Pregnant woman suffers alcohol relapse after positive pregnancy test

This article is part of ZEIT am Wochenend, issue 39/2026.

When the pregnancy test showed two stripes, Anna thought she could stop drinking. This baby was growing in her womb, a girl like she had always wanted. She already had a small son. So now the second child, a little earlier than planned. We can do it, her husband had told her. Less than a month later the first relapse. As she remembers, she was home alone, drove to the supermarket and grabbed two bottles of white wine. She convinced herself that the smallest size, just a quarter liter, would be fine. Anna downed one of the bottles in the car and drank the second at home.