[SummerSahar]

People are still being told to rest in bed for a problem pregnancy for example.
I ignored much of the pregnancy exercise no-nos - & was fine & my baby was fine.

It just totally all depends, Yogini. My best friend, for example, will HAVE to stay in bed for the last 2-3 months of her pregnancy (should she decide to get prego) because when she was 18, she had to have a huge chunk of her cervix taken out due to the possibility of cancer. There's not enough cervix to keep a baby IN her if she wants to get pregnant, and carry until the baby is full-term so the last few months of her pregnancy will have to be in bed.

As for the no-no's, a big factor on whether or not no-no's will affect a baby is how susceptible the baby and mother are to certain chemicals (this has to do with out biochemical pathways and metabolism). I wouldn't poo-poo all the no-no's as nonsense because there ARE super-sensitive subpopulations that would have very adverse effects to a substance that more resistant people (like yourself and your baby) wouldn't ever have. At this point, the no-no's are there as a general rule of thumb because we currently have no way to test in utero which babies are sensitive to what substances and which are more resistant. Most will agree it's best to play it safe in case your baby is one of those sensitive ones!
:-)