Did the common cold and tea cause my baby's anencephaly? Maybe....

Going back to what I could have done differently--I've read the neural tube closes up sometime between the 20th and 30th day after conception (and I've read even more precisely somewhere between the 23d to 26th day).  Because we did IVF, I know EXACTLY what I was doing at that time of my pregnancy.  I took four plane flights (home from vacation in a foreign country, a two-day work trip, and then to visit my in-laws) and I was really, really sick.  I had a bad cold and nausea, the latter of which I attributed to the fact that I had just found out I was pregnant and was suffering from morning sickness.  Could the plane flight have been a contributing cause?  Or, more likely, the really bad cold?  I don't recall having a fever, but I definitely felt like total shit.  (Also, I did not use any cold medicine, so that's not a cause.)

I think the cold may have been a part of the problem, and science might be on my side:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2000/0515/p3065.html

"In a Finnish study, mothers of anencephalic children were more likely than matched control patients to remember having a cold in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, the evidence implicating first-trimester colds as a cause of anencephaly is insufficient at this time to concern the mother. There are no recommendations for serology or fetal surveillance following exposure to colds."

(citing to Kurppa K, Holmberg PC, Kuosma E, Aro T, Saxen L. Anencephaly and maternal common cold. Teratology. 1991;44:51-5, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1957263)

See also http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/birthdefects/risk/risk7-ntds.shtm

"Maternal common cold in the first trimester of pregnancy has been reported to increase risk of anencephaly and spina bifida"

(citing to Zhang J, Cai WW. Association of the common cold in the first trimester of pregnancy with birth defects. Pediatrics 1993;92:559-563, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8414827, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/14784136_Association_of_the_common_cold_in_the_first_trimester_of_pregnancy_with_birth_defects)

Or maybe it was the fucking tea after all.

"A recent study reported increased risk of spina bifida with maternal tea consumption"

(Correa A, Stolley A, Liu Y. Prenatal tea consumption and risks of anencephaly and spina bifida. Ann Epidemiol 2000;10:476-477.)

I'm sitting here thinking, if only I had washed my fucking hands and avoided tea, I might be gestating a perfectly healthy little baby instead of mourning the loss of a very sick one.  (For the record, today's not going to be the day I manage to avoid crying.)