Bye Bye Wendover

So here in Utah, almost everything related to adulthood is illegal. Gambling for starters. Wendover, Nevada and Mesquite, Nevada are two border town built solely for the Utahans to gamble in. The parking lots are FULL of Utah license plates. I am sure the few Nevada plates are the employees.

I know that Mormons are not supposed to gamble, but I LOVE to play blackjack. I can sit at the cheap table and play for hours. I also love Bingo. I've been dying to wear huge Jackie O sunglasses and try my hand at Texas Hold'em poker. I'm not perfect in the gambling is bad respect yet.

So a couple of my co-workers whom I like are planning a Wendover get away this weekend. I was SO excited to go, I even have a room booked. When I called Vince to tell him it was all set, he asked me about the second hand smoke issues and the baby. He wanted me to call the doctor to check this out.

I do call the doctor and talk to her nurse. Turns out, they do not feel that casinos are the greatest place for an expecting mom to be. She kept saying that they could not say it was safe, even if I went out side between each shuffle. Grrrr.

So I called my super liberal friend, who I was sure would say have a nice time. (You can read her partner's blog here.) Umm, nope. She said she avoided smoke like the plague when pregnant. Their donor has an asthma history, so she was super careful. (if I need to remove this, let me know) She said there was no way she would go into a casino at all when she was pregnant. She talked some sense into me, but I was still not ready to listen. She also offered to baby sit when I have the baby so I can go to Wendover when I'm not pregnant. I'll hold her to that. :)

One of the co-workers I was going to go with did the "my mom smoked and I was fine routine" so I was again thinking of going. Then I googled second hand smoke pregnancy. I found this website which says :

Between 70% and 90% of non-smokers in the American population, children and adults, are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. It is estimated that only 15%
of cigarette smoke gets inhaled by the smoker. The remaining 85% lingers in the air for everyone to breathe. If a person spends more than two hours in a room where someone is smoking, the nonsmoker inhales the equivalent of four cigarettes.

and...

When a pregnant woman is exposed to secondhand smoke, the nicotine she ingests is passed on to her unborn baby. Women who smoke or are exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy:
have a higher rate of miscarriages and stillbirths
have an increased risk of low birth weight infants
have children born
with decreased lung function
have children with greater risk of sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS)

and....

Ventilation systems and designated smoking sections do not protect patrons from ETS(second hand smoke).

So since there is no way I would EVER smoke 4 cigarettes and I do not want to pass on nicotine to my baby, we are staying home. Parenting begins even before birth, and your life changes to protect and cherish your child before you can hold them. Missing a weekend of fun is no price to pay for exposing my little bean to something it has no say in avoiding. The risks are too high.

I won't be pregnant forever, but what happens now can have lifetime effects. It just is not worth the risk. Anyway, the thought of the 2 hour drive to Wendover in a car sounds like torture, as car seats are a torture device designed by the CIA to use on Al-Qaeda with sciatic nerve problems. This does apply to my Oldsmobile.

Now if someone opened a smoke free casino for all the sinning Mormons.....