on food cravings and being sick.

It seems pretty stereotypical that pregnant women have cravings. It's true. Only my cravings aren't for weird things or things I've never liked to eat before. What has surprised me most is my food aversions. Foods I used to love, that I don't even want to look at now. With "morning" sickness (aka all-day/every-waking-hour sickness), I discovered that being hungry made me feel a hundred times worse. So no matter how bad I felt, I had to try to eat something. The first couple of weeks, I lost six pounds which felt terrible so if anything sounded good, I ate as much as I could.

In the first few weeks of being nauseated and puking all the time, it was blueberry Eggo waffles with peanut butter. That has passed and I haven't felt like eating them anymore.

Some other fleeting cravings: potato chips, Cheetos, and barbecue ribs. (Not together.) A couple weeks ago, I couldn't drink enough milk. It sounded so good. Maybe I was calcium deficient. (I'm taking B6 and a prenatal vitamin.) I also stopped drinking skim and upped to 2% since I needed to gain weight.

Fortunately I've had a prescription for Zofran which is supposed to help with the nausea. It seemed mostly to stop the puking, but wasn't much help with nausea. Last week felt like a miracle in that I felt more good than bad. Then both days this weekend, I didn't feel awesome. But I've felt good enough to do laundry which is an improvement because our house was seriously turning into a disaster zone for awhile.

As long as the sick days are fewer and farther between, that's encouraging. Being sick was seriously wearing me down. I know most pregnant women get sick, but I feel like I was maybe slightly more sick than average. I was throwing up often. I felt nauseous for ten straight weeks with no break. Sometimes Nate would bring home something for dinner and I'd burst into tears because I felt so sick. It was rough.

Nate's been really good at taking care of me. When he's at work, I'm not great at taking care of myself. It's hard to get off the couch and make myself something to eat. My doctor had given me a goal weight gain of 2 pounds in 2 weeks. I have to give Nate a lot of the credit for the fact I gained 5 pounds in 2 weeks. I'm still only 2 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight. Typically you gain 25–35 pounds when pregnant, but I'm sure I'll catch up now that sickness is subsiding.

Food aversions: anything sugary. Nate bought Oreos, and I could typically finish off a pack in a week. They lasted weeks around our house. I haven't touched them. I haven't eaten ice cream except the occasional Klondike bar when I feel up to it. The weeks I was trying to gain two pounds, I had a milkshake one afternoon and felt so sick afterward.

Currently I am loving everything bagels from Starbucks. Not the same as Thomas everything bagels from the store because Starbucks' bagels are everything bagels with cheese. Add some cream cheese, and I am loving breakfast. Also hot chocolate from Starbucks but I am slow getting ready in the mornings so I don't often have time to swing by the store and pick some up. Nate brought me home a sleeve of recently expired everything bagels from Sbux so I have those whenever I want. :)

I'm 17 weeks now. (Due date: April 12, based on the calendar. Though based on the first sonogram measurements, they said maybe April 19, but I hear it's normal to be a week off.) So Baby Jones is the size of a sweet potato!