Guys – being guys – cannot begin to understand the biological power of pregnancy and impending motherhood and the cyclone of hormones that attend it. 

Nope.  We can’t begin to get our arms around it.

And we marvel at the power of food cravings that beset a woman with child. 

Also, of course, pregnancy also brings with it aversion to foods. 

I thought it may be of interest and engaging for a column to talk with mothers who grew up in Easton – and asked them to share with me some of the food cravings, and food aversions, they had during pregnancy.

For this sampling I went among my Facebook friends, and I queried a group that graduated from Oliver Ames High School in the mid to late 1980s.  So, today, summer 2012, these women are in their early to late 40s.  

Okay, and before I get going here – what is up with women having a hankering for ice cubes during pregnancy?   Huh? 

I couldn’t have figured that. 

My long-time friend, Lisa (Looney) Erickson (OA ’89) and her husband Jeff and their four kids live Middleboro.   Lisa said that she was seriously chasing Italian subs during her pregnancies.

“Italian subs!!!!!!!!!!!! with everything!!!!!!!!,” wrote Lisa in an email. 

Lisa says there is a place in Maine where she would get a super Italian.

Lisa noted, “Supposedly processed meat is not good for pregnant women – but all my four turned well … if sometimes a bit salty.”

Linda (Wise) Ellis graduated from OA in 1984.   Linda and her hubby, Brian, and their two sons live in Sandwich.

“Ross, I eat the way a pregnant woman craves on a daily basis,” says, Linda, who is trim and fit.  “I’m not proud of this – but it’s true.  I like a steamed clam dipped in butter on top of a cupcake; they are two of my favorite things.”

Now, Linda is a bacon lover, but while pregnant with her son, Harley, even the smell got her nauseous. 

“So, when Harley was about 15 months old, I was out for lunch with my sister, and I ordered a chicken sandwich that had bacon on it,” said Linda.  “Well, the sandwich was put in front of me and I smelled the bacon and I felt sick.  My sister saw my reaction, and she said, ‘You are pregnant.’  I didn’t know I was pregnant – but sure enough I found out I was.  That bacon was a pregnancy test.” 

Michelle (Marsan) Sweeney (OA ’83) and her husband, Greg, and their son, Brodie, and daughter, Estelle, live in Norwalk, CT.   Brodie is the couple’s first born.

“Until I was pregnant with Brodie, I had never had ribs,” said Michelle. “But I became a big rib fan.  Now I devour ribs whenever I can.”

Kristin (Hollis) Merriman (OA ’84) says when she was pregnant with her first child she developed a big time distaste for gruyere cheese.

“Even thinking about gruyere cheese makes me sick,” said Kristin, who lives with her hubby, Greg, and their three children in a suburb of San Francisco. 

As for food cravings, Kristin says, “During my second pregnancy I was all about Ben & Jerry’s Heath Bar Crunch ice cream – and when I was pregnant with my third, I was obsessed with ice – I couldn’t get enough of it.”

Yes, that ice thing I find weird.   I was talking the other night with Cathy (Richard) Reynolds (OA ’78), and she told me that her sister, Karen Callanan (OA ’84), had that ice cube craving when pregnant. 

We’ll stay on the OA Class of 1984 track with Annmarie (Thurston) Sullivan.

Annmarie has two children, Seamus, who graduated from Bridgewater-Raynham High School this spring, and in September starts his first year at Rutgers University; her daughter, Emma, is a student at Bridgewater-Raynham.

“When I was pregnant with Seamus, I craved burgers – and I couldn’t even look at chicken,” said Annmarie.  “With Emma, I craved orange juice – which until that time I would only drink in a mimosa.  But I could eat anything.”

My sister, Suzy, and her husband, Mark, were living in Jamaica Plain when she became pregnant with her first, Winterer (Win).   Win is off to college next month. 

Two more children followed – first, Veronique, and next, Francis, whom everyone calls “Fritz.” 

“When I was pregnant with Win, I needed the blueberry gingerbread that Dancing Deer Baking Company in West Roxbury made,” said Suzy.  “Of course – as my friends know – I also had an incredible craving for the meat salad at Christo’s in Brockton.”

Here I give you the rundown on the Christo’s meat salad.   It is just one of the many comfort food dishes that Christo’s has been serving up for decades – and it is a combo of fresh greens all mixed together with finely diced roast beef, ham, genoa salami, and feta cheese – tossed just right in Christo’s own extraordinary “Yasou” Greek salad dressing. 

“During my next two pregnancies, I was living in Chicago,” said Suzy, “so I found a Greek grocer, Treasure Island, who would buy me a case of Yasou every few months.”

I close out with the wit and wisdom of Kerri Cotter Louise (OA ’87)  – the former Kerri Mather – who grew up on Depot Street and is a nationally renowned comic who has appeared on major network prime time TV.

In fact, one of the first “Muscato’s Musings” columns – it was the fifth I wrote – featured Kerri.   Here is a link to the column which posted on Easton Patch on October 18, 2010.

(By way of explanation, Kerri Mather was still single when she took on the stage name Kerri Louise – which was a result of dropping her last name and going by her first and middle name.  Where does Cotter come in?  Please see below.)

Kerri is married to the famed comic, Tom Cotter, now a semifinalist on season five of the NBC smash hit show America’s Got Talent.  Cotter  is receiving all sorts of props and love from judges Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne, and Howie Mandel.  And among all the contestants on the show, Cotter is one of the biggest favorites of the American public, which votes from remote via texting and through the America's Got Talent website.

Kerri and Tom have three children, all boys – with the first two arriving on the scene in the way of twins, Cameron and Harrison; they are nine years old.  Tommy is four. 

“I had weird cravings when I was preggo with the twins,” said Kerri.  “One wanted waffles, the other wanted eggs – I just wanted a tequila and a cigarette.”