Morning sickness set in last week. At first I wasn’t sure what it was, because it doesn’t feel like regular nausea (yet), it feels like carsickness. And a few times when I’d experienced it, I was in the car, and Mr. W drives kinda maniacally, so it’s not unusual I’d get carsick. But then I started having the same sensation when I wasn’t in the car. Namely, when I was looking at or thinking about a food that I suddenly can’t bring myself to want. Egg- and meat-aversion had set in, and when I considered those foods, I’d get that carsick feeling. I’d immediately feel better when I thought of refreshing foods I did want — carrots, celery, tofu. Then this carsickness would occur more often, when I wasn’t even thinking of food. I read in my baby book that morning sickness is strongest on an empty stomach, and the best way to quell it is with consumption of dry carbs or other starchy foods. It works; a piece of toast, a handful of Cheerios cereal, they all do wonders.
I learned just this past weekend, when I returned to the gym, that there is a progression with my morning sickness. First I’m hungry. Like, truly empty-feeling stomach growling hungry. This happens pretty often, as the hormone that says “I’m hungry” gets secreted more often and the hormone that says “I’m satisfied now” gets blocked thanks to pregnancy. If I ignore the hungry feeling, the next stage I go into is the carsickness thing. I’m truly empty-stomached and my body wants food NOW. I’ve found that if I go through a mental rolodex of foods at this time, my body will make it very clear what foods it wants and what foods it wants to puke up (not that I’ve puked yet). Occasionally I want junk food, which is impossible because bodies don’t naturally crave Cheetos, so I try to break it down and see what the body is REALLY asking for that my brain recognizes as the junk food. Typically, if it’s junk food, it’s salt and carbs. I’ll feed myself a healthy version of that — whole wheat toast with garlic spread and garlic salt, for example — and my body is happy. Apparently it’s quite common for pregnant women to crave carbs and salt (glucose for energy, salt to balance out the water retention). If I pass this point and don’t feed my body, it goes into a crazy light-headed anemic dizzy nearly fainting spell. I got there yesterday; I was at the gym with Mr. W and his son, and they usually work out for a long time. I did a 10-minute warmup on the elliptical machine, and after that I was already in the hunger stage. I had no food, so I moved on and did 7 resistance exercises mostly in superset form, with little to no break in between to get the utmost cardio benefit. I then hit the point of nausea. Mr. W and his son weren’t done yet, so I pushed through and completed my exercises, then went back for 20 minutes of cardio which, instead of cooling me down, made me pant for the entire time, and for almost 15 minutes afterwards, unable to get my breathing and heartrate back down. I was lightheaded and sick, having burned through all the glucose in my bloodstream such that now neither I nor the fetus had any left. I listened to my body and it wanted Korean soon tofu soup. Sodium, protein. Mr. W said he wanted to introduce his son to Mother’s Market’s vegetarian cafe, and altho the thought of that brought about a nausea reflex in me and I was sorely disappointed at not having what my body wanted, I went along. It was practically across the street, thankfully, and I was hoping I could go into the market section to buy a box of wheat saltines I could have immediately, and have around me in the car or at work the next time things got this bad. Mr. W said they’d have saltines at the cafe section even tho I’ve never seen them serve it, so we went straight there. Not only did they not have crackers of any sort, but the food took almost 40 minutes to arrive after we ordered, and Mr. W himself ran out to the market section and bought two boxes of random healthy-sounding crackers. He returned a minute after the food got there. Thank goodness I was able to find a tofu vegetable sandwich on grilled sourdough, it was perfect. I had a side of lemon quinoa, and I was 100% again. My body needs protein, but with a meat aversion, I was getting it from vegetarian sources — tofu, soy products, quinoa, beans. Mr. W’s son asked me, when his dad was at the grocery section, when I find out the sex of the baby. I said I thought it was around 5 months; he was disappointed it would be so long and said he could hardly wait to find out. I told him how recently, someone had asked me if his kids were okay given that I was now pregnant, and I had said that they’re excited. It’s funny how people expect a lot of competition; Daughter thought it was ridiculous that people assumed she and I compete for her dad’s attention, or that we don’t get along, or that she’d be upset about the pregnancy, too. She was pushing for this kid before *I* was onboard. I guess her newer friends have also asked her about me and asked whether I was mean to her, and she always said, “No! She’s great! We’re like best friends!”
Anywayz, after we got home, Mr. W went straight to bed (it was like 5p) and I hung out with Daughter and Beau until they left for Fellowship (yeah, they still go, but not as often). Then, still with strong cravings for Korean tofu soup, I went to wake Mr. W up at 8:30p. He said he wasn’t sleeping, just laying there, but that I was going to have to get Korean soup alone. “What?! You said after the gym that we could go there for dinner! You’re really gonna make me go all the way to Irvine alone? You suck!” He got up. We discovered a GREAT Korean restaurant called Kaya Restaurant, oddly in a plaza we’d frequented but didn’t know was there but the online reviews for the place were very good. The service was unusually good for an Asian restaurant, and their tofu soup really DOES taste better than the other chain restaurants. I was SO happy when we got home.
