Wine Tasting While Pregnant

Back in May, my sister-in-law won a group wine tasting in a silent auction.  When we finally scheduled it, I was definitely pregnant so I agreed to be the sober chauffeur. 

Fast forward to August.  I'm 16 weeks pregnant and I have graduated to the obvious baby bump.  We load up the van and drive to the winery for a full day of food, fun, and wine.

We started out by going on a tour of the winery which was pretty cool!  There were huge steel barrels where they make the wine and we got to hear about how they process the grapes and all that neat stuff.

The next part of our tour was everyone else's most anticipated part - the wine tasting.  The wine lady started the tasting with a dry white and poured some in my glass before I could decline.  I decided that I could kind of participate by smelling the wine and doing everything but tasting it, after all my ticket had already been paid for.

Right after she poured, we made a comment about me being pregnant and just smelling the wine.  The lady looked at me like I was getting ready to chug all her wine.  Just plain horrified.  Wanting her to know that I wasn't going to drink anything, I reiterated that I was just swirling and smelling the wine.  After all, I had to sit at this wine tasting for two hours, what the hell else was I going to do?  When coming around to me to pour the second wine she said, "Why don't you just smell his [Clint's] wine.  I would feel a whole lot better."

Well lady, I would feel a whole lot better if you weren't so blatantly judging me for wanting to SMELL a glass of wine.  And thanks for looking absolutely horrified when you understood that I was a pregnant lady wanting my own glass of wine to smell.  I don't know about you, but I don't want someone else's nose all up in my wine glass so I thought my husband might feel the same.  And BY LAW you have to serve me pregnant or not unless I'm too intoxicated because if you don't that's called discrimination. 

I was embarrassed to say the least.  I felt very judged and shamed.  I just mumbled, "Sure.  That's ok." because what was I supposed to do?  I could have made a big stink and ruined our day but I just got quiet because I was fighting back tears.  I'm glad I could make that lady feel better by making sure all alcohol wasn't even in my area, but I felt terrible.

I worked really hard on not crying through the next few wines she poured.  I knew that if I left the table I was going to start crying and not be able to stop.  I'm sure I looked miserable.  She finally asked, "Are you ok?  You don't look very happy."

Oh really?  I don't look happy?  Maybe it's because you're making me miserable.

I just tried to make a joke and said, "Well of course I'm not happy, I can't drink!  I'm fine thanks."  Yep.  Straight up lie.

Finally I had an excuse to leave the table because I had to use the restroom.  I had to ask my new best friend the wine lady where to go and she showed me.  She tried to kiss up by asking how far along I was, and I told her 16 weeks with twins.  She went on to do the "Oh wow!  How exciting!" thing.

When I got back to the table and she was pouring another wine she was asking the polite pregnancy questions about twins like if they were identical or fraternal.  I told her fraternal, and my sister-in-law said they were just like her twins.

Then came that awkward IVF twins question, "Oh, do twins run in your family?"

We both looked at each other and Jenny said, "Well, we both had to do IVF so kind of."

Then the wine lady said one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard with my own ears in the most cheerful voice, "Oh, well that's cheating!"

That's cheating?!?  If there was any "cheating" going on, it was that we were "cheated" of being able to have kids on our own!  We were "cheated" out of a fortune to be able to have kids of our own.  The fact that we put two embryos in, knowing they could both take, was us trying to "cheat" the odds since not 100% of embryos stick around.

Jenny and I just looked at each other, eyes wide, and were speechless.  Luckily Clint's other sister, Angie, spoke up and said "They both had to try for a really long time."  I don't know if the wine lady heard her or not, but she just poured the next wine.

After that, I didn't care if it looked rude, I just stopped listening.  Oh you want to tell us about how they have to change the process of wine making to deal with this crappy grape?  Don't care.  You have a funny story about how this wine was a happy accident?  I'm on Facebook.  You want to tell a 10 minute long story about your trip to California?  I'm texting what you just said to my mom.

After we left the wine tasting, the afternoon totally picked up.  We went to the A-frame and enjoyed some snacks and outdoor music with our group.  After that, we went to the Bistro for a unique and delicious dinner and conversations. 

Besides the hiccup at the wine tasting, it was a great time and we had a blast!