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Friday, September 27, 2013

Eating Pregnant

I am about 8 weeks along me thinks? At about week 5, when I had only known for 1 week, we went camping. I hadn't experienced any crazy cravings but one thing had popped into my brain at around 11 p.m. one night which was random and I wasn't even hungry at the time, so of course I labeled it, "My First Craving." It was for pepper ground beef and mushrooms. I made a comment about it, to which one girl responded saying it was too early for me to be having cravings. Oh, okay...WRONG.

The first thing I read about cravings is that they happen early, and they happen late. The general consensus seems to be that the second trimester is the most mild, with the first and third being pretty dramatic in terms of moods and foods, among other things...So I still haven't experienced anything crazy, but I have been giving in to my food wants that I previously abstained from.


Bread. Give me a sandwich, breakfast lunch and dinner, I want a freakin sandwich. Too bad you aren't supposed to have deli meat while you're pregnant due to an evil little bacteria named Listeria. Turns out it can cause blood poisoning and infections to the baby, even miscarriage! Son of a bitch. You can have deli meat if you heat it to steaming first. Looks like it'll be hot sandwiches for me, which is just fine because of...


Roast Beef. This is a pretty strong craving I have been experiencing, hot roast beef sandwiches. It's a good thing we have some of the best delis around within walking distance. I have always loved roast beef, but I typically avoid red meats just cause. You hear all sorts of weird things, and I don't feel as bad murdering a chicken or fish, as I do after seeing those horror images of cows and pigs being factory slaughtered. I buy organic free range chicken and eggs too, but it's the health reasons as well as the physical toll they take on my body that causes me to avoid red meat. It makes me break out, and it makes me gassy, and the worst kind. So this one I will try to keep minimal. This craving seemed to subside after just a couple weeks of wanting red meat every day. Whew.


Pickles. I have always been a pickle eater, the worst kind, and they have to be dill. I would normally limit myself to 3 pickles in one sitting at the most, but I have been going a little buck wild since finding out I was prego. Please take my advice. Do not eat half a jar of pickles in one sitting. Please, please, please do not drink half the juice. This was not really an unpleasant experience, per say, but I never knew that pickle juice could do that to you. At least my system got a nice flushing out.


Ice Cream. I want a different style of ice cream every day. Praline Pecan Monday, Neapolitan Tuesday, Drumstick Wednesday, Ice Cream Sandwich Thursday. This one is tricky as I typically avoid dairy, but I've also been craving milk. I can't say I'm lactose intolerant, but it does make me feel a little funky. So I bought Lactose free milk which is amazing, it's creamy, and thick, and oh so delicious.


That is really about it. I feel very blessed to not be experiencing any morning sickness, like none. The only thing that makes me sick to my stomach is the thought of eating some foods that pre-pregnancy I loved. Like breakfast tacos, and fruit. I do not want fruit! I am basically forcing it down my throat.


I have also been craving Thanksgiving dinner, and Mac & Cheese but I haven't given in to those ones...yet.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

There's a Baby in Me...

My husband and I decided to start being open to the idea of becoming parents about a month and a half ago. I wasn't using birth control, so all we had to do was stop using our, er, other method...I'm 30, he is 29 and we just felt ready for the next part of our journey as a family. We have been together for close to 8 years, and celebrated our 1 year anniversary this past June.

It happened instantly, unbeknownst to me, he kept track on a calendar of when, well you know. I am either 7 weeks pregnant, or 4 weeks. I have an appointment scheduled for October 1 where we will hopefully determine exactly. I'm hoping it's only 4 weeks, as that would cut down on the amount of time I was pregnant without knowing I was pregnant.


Everything seemed normal, I started getting cranky, and crabby, and bloated. My Ms. P was on the way. Day after day I expected her to show up and was hoping it would hurry up and get there before our upcoming camping trip. I finally checked my P Tracker App and realized I was 9 days late. Woah. I ran to target on my lunch break at work and took the test in my office bathroom. Instant positive. Had to wait 5 seconds vs. the 2 minutes it stated on the package. I was not expecting this at all. I felt excited, and nervous, and scared. I knew I would wrap my head around it, but initially I just felt shock, and like I mentioned, fear.


Everything becomes so poignant in that moment, what have I been doing the last few weeks? Besides scuba diving and taking death hikes, there was lots of drinking, and I had been in the process of quitting smoking for months now, so at least I was just a drinking smoker at this point, as opposed to a smoking smoker.


What do I have to do? I already wanted to move, I don't want to live here even more now that I'm pregnant, especially after the thing is born. We live in Downtown Long beach, and it's been wearing on me for a long time now, there are miscreants at every turn and lots of noise and pollution. The husband needs a new car, and he is in school. Stop. Breathe. You'll figure it all out.


I waited to tell the husband that evening at home by holding the test in front of his face. He for some reason thought it was negative at first but that's neither here nor there. He was excited, and happy, and we are going to be parents and we both couldn't be happier.


A friend of mine is a few weeks farther along than I and has been an amazing resource! Both of us are lucky enough to not be experiencing any morning sickness. I just feel bloated - really bloated, and sore, and tired, and extra sensitive.


I realize the gravity of the situation as this: Everything is going to change, I can no longer float along doing as I please living life weekend to weekend, drinking as I please and staying up all hours of the night. My life as been my own, but now it will become so much more. It will just mean more, more responsibility, more love, a different kind of worry and more of it. I also know I will want more. I don't want to raise a family in Southern California. I want trees, and rain, and seasons. And an actual home. everything will change and I can't wait for it.