Pregnancy & Boooze

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/20/2008 11:47:40 AM
Author: erica k

Date: 6/19/2008 1:50:07 PM

Author: Independent Gal

Yeah, my mom drank beer to increase the milk flow too!



I'm only at week 5, but so far I'm still raring to go exercise wise. Just waiting for the serious nausea and fatigue to settle in I guess.

Funny thing: I met a friend the other day and she suggested sushi. I said 'nope, no sushi for me today!' and she said 'You're pregnant. Yup. You don't have to tell me. But you are.'



It was SO ANNOYING!!!! I didn't want to bare face lie, but this friend can just be SOOO INTRUSIVE. I just fudged and said 'I'll let you know when there's something to know, OK!?!'

Ugh, the same thing happened to me, and I have a terrible time skirting the question. I was with two friends, one is pregnant, the other isn't, and we were talking about work. And I mentioned that I wouldn't expect to necessarily take time off, and the non pregnant friend asked outright, 'Wait, are you pregnant??'


I stammered, 'Yes, I mean, I don't know, it's too early so I don't really want to talk about it.'


It's not nice to be backed into a corner like that!

Oh, I miss my Guinness and bourbon!

Get used to it girls...those people who are on baby watch with all their friends are so gosh darn annoying with this. And you have to endure it for 12 weeks. You just need to work out a few witty responses or at least cover for yourselves.

If someone suggests sushi, tell them you had it yesterday. OR simply go and order cooked stuff.

If someone wants to know why you aren't drinking just tell them that you are on meds that interfere. Or tell them you aren't feeling 100% and think drinking would make it worse...In my experience with this one if you have a good one liner and then drop the subject no one questions it. If you talk about it/around it for 5 minutes, EVERYONE will know. So make sure you practice one of these lines!

Those excuses worked for me with most people, but some people just do not get it and there is nothing you can do about it unfortunately...they will annoy you and annoy you...I think these are the same people who when you DO tell them you are pregnant will start telling you about all the horror stories they know about pregnancy...

 

[erica k]

NF--
Thanks for the tips. My husband has been trying to coach me, but I''m so terribly awkward when put on the spot. I''ll have to keep practicing them.

 

[Independent Gal]

Good tip, Neat!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/20/2008 12:32:25 PM
Author: neatfreak

If someone wants to know why you aren''t drinking just tell them that you are on meds that interfere. Or tell them you aren''t feeling 100% and think drinking would make it worse...In my experience with this one if you have a good one liner and then drop the subject no one questions it. If you talk about it/around it for 5 minutes, EVERYONE will know. So make sure you practice one of these lines!

Didn''t Jas tell a funny story about this?? Her hubby used this excuse and then it turned out that the only antibiotic that is incompatible with alcohol is used to treat STDs! LOL!

I say you tell them you have raging diarrhea! That shuts everyone up no matter what!

I don''t drink so I have never had a problem with this, but Indy you can always order "virgin" drinks when you are out socially, no one will notice. And hey, it will bring back fond memories from when you were young and pure...

 

[Independent Gal]

Date: 6/20/2008 12:42:28 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
And hey, it will bring back fond memories from when you were young and pure...

I don''t think my memory goes that far back.

 

[ephemery1]

The "baby-watch" friends made it tough for me during the first trimester! Pre-pregnancy, I don''t think I ever turned down a drink when out with friends, so I mostly just avoided social situations until I was ready to tell... haha. But I did have to attend DH''s 30th bday party (since I was hosting), so we let a couple people in on the secret, and they just kept me stocked up all night with club sodas w/ lime, served in an actual cocktail glass. Nobody questioned it.

On another occasion, I told people I''d just taken my headache med so didn''t want to mix alcohol with that... which was believable, because most of my friends know I do take some strong headache meds. They also know my headaches make me nauseous, so figured I probably wasn''t in a "drinking mood" anyway.

I second DD''s suggestion of "raging diarrhea"... it is so true that nobody would question that, and it''s definitely not one of the stereotypical pregnancy excuses that would alert the baby-watchers! I think it''s a winner.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/20/2008 12:42:28 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 6/20/2008 12:32:25 PM

Author: neatfreak


If someone wants to know why you aren''t drinking just tell them that you are on meds that interfere. Or tell them you aren''t feeling 100% and think drinking would make it worse...In my experience with this one if you have a good one liner and then drop the subject no one questions it. If you talk about it/around it for 5 minutes, EVERYONE will know. So make sure you practice one of these lines!

Didn''t Jas tell a funny story about this?? Her hubby used this excuse and then it turned out that the only antibiotic that is incompatible with alcohol is used to treat STDs! LOL!


I say you tell them you have raging diarrhea! That shuts everyone up no matter what!

I don''t drink so I have never had a problem with this, but Indy you can always order ''virgin'' drinks when you are out socially, no one will notice. And hey, it will bring back fond memories from when you were young and pure...

LOL. That is why you say MEDS and NOT antibiotics! There are lots of other meds that should not be mixed with alcohol. And usually people won''t ask any more Q''s if you don''t share why you are on meds...

 

[Gemma12]

If you have ms you may find that you can say ''Not feeling so great'' and it''s actually true... I hope that you can come up with a one liner that is better than that!

We had a couple of events where I just nursed a single glass of wine all night. DH drank the occasional sip for me so it looked like I was drinking

.

I second Eph''s idea of having something that looks like a cocktail if that is what you usually drink. I occasionally drank G&Ts so when we had people over, would make them G&Ts and myself a T. No one noticed but tonic water doesn''t taste that great on its own... Even the most observant of my friends didn''t notice that I wasn''t adding G to mine!

Indy to answer your original question, I did drink (in moderation) when we was TTCg, but found out I was pg before 4 weeks and stopped then. I was not interested in alcohol at all for the first three months and now occasionally think about a glass but having not had it for three months it''s a lot easier to leave it.

There seems to be less of a stigma here about pg and booze-a lot of women (including obstetricians!) I know had the occasional 1/2-1 glass of wine on occasion and no one has commented about it. I don''t think there will ever be definitive research proving that x amount of alcohol in any pregnancy is safe, so it''s up to the individual to make up their own mind.

 

[Independent Gal]

I''m definitely going to start ordering fake cocktails. Fizzy water and cranberry juice. Twist o'' lime. This, my friends, is now my poison.

We went to a dinner party last night and DH and I asked for water. The hosts expressed surprise so I said "It''s been a long celebratory week! So we thought we''d better stay ''dry'' tonight." It''s true, but could be interpreted as ''We''ve been boozing it up this week, so are now laying off the booze!'' The other dinner guests were parents of young kids (incl a 3 wk old) so they knew better than to ask. Phew.