No One Around Me Gave Up Booze When I Was Pregnant Because They Needed It To Deal With Me

2611812005_20105dd3bf__1382462166_142.196.156.251My partner didn’t give up drinking when I was pregnant. Neither did my friends, family, or other beings that were around me regularly. I don’t think I ever would have asked them a) because they all enjoy social drinking and b) because they had to deal with my pregnant self and c) because why should they? They weren’t pregnant.

Pregnant Pause is an Australian organization that encourages partners, friends and husbands to pledge to give up drinking for a period of time and have friends pledge to support them. It’s kind of like getting pledges for people to support you on a walk-a-thon. Only, this is a sober-a-thon. All of the money raised goes to The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE). It’s a pretty fantastic idea.

I don’t know what kind of pregnant ladies you all were, but I was a pain in the ass. In retrospect, I have no problem admitting it. I’m pretty confident I would’ve had zero luck trying to get my close friends, family and baby-daddy to give up anything to numb the reality of dealing with me on the daily. Look, I’m only human. Pregnancy hormones are no joke.

There was the time I was desperately craving a bagel with butter. This may seem like a ho-hum meal, but if you live in Brooklyn it’s actually pretty exquisite. New York has the best bagels in the world and Brooklyn in particular is untouched by any health-conscious desire to be sparing with the butter. They are delicious. My husband rushed out to retrieve one. He came home with a Lender’s bagel that had margarine on it. A mother-eff-ing Lender’s bagel. In New York. With margarine. I wept, with tears and everything. I’m pretty sure he had a few beers at lunch that day.

Then there was the time my sister designed my baby shower cards in Comic Sans. I actually thought, My baby deserves a better font than this! More tears. Who was this crazy person? It was me. Pregnant me.

Pregnancy is kind of a bummer on the party-time front. I don’t see why you should bring your loved ones down with you – especially if they are all dealing with people like my pregnant self. Maybe Australians are nicer and more empathetic, because I could never have gotten anyone in my circle to agree to this. Luckily, the organization also allows you to bypass the whole sober-a-thon and just donate.

(photo: Flickr/CreativeCommons/epiclectic)

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