Cravings & Comfort Food – Chapter 2

Now that my stomach is finally calmer and my mood has improved, though who can be sure how long for either, I can update.

When you are pregnant, your digestive system slows down tremendously and your blood pressure drops which leads to constipation, bloating, gas cramps, dizziness and fatigue. It’s amazing – and annoying.

Yesterday, after work, James took me to Fred Meyers to get some food I was interested in eating – I’m getting pretty picky. We walked all throughout the store and not much called out to me. I wanted brownies, sort of, but there were no plain mixes there, so we skipped it. Lasagna and pizza sound good, but I’ve had reflux pretty bad so I’ve been needing to avoid tomato based sauces. Anywho, lots of smells I used to enjoy really seem repulsive and things I never thought I’d like are becoming interesting if nothing else. We made our way through and I went and took a peak at the bakery counter. There was a beautiful piece of chocolate cake that was calling out to me and for the first time really since I’ve been pregnant I felt like I had to have it. But no one was at the counter to get it for me. I finally asked a stock-boy if he knew if anyone could come and help us and they sent someone who was on break to come and help. James let me get a few deserts and whats really funny is that the cake I’d really really wanted was pretty eh. Top on the list was a mini piece of cheesecake with chocolate on top and a huge strawberry in syrup. Yummy!

For dinner I had a salad with meat and ranch dressing and then I was exhausted. This morning I had cream cheese bagels and a yogurt. I’m trying to not drink milk with every meal as I’m having trouble with my food staying down now. I’m not throwing up in the normal sense, but throughout the normal course of the day I find that I have stuff coming up into my mouth on a pretty regular basis. Yuck! The milk seems to make it much worse. To boot, I have drainage in the back of my throat that makes me gag to the point where I’m sure I’ll throwup, but even then its just the feeling, nothing happens. It’s still terrifying for me. And embarrassing. I keep praying that nothing comes of it when I’m working or in public. I also keep praying it won’t get worse.

So I’m finding that nothing sounds good to me until I’m eating it, except that cake last night. Ginger curbs the nausea but no longer really helps with the bloating or with the reflux. To boot, the flavor of ginger makes me gag a little. I’m not sure what to do really.

I’m watching Adoption Story as I prepare to go to work now and am trying not to let my mind linger on the fact that I won’t be a mommy for another 7 months or so and that this tummy trouble may not ease up. Phew, this is overwhelming stuff. But I’m still smiling!