I loves me a Dr. Pepper...

Apologies if you've already heard this one.

When I found out I was pregnant last December, I decided that I would give up caffeinated beverages altogether. It wasn't a big deal because I limit myself to one carbonated drink a week which is usually always Dr. Pepper. Sometime mid-January I realized that knowing that I was not "allowed" to have my DP for the week somehow made me crave it more. I doubt that I was addicted to caffeine prior to being pregnant (come on, one a week is hardly excessive) but I all of a sudden really really wanted to be! (PS: Non-caffeinated DP is just not the same.) As I would meet my parents for our weekly lunch, I would look wistfully at the DP and resign myself to getting rootbeer instead.

While we were on our trip to Lake Powell a few months ago, I started getting these terrrrible headaches. I've never had headaches before (thank goodness) and these were nearly debilitating. All I wanted to do was sleep. After the 8th day of misery I decided to call my doctor's office (yes it took me 8 days to decide to get help.) His nurse told me to take Excedrin and that if that didn't work, they would prescribe something stronger for me. I've never even taken aspirin before. I kinda always assumed that aspirin during pregnancy was a no-no, but she didn't seem too concerned so I went ahead and took it. It worked BRILLIANTLY! After a few days of Excedrin and some good quality of sleep, I felt back to my old self.

As you know, Excedrin consists of three main ingredients: acetaminophen, aspirin, and CAFFEINE! (You should have seen me the first morning after I took it. I was bouncing off the walls and jabbering away a mile-a minute.) I went to see my doctor for my regular appointment a week later. After reassuring me that the risks of me taking Excedrin were minimal, I said, "Here's the deal. I've been reeaaally good about not having any caffeine at all during this pregnancy. It doesn't seem that you are that concerned that I just loaded myself up on a bunch. Would it kill me to have, like, one Dr. Pepper a week?" He started to laugh and said that they usually recommend laying off the caffeine at the beginning of a pregnancy if the person has major caffeine-addiction problems, but that it is really harmless at this point and that if it makes me happy to go ahead and do it. After all, as he put it, anything that makes me happy at this stage of pregnancy should be indulged in.

So there you have it. For the last month and a half, I have gone faithfully to the DP once a week and enjoyed every sip. S usually knows when this will be happening and will call and ask how the DP is that day.

I say, "Wonderful."