Hello all!
I’m very newly pregnant (5.5 weeks), and we’re trying to keep it a secret for at least another month due to my history of miscarriages (I’ve had a couple, many years ago in a previous marriage).
The problem is, we are quite social, and everyone knows that I a.) like a glass of wine a couple times of week, b.) like coffee A Lot and c.) drink a couple of diet sodas a day.
I am fine quitting alcohol, and I’ve gladly switched to decaf at work, but what about diet sodas? I know Splenda seems to be okay, but living in a very small town, it’s hard to find diet sodas made with Splenda. How many of you follow that recommendation closely or not? Do you drink iced tea?
I’ve been found out twice already by very perceptive friends who know I never stick with water at restaurants or at a ballgame or wherever.
It’s really about not blowing my cover for another few weeks, but I’ll ditch the iced tea and non-Splenda diet sodas too if it’s that important.
Thanks!
CaseyR
CONGRATS!!! Woohoo!!!
You could always tell people you’ve decided to cut back on those things while TTC, or that you’ve decided to cut back “just in case of pregnancy.” I think that sounds perfectly logical, and the “just in case of pregnancy” wouldn’t be untrue. 
My doctor emphasizes moderation when it comes to caffeine and aspartame (what sweetens most diet sodas). “A couple servings a day” is what her “dos and don’ts” list says.
Personally, I probably have two or three servings of caffeine a day (so I go over her recommendation a bit). Something like a cup of coffee in the morning, a Diet Coke with Splenda during the day, and an iced tea at dinner if we dine out. I did keep it to just one or two early in pregnancy, though.
As far as diet soda goes, I already preferred Splenda-sweetened sodas because too aspartame makes me feel crappy. As a result, I get zero or one servings of aspartame a day. I pick up Diet Rite in the stores since it’s caffeine-free and sweetened with Splenda. It’s become my usual cola, and I can sometimes find other flavors as well. When we dine out, I go for iced tea (I keep Splenda in my purse in case I need it) or water with lemon.
I like the suggestion of “cutting back - Just in case” During my pregnancy, I switched to decaf coffee, and only 1x per day, which was hard because I normally drink a lot of coffee!! I only had a soda 1-2x per week at that time, so I cut it out almost completely. As a substitute, I started drinking carbonated water with lemon. It is great for a soda sensation w/o the caffeine or sweeteners.
I was only “found out” once by a friend early on who grabbed my drink when we were out at a club, thinking it was a vodka tonic, only to find it was just soda water!!
Hey, congratulations! I was worried about people finding out too, but it was funny how oblivious my friends and family turned out to be! Sounds like your friends are a little more observant, though. I don’t know about artificial sweeteners, because I’ve always been leery of them anyway. As far as caffeine, my OB says the equivalent of 1-2 cups of coffee a day is fine, especially after the first trimester. I’ve always been a tea drinker, so I have one cup every morning and that’s usually it. With alcohol, I found at the beginning that it would usually work for me to accept a glass of wine and mostly pretend to drink it, maybe taking a few tiny sips, and then surreptitiously give it to my husband. Believe it or not, this worked, but again, sounds like your friends are more watchful!
Maybe you could also dig up some article about the horrors of caffeine/alcohol/artificial sweetener and tell your friends all about it, so they’d think that was the reason for your abstinence? Good luck!!
