I was on an antidepressent when I was pregnant too. I wasn't trying to concieve. I missed my period and the little blue line showed up.
Unfortunately, 8 years ago there were no safe options on the market, and I was taken off my meds. I was required to see my psychiatrist every 2 weeks, and put back on meds at delivery. I was not allowed to breast feed. I had HORRIBLE post-partum depression, as it took several months for the drugs to come back to theraputic levels in my blood stream. I wish there has been an alternative. I wish I could have been able to be a mom to my newborn daughter. I missed out on the first two months of her life, and I wasn't there for my five year old, because I was so horribly distraught form post-partum syndrome. If I had been able to stay on medication throughout my pregnancy, I know it would not have been so severe.
I look back at poor Andrea Yates, ant I wonder what kind of help would have been available to her if she had stayed on her medication and listened to her doctors about limiting her family palnning. I stopped at two. I knew I couldn't do that again. It would have killed me. But that 's another thing entirely...we were talking about you, not me...sorry....
Like Janet said, everything we take into our bodies when we are pregnant has the potential to affect our baby, from the hormones and antibiotics in the beef we eat to the doses of chamomile in the tea we drink. We take them without harm, but our fetus has to detoxify them with it's tiny liver. Yet the baby does amazingly well.
Most of the other chemicals we put into our mouths never cross over the placenta. The new class of antidepressents may be in this catagory. You should speak to your pharmacist about nterpreting the data you read on the drug insert from the animal studies. It doesn't always interpret over to human trials the same way. She/he can give you the best information.
My doctor was not thrilled when I got pregnant on medication either, it does complicate things, but as she put it...she had TWO patients to treat at that point. The baby AND the mom, and the needs of both patients had to be weighed. After all, a catatonic, suicidal, or raging mom is no use to a newborn baby, an I was going end up as one of those without some form of treatment.
She was right. Good luck finding a doctor you trust and can work with. Please give your pharmacist a call. What do you have to loose? Maybe she can suggest another medication your doctor didn't think of.
Val