Dear Google, Pregnancy + Alcohol....

It seems a week doesn't go by that I'm not addressing the drinking while pregnant issue.  It's a hot topic.  Scorching hot.  And scorching sensitive.  It makes people nervous and it stresses people out.  By "people" I mean those trying to get pregnant, those pregnant, friends and family of the former two categories, and everyone else.

To lighten this hot, sensitive mood, I am going to share a few phrases that people have searched online (aka Stuff People Google) in an attempt to answer their drinking-alcohol-while-pregnant questions.  Or, in some cases, phrases that just have to do with alcohol (minus the pregnancy part).  I'm privy to these search phrases because they led the searcher to Next Stop Baby.  Here they are with some commentary from the peanut gallery me.

drunken noodles during pregnancy

I've written about drunken noodles before, so I'm not entirely surprised that this search result included NSB.  What I am surprised by is that someone wondered about eating drunken noodles while pregnant.  The only reasonable explanation for this is that the typist must have believed drunken noodles to include alcohol in its ingredients.  Let me clear this up - No.  There is no alcohol in drunken noodles.  The name drunken noodles refers to its extremely spicy taste, which requires a lot of drinking to quench the flames.  Click here for a drunken noodles recipe, see for yourself. 

what does a vodka soda taste like

I also know why this searcher found NSB.  I wrote a post back in June (here) about how a pregnant woman can hide her pregnancy at an event where everyone is drinking alcohol.  In this post I mention vodka sodas several times.  I didn't describe the taste of a vodka soda, but if I had it would have gone like this: it tastes a little like vodka and a little like soda water.  I imagine that's how most would describe the taste of a vodka soda.  So, I doubt this typist found a valuable answer to his or her question on NSB or elsewhere.

can my husband drink while trying to conceive

I laughed when I read this.  I'm guessing that this searcher wanted to know whether a man's alcohol intake during conception can harm the soon-to-be-conceived fetus or whether a man's alcohol intake can affect his ability to conceive.  The short answer to the former question is No.  Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (per my lovely and brief internet research) isn't related to the father's alcohol consumption during conception.  The answer to the latter is what made me laugh.  Can a drunk man make it happen in the bedroom?  Well, that's for you to know about your man and this typist to figure out about hers.