drinking while pregnant

The author of this memoir writes about how she'd suck on Jolly Ranchers as a substitute for alcohol when she was pregnant.

I'd imagine the hard candies don't exactly rival Flip Flops' frozen concoctions, but hey, whatever works.

Here, Jezebel details the debate over whether women should be served alcohol while pregnant. It suggests a "zero-tolerance" policy is too strict, pointing to the fact that European pregnant women "are generally allowed a glass or two a week with no foreseeable damage to the fetus."

Knowledge of those findings is pretty widespread, but the majority of my friends have still skipped alcohol entirely during the duration of their pregnancies.

Which adds a weird dynamic to the social scene. When you're not pregnant and your friend is, you feel kind of guilty about downing six cosmos in her presence.

Innocently expressing your enthusiasm over a martini tasting becomes a source of awkwardness, rather than shared conversation.

Do you drink alcohol when you're hanging out with pregnant friends? What about husbands: Should they subscribe to "shared experience" mentality and skip out on alcohol for nine months, too?