You are what you eat...

I've seen a maternity T-shirt for purchase online that reads "Yes, I did indeed swallow a watermelon." 
I want that shirt.

No, I'm not huge like a watermelon... yet. I'm only 18 weeks and I'm just starting to show but I feel like I'm always eating.  I feel as if I could eat an entire watermelon.  The two most common questions I get from friends about my pregnancy is "Are you feeling a lot of morning sickness?" and "Do you get weird cravings?" I'd like to blame Hollywood for the over representation of these symptoms but they are quite common.  I would just like to say, on the record, that I haven't experienced these cliches.  Well, not exactly.

First off, morning sickness is a dumb name.  Yeah, flat out idiotic.  So clearly named by a man.  Instead, I call it pregnancy sickness because you can feel ill any time of day.  Now that we've established that important distinction... I can't classify my first trimester experience (worry you folks missed out on that fun) as completely pregnancy-sickness free.   I did have to eat every 2 or 3 hours to avoid queasiness and getting a late start to the day with a breakfast any later that 8am would mean certain doom for my stomach all day.  But I didn't have the misfortune of nausea that women (notoriously those carrying little girls) can sometimes have.

But no mistake about it, I did get sick.  Toothbrushing. That's what made me lose my lunch in the early stages.  Strangely, babies make your gag reflex really sensitive so my molars didn't see much good hard scrubbing until about week 15.

As for the cravings, I've got to say this is hard to convince people of.  I've had cravings for things I ate as a child like hot dogs, spaghetti O's, sweet gherkin pickles, bubble gum ice cream, and black olives.  These foods seem strange to many people but they are things I loved years ago and the baby growing in me just brought back the desire for those childish foods.

Where I really lose people is when they see me eating maccaroni and cheese with pepperoni. Or cottage cheese mixed with chopped boiled eggs and diced ham.  Many would say that this is a combination only pregnant women would want. But these are honestly the foods I ate before, just now observers want to attribute it to the bun in the oven. I swear on my next serving of fried pickles that I loved these food prepregnancy. I likely always will.

Dang, now I've gotta go find some more pepperoni.
Momma K