The joys of being up the duff...

I am fortunate enough to have so far had one and a half very easy pregancies. No sickness, bad backs or tears as yet. In fact, being big and round does feel rather nice actually. The only tough part I have experienced, and much more so this time around in Hong Kong, is theories around what you should and shouldn't be eating, drinking and doing. In France, my lovely male ObGyn Dr Meunier (yes, like the grape variety) advised me to 'put vinagrette' on my salad to kill the germs. That was it. Vinagrette. That was an easy one to remember. Then my UK friends told me to avoid cheese, pate, shellfish... life... and of course the internet and my American pregnancy book backed most of this up. Hmmmm. Then here in HK, my Australian female doctor gave me an A4 list of things to avoid. Anything from the deli, no alcohol, coffee, tea, well-cooked meats etc etc. Yawn. Can someone just wake me up when this is all over?

So here goes. I confess to the odd small glass of good red wine and cannot understand why I should feel bad about it. It relaxes me, it tastes good, I savour the taste. Last week I probably drank maybe four times. Then I get back and google my chances because despite feeling it can do no harm, I want to read a couple of sites that feel the same way. Funnily enough, men are a lot easier on their opinions on this than women.

This morning at work, Starbucks grande cup in hand, I got the 'you shouldn't be drinking coffee' comment. Actually it was a chai tea latte, but even still. A coffee? Even if I have one coffee a day, honestly? I am not snorting coke in the bogs or chain smoking over my expanding belly. How the hell are so many people born physically normal?

Quite franky this is the worst part of being pregnant, this fear of the unknown therefore let's all over compensate and do nothing for 9 months. I would *love* it if along with coffee etc they put chocolate, sweets, sugar, crisps and high-fat or processed foods that people crave but which has zero nutritional value on this same list of banned foods. Because I am sure whilst giving up the stuff I love (cheese, wine, smoked salmon, prawns) I would feel a whole lot better if everyone had to give up the crap they love too! I am healthy, physically fit and strong and I am convinced this is all thanks to a balanced and fundementally healthy diet.

So please, allow me to have my cup of Earl Grey in the morning, and my lovely little glass of Pinot Noir in the evening and just comment on how radiant I am looking, OK?!!