One of my (many) biggest fears on becoming a new dad is the possiblity that I might raise a little Dalhmer/Manson. I don't want to be "that person" that everyone talks about in regards to my child-rearing skills and/or in this case have it broadcasted across the Internet.

Who should be more embarrassed in this clip: Mother or daughter?  

I like free stuff and free food always taste better. This is just another of my many mottos I follow. So yesterday I'm reading that Baskin-Robbins has announced that it is launching a new marketing campaign "Bump Day" and will be offering free soft serve ice cream to expecting moms in select cities. My first thought: "What about expecting fathers?"

It seems girls are alway getting stuff for free and/or at a discounted rate. Example: "Girl's get in for free", "No coverage charge for girls", "Girls get 2 drinks for the price of 1". That's not fair is what I always pouted to myself and/or to anyone who would listen. But this recent rant, on my end, didn't last long. I quickly started reading that soft serve ice cream is proned to the "Listeria" bacteria. Until now I had no clue what Listeria was - so I Googled it.

Listeria is the common name for the pathogenic or disease-causing bacterium known as Listeria monocytogenes.  It is a foodborne illness that when ingested causes an infection known as listeriosis (Cossart & Bierne, 2001). Approximately 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths are attributed to listeriosis in the United States annually (CDC, 2005).

Pregnant women naturally have a depressed cell-mediated immune system; many think that this occurs so that the mother’s immune system will not reject the fetus. In addition, the systems of fetuses and newborns are very immature; they are extremely susceptible to intracellular pathogens. Other adults, especially transplant recipients and lymphoma patients, are given necessary therapies with the specific intent of depressing immune T-cells, and these individuals become especially susceptible to Listeria monocytogenes as well.

Pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to contract listeriosis. About one-third of listeriosis cases happen during pregnancy. The incidence of listeriosis in the newborn is 8.6 per 100,000 live births (Tappero et al., 1995).  There is no routine screening test for susceptibility to listeriosis during pregnancy, as there is for rubella and some other congenital infections. Newborns, rather than the pregnant women themselves, suffer the serious effects of infection in pregnancy.

source: www.about-listeria.com

Since soft serve ice cream is kept at warmer temperatures than frozen ice cream it then becomes highly acceptable to the Listeria bacteria. Many countries like Australia and Ireland have added soft serve ice cream to a list of foods that expecting mothers should avoid.

Wow, I never knew this and wondered who did - so I casually asked my wife if she could eat soft serve while pregnant. "Sure, why not?" was her response. I really expected my wife to know this expecially with all of the reading she does. Now I'm wondering how many pregnant women are out there were putting their babies health at risk without even knowing.

With all the risks of a pregnant woman contacting Listeria why would Baskin-Robbins decided to go forward with "Bump Day"? I decide to go straight to the source, Baskin-Robbins.com and scour the site looking for any health mention of Listeria. Nope, nothing, nada, zip! I looked under "Nutrituion", "Soft Serve" and finally "About Us". Still nothing. Wait a second...I see a press release labeled: May 19, 2008 - Baskin-Robbins Launches a New Twist - Soft Serve (pdf). Half-way down the page under "About Us" there is a link tag - "¹ American Pregnancy Association, www.americanpregnancy.com". It's interesting that the link is wrong, it should end in .org instead of .com. and they only link to the home page and not to any deeper page within the site where it might actually mention the risk of eating soft serve ice cream. I wonder if it was a typo or on purpose. And to top it off, the fine print reads: "*The Bump Day Soft Serve offer is for pregnant women only. Limit one free 3 oz cone cup or cone of Soft Serve per customer. Offer good on Wednesday May 21, 2008 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. while supplies last."

I have to think that Baskin-Robbins is more concerned about the all-might-dollar than the health of it's customers. What do you think?

Additional sources:

I'm looking for a pregnancy buddy who won't judge me or quote elusive advice as in "they say...". I don't know who "they" are, and I don't care to, so "their" opinions are virtually meaningless to me. I trust the advice of my sisters, cousins and like-minded friends and the fabulous Dr. Z Gyno Extraordinaire, who have all gone before me in pregnancy. The only pleasure I get from hearing folks espouse about the quasi facts sourced from "experts" pulled from the ether is I get to make fun of you the next time I see my hubby. He hears it all, I'm not sure how much of it he actually listens to, and I don't care.  That is the special sauce that keeps are marriage so great.

It would have been masterful planning on our part if we had gotten pregnant last year when a handful of my like-minded girlfriends were also expecting. But...we were recently married, and undergoing some big life lessons like, having both 1% and non fat milk in the fridge, learning what does and doesn't go in the dryer, and the biggest for me was learning to walk lightly. I apparently am a heavy walker and nearly drove my new husband to double down on wall to wall carpet. So, as you can imagine, we had a road to travel before we thought it wise to add a baby to the mix. I watched my friends progress through pregnancies together and was a bit jealous. I secretly hoped one of my early married friends would come out of pregnancy retirement for a surprise third or fourth kid...to no avail.

Pregnancy is totally new to me, so the strange aches and pains in even more strange places had me a bit worried, I don't know what to compare this to, and all of my go to buddies are in the next phase of mommy-dom. What I need is a pregnancy buddy. Someone who is also striving to stay physically active and social as opposed to some gals who burrow themselves on a couch for nine (I stand corrected, its really 10) months.

So, if you're out there...you go getter, you who's playing soccer in her 4th month, willing to dig a 30 ft. long 3 ft deep trench in the yard to help prod the husband to set out the new fence posts, and enjoys an occasional cold one please give me a sign. I can't be the only pregnant lady who wants to maintain her life through all of this. I know you are out there, meet me back here for a cocktail hour....just don't tell "them", you know what "they say" about rebels like us.

Checkmate dada. Could we play something harder next time, like maybe golf or something?

Ok, every since I gradually started letting people in on the wife’s and I little secret I’ve started to see a greater amount of emails in my inbox related to parenting. Do people (friends/relatives) really think I’m in such dire need of parenting advice so early in the game and/or is this part of the welcoming committees’ course on fatherhood? Welcome to my little series that I call “Do & Don’t.”