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Eithne Shortall: When tired of the daily grind, I see life through the filter of coffee

How pregnancy, combined with the pandemic and shot through with a dose of reality, helped me to slow down, extract the vital essence of the everyday and appreciate the little things

Caffeine may not be recommended for expectant mums, but there’s always the decaf option. Picture: Getty

You do a lot of unexpected things when you’re pregnant. Maybe you stop being able to stomach your favourite pizza topping. Maybe you crave ice pops, despite it being December. Maybe you start sleeping on your side, or maybe you abandon sleep altogether. Me, I got into coffee.

This wasn’t a craving. I had never been a coffee drinker, so I wasn’t familiar enough with the taste to crave it. As with a lot of ...