Best Husband

I have the best husband in the world. I'm serious. A lot of people don't understand celiac disease and don't take celiacs' need for a strict diet seriously. They don't understand cross-contamination and pooh-pooh the risk of getting "gluten-ated" by a mere bread crumb in a toaster. Even inhaling wheat flour floating in the air or eating something that might have a fine layer of wheat flour can make a celiac sick. I understand that people just don't know and don't understand and I'm not angry with them. I just won't go to their houses for dinner. I know that sounds mean but I cannot risk being "gluten-ated" during pregnancy and nursing. Studies have shown that women with celiac on a gluten-free diet during pregnancy have healthier babies than women with celiac who did not adhere to a gluten-free diet.

I'm just bl*sed with a husband who has been 100% supportive from the very first second we found out I had celiac. He even remembers before I do whether something might have gluten in it. He has gone along with me clearing the kitchen of any gluten products and avoiding cross-contamination. He read our gluten-free cookbooks and tried recipes for me. He'll also taste new gluten-free products like tapioca bread first for me and let me know if it's worth trying or not. He puts up with eating gluten-free stuff that I make like the banana bread (it's good!).

Today, I got out of class at noon and was starving. Hungry enough for my thinking processes and judgment abilities to blur (there was no food at the house - today's grocery shopping day). I got fixated on having Arby's curly fries and you've guessed it - I went to Arby's. I got a chicken salad sandwich (my plan was to dump the bread slices and eat the chicken salad itself - still a definite risk of cross-contamination but I did say that my judgment abilities were gone, right?) and curly fries. I didn't even think about the fries having gluten. All I thought were, "they're potatoes and they're safe." As I enthusiastically ate the curly fries with delight, I froze. I'd taken a good look at the fries and realized that they were covered in batter. Batter = flour. Flour = gluten. I was horrified. Normally, I'd just write this off as an accident and work harder but I have no idea how it affects the baby. That was why I was horrified.

I know I can't worry about it but I sure do feel guilty. I feel guilty when I eat something or drink something that has caffeine in it because I know it stimulates the baby needlessly. I know it's not harmful in small quantities but I still don't like it. I don't want to eat gluten if there's the smallest chance of harming the baby. I know, I know - "an accident every now and then may not harm the baby" but you're talking to an irrational pregnant woman. You just cannot tell me not to worry.

The above story didn't obviously have anything to do with Greg being the best husband but dealing with celiac disease has been infinitely much easier with his support and I'm just thankful for him. I think if he'd been with me at Arby's, he would've been more level-headed than me, a hungry pregnant woman with a tunnel vision fixated on food and food NOW. Only a 100% supportive husband of a celiac, pregnant woman would have been so watchful.