Being an avid drinker of coffee, I never could figure out the reason following decaffeinated coffee. People usually drink coffee or espresso for the caffeine fix, so I always wondered as to why anyone would drink decaffeinated coffee. Would it not just defeat the purpose of drinking coffee? However, I finally saw the light and managed to figure out why decaffeinated coffee existed. This helped me immensely to sustain some sort of extravagance during my pregnancy and I also found out that I was not drinking coffee just for the caffeine fix and that I quite rather liked the taste of different coffee types.



During my pregnancy I was one of those nutcases who had read up everything that could go wrong during a pregnancy and tried to avoid those possible causes like anything. For instance, I avoided aspartame only because they were unsure of the effects it might have on the baby and I stayed away from lunchmeat because it had a minute possibility of a listeria infection. Hence, when I got to know that caffeine had the possibility to cause miscarriages, I tried to avoid regular coffee. Now, to reach the parameters that were measured in the studies for miscarriages to happen, a person would have to drink at least three cups of coffee daily. However, after reading that I was scared enough to confine myself to drinking decaffeinated sodas and coffees.

When I was halfway through my pregnancy, there was an expose show on the T.V on whether the decaffeinated coffee that we order in restaurants and coffee shops are really decaffeinated or not. I knew that decaffeinated coffee was not totally void of the substance and had small traces of caffeine in it. I also knew that I was not taking in amounts that were close to regular coffee. However, in the T.V show they revealed that the caffeine levels in decaffeinated coffee was close to the levels of the caffeine in a regular brew. They also reveled that this was the situation in around sixty percent of the places. This happened mainly because the machines and pots were not properly cleaned before the next pot was used or because of cross brewing. This particular case would not affect most situations, but in cases where there are medical conditions this would have taken a serious turn.

It is a fact that this would truly affect my situation in any way and I also realize it. But, I am such a nutcase that I have completely cut out coffee (whether regular or decaffeinated) from my diet during my pregnancy. Unless I had brewed the coffee at home, I had totally removed caffeine free coffee during the fall and winter months. I should also say that during the last few months of my pregnancy this change had not helped my demeanor in any way.