Halfway Point

So we've made it to 20 weeks and all is well. That's five months for anyone at home keeping track of my days on the sobriety wagon. Granted, I've had some sips of wine and beer here and there, but nothing I'm concerned about. The challenge in the early days of pregnancy was getting over the ritual of my nightly glass(es) of wine. I have yet to come across any decent non-alcoholic wine alternative, so if anyone wants an idea that would surely make millions, there it is. There are a ton of wino women out there that have recently been knocked up and are undergoing withdrawal symptoms after having to give up alcohol cold turkey. Currently, their best alternative is non-alcoholic beer, and even that still has a small percentage of alcohol in it.

I'm reminded of our first appointment with the doctor when Dave asked him specifically about non-alcoholic beer and whether or not it was safe for me to drink with the low alcohol content (I believe it is 0.5%). The doctor, of course, gave the safe answer that doctors have to give to avoid senseless litigation later on. No, absolutely not. I could not have any non-alcoholic beer. I should not even make eye contact with mouthwash for that matter. And if i so much as smell alcohol on anyone's breath, I may as well have submerged my unborn child in bathtub gin. Okay, I'm embellishing a bit from memory. But the doctor's words felt so strict and foreboding and we were only asking him about non-alcoholic beer. Didn't he realize this was progress for me?

Fortunately, I lost my taste for both beer and wine in time. Every now and then, I'll pour myself a few tablespoons to sip on with dinner. But Dave regularly has to finish it for me. Same thing with coffee, the taste for it disappeared thankfully. I'm still amazed at the body's ability to protect itself from harmful substances when it needs to, as it is my opinion that these changes in my tastes are a baby defense mechanism of some sort. And in that sense, I hope this is a temporary change. Celebrating with fruit juice or water just isn't quite the same. Nonetheless, I'll raise my glass to the kid behind the belly button and toast the halfway point with a swig of milk.