my GP about this when I went to have my pregnancy test and he admited that although no-no here, in Europe most women do drink wine while pregnant so who knows.
My advice - just practice moderation and make sure you are taking folic acid (you need 800mg I think)