Baby Likes It Sweet
I have started to put up snippets from weeks past in my pregnancy journal. I am currently 22 (and a half) weeks and much fatter. Enjoy.
Thoughts from Week 11
My new guilty pleasure? Sweet tea from McDonald’s. I’ve always liked iced tea – well, ever since I came south and realized that people drank tea a LOT different than my mom. Unsweetened tea is not my favorite – and adding artificial sweeteners never seemed really worth it. Just give me a Coke already. But brewed sweet tea? YUM. But really, it’s never been a huge temptation, what with coffee and Coke around as big favorites and exisiting temptations. That is, until coffee was unceremoniously struck from my daily repetoire.

I’ve read extensively (online of course) about pregnancy and caffeine. I decided that a little coffee each morning was still a safe, not reckless thing for me to do. And let’s face it – me without caffeine in the morning is much more risky to the lives of my coworkers and my general well-being. You gotta weigh these things out, people. Then the nausea started and coffee became… not disgusting, but certainly not appealing. I just couldn’t bring myself to drink it. For a little while, I’d get myself a small mug and carry it around with me everywhere I went. I'd take the tiniest of sips and by the time it was cold, I realized I had drunk none of it. I finally gave up the charade. My other caffeine go-to, Coke, became almost as equally unappealing most of the time. Something about the carbonation was just not sitting well with my stomach. Then one morning in a lethargic stupor of routine, wondering how I would get through the morning, I remembered the $1 sweet tea from McDonald’s. Oh yum – now that sounded good. Now, my mornings are spent trying to get ready fast enough to allow time to roll through my local Mickey D’s for my pick-me-up (and maybe some hash browns). And it is so so good.

In comes the guilty part of the pleasure. The cups they give you are ginormous. Unlike, say, a can of Coke, I have no idea how much caffeine is in one of them. I’ve tried googling it. So I try (with restraint) to only drink half of one in a day. It’s working for me. But I will say that I still miss my coffee. Andy says it’s just the habit that I miss. I’m dubious.

This week our baby is the size of a fig. (Is that close to a fig newton?)

**Update: As of week 22, I have broken my addiction to sweet tea, which is probably good for my sugar intake. I still like it once in awhile. Also as of this week, small amounts of morning coffee have made their way back into my favorite mugs to be (mostly) enjoyed! I'm saving a package of sealed Dunkin Donuts coffee for when the love affair is in full swing again. Baby steps.