Solidarity

Last night I was at a small gathering of friends. One of the couples present has just reached the third month stage of a pregnancy so they are happily informing friends and family that didn't already know. The conversation veered towards baby names for a bit and then back to pregnancies in general. Of large interest was what was deemed acceptable for the mother to eat or not to eat.

Apparently there is a lot more gray area to this then I had previously thought. Apparently, some people say you shouldn't drink caffeinated coffee and others say that decaffeinated is an instant miscarriage. Green tea is out. Various herbals teas are out. This one surprised me. I still don't understand why mint tea is bad for a baby. But no matter.

I was curious where they had decided to go with alcohol. I knew that some people thought it was ok to have a very small occasional glass of wine, for instance. Others swear off alcohol all together. So I asked.

The mother-to-be replied, "Well, it's not clear. So we discussed it and we decided that we wouldn't drink alcohol."

I was super impressed. "Wow. That's great. You're both not drinking alcohol."

I couldn't believe that the father-to-be would go the nine months without drinking as well. It showed a support of and a solidarity with his wife that was unexpected. Furthermore, he had even been experiencing morning sickness too. It was totally a husband was willing to share the pain and discomfort of a pregnancy as well as the joy.

They both looked at me. "Huh?"

I looked at them. "Well, you said you've both decided that you're not drinking alcohol."

His wife clarified, "No. We discussed it. I'm not drinking alcohol."

Of course.