November 27, 2011
I never understood why people were so anxious to get their bump. Of course it’s cute, and yes, it shows the world that you are carrying a child inside of you. It’s a way to shout to the world, “I’m becoming a mother—look at what my body is doing right now!”. But the allure, so to speak, just did not quite make sense. I have to buy new clothes. I have to worry about bumping yet another body part on everything I come across. I have to carry this growing bump around for another few months, hurting my back, feet, and everything else. I'm clumsy enough without it!
But then I got pregnant, and everything changed. I long for that bump not only to tell the world that there is a miracle growing inside of me, but so I do not go back to my inevitable thought process of this growing gut meaning I need to return to the gym or lay off the junk food. It’s a hard mind-set to change. My husband’s grandmother told me at church last week, “You are starting to look thicker in your middle”. While I understand this is meant to be a compliment, it was all I could do not to snap back and say, “Well I am growing a person, and all I can seem to
stomach is comfort food, let alone a workout”. No, alas, these new comments are meant to be compliments, and I should be ever-so-thankful that people know I’m pregnant and do not attribute it to laziness. And even if they do think I’m lounging around, I’m ALLOWED to be lazy for the first time in my life. I should take this excuse and run with it!
Now I’m sure the day will come where these comments become compliments to my mind, and I respond, grinning ear-to-ear, “I know! Thank you!” But that day’s not today. It’s probably nicer to tell a newly pregnant woman she appears tired, or sick. For now, I’ll take them all in stride,
remembering our cognitive restructuring that I have learned through school…”being told I’m thick or getting bigger means I have a HEALTHY baby growing inside of me”. One day…
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Morning Sickness
November 15, 2011
The more I think about it, the easier it is to understand that no one knows (even currently or recently pregnant moms) what it is that comes to the aid of the ever-so-awful morning sickness. Because even if you knew, it changes again! For me at first (weeks 4-6), I just needed to eat. To
keep food on my stomach, and sip soda water (carbonated, of course). And while
that tends to continue to hold truth (if I go too long or start to get hungry
and don’t eat almost immediately, the nausea returns!), week 7 it appeared to help if I ate breakfast 2 ½ times! I had my immediate bowl of cereal. Then chips and lemonade (don’t ask why, but it worked!). Then lunch or an egg and cheese biscuit around 11. Other than my
generalized phobia of eating that much food in a day J, I liked that week. It was pretty predictable, and pretty containable, with the occasional ginger chew or hard candy. And once that 11/11:30am lunch passed, I felt pretty decent the remainder of the day, becoming hungry again late afternoon (enough for lunch/2nd lunch), and eating a small dinner once I got home from work.
Then this week comes along. Now, I can’t complain, as I have a co-worker who could not stop throwing up daily, all day long. So my meager spit-up of flem does not hold in comparison. But the multiple morning meals condensed quickly to some dry cereal and apple juice until about
11:30, when I could keep down an English muffin with apple butter. On days like these, I hesitantly and ever-so-slowly sip water and chamomile tea, for fear of putting too much fluid in my stomach, while thinking, “I’m supposed to be drinking how much water?!” And I’ve noticed it tends to help if I at least suck on candied ginger or sugar-free “hard candies” (the off-brand name for things like lifesavers) when I start to become nauseous.
And sea bands. Oh the mystery of the sea band. The first time I tried them, it was out of hope for what I now know to be a pretty mild case of nausea. They ached all day, and when I took them off, the nausea immediately returned with avengance. Now, I have returned to these bands during what I’ll term as my morning sickness becoming reality, but we shall see what happens when they come off. So far, so good. And the B6…well…in spite of reading multiple positive
reviews, after trying my sister-in-law’s leftovers, I’m not convinced. It may be reducing it some? But it may be a placebo effect as well…
The more I think about it, the easier it is to understand that no one knows (even currently or recently pregnant moms) what it is that comes to the aid of the ever-so-awful morning sickness. Because even if you knew, it changes again! For me at first (weeks 4-6), I just needed to eat. To
keep food on my stomach, and sip soda water (carbonated, of course). And while
that tends to continue to hold truth (if I go too long or start to get hungry
and don’t eat almost immediately, the nausea returns!), week 7 it appeared to help if I ate breakfast 2 ½ times! I had my immediate bowl of cereal. Then chips and lemonade (don’t ask why, but it worked!). Then lunch or an egg and cheese biscuit around 11. Other than my
generalized phobia of eating that much food in a day J, I liked that week. It was pretty predictable, and pretty containable, with the occasional ginger chew or hard candy. And once that 11/11:30am lunch passed, I felt pretty decent the remainder of the day, becoming hungry again late afternoon (enough for lunch/2nd lunch), and eating a small dinner once I got home from work.
Then this week comes along. Now, I can’t complain, as I have a co-worker who could not stop throwing up daily, all day long. So my meager spit-up of flem does not hold in comparison. But the multiple morning meals condensed quickly to some dry cereal and apple juice until about
11:30, when I could keep down an English muffin with apple butter. On days like these, I hesitantly and ever-so-slowly sip water and chamomile tea, for fear of putting too much fluid in my stomach, while thinking, “I’m supposed to be drinking how much water?!” And I’ve noticed it tends to help if I at least suck on candied ginger or sugar-free “hard candies” (the off-brand name for things like lifesavers) when I start to become nauseous.
And sea bands. Oh the mystery of the sea band. The first time I tried them, it was out of hope for what I now know to be a pretty mild case of nausea. They ached all day, and when I took them off, the nausea immediately returned with avengance. Now, I have returned to these bands during what I’ll term as my morning sickness becoming reality, but we shall see what happens when they come off. So far, so good. And the B6…well…in spite of reading multiple positive
reviews, after trying my sister-in-law’s leftovers, I’m not convinced. It may be reducing it some? But it may be a placebo effect as well…
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