A Comparison

I read on the internet yesterday that "morning" sickness is usually less severe with the second pregnancy.  I couldn't decide whether to laugh or say a bad word.  I think I did neither.  Clearly that statistic has not been tested on me (or my poor mom 3 kids= 27 months of nausea. That's why I'm the youngest).  I am choosing to see it as a huge blessing right now that I don't have a job because I believe that is saving me from a lot of unpleasantness if you know what I mean.  The less I move, the better.  That's not to say that the nausea ever goes away exactly.  It's kind of like God... it's with me everywhere I go.  When I wake up at 3 am... it's there.  When I sit or when I rise... it's there.  Yea.  

I was thinking about the difference in my first trimester cravings this time as opposed to last time.  (No kidding, I just took a 10 min. break from writing because I had to eat one of my cravings.)  Oh and by "craving" what I really mean is something that doesn't make me want to barf.  :)  It's not a craving in the sense that I lie awake at night thinking about these foods, because hello, that would just be gross.  It's just foods that when I'm starving, the thought of eating them doesn't make me more nauseated.  

1st Trimester with Eva:

1. Oranges- ate them like they were going out of style.

2.  Potatoes of any variety.  Baked, Soup-ed, Fried- french or chip style.

3. Red meat- mostly my dad's brisket.  He makes a mean brisket and when I was in my first trimester I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever eaten... ever.

4.  HATED with a deep passion, anything sweet, including: jelly, cereal, any type of dessert. (One morning on our way to church, I asked Ryan to stop at the gas station to get me some peanut butter crackers.  He came back to the car with the crackers and I took a bite.  I immediately spit it out and declared, "There's jelly in here!"  He thought I was just being dramatic.  He then looked at the package and noticed he'd gotten PB&J crackers.  GROSS!!!)

5. Orange Gatorade and Chik-fil-a lemonade.

6. Bananas- I would eat one every morning before getting out of bed to help my queasiness.

1st Trimester with "Ziggy":

1. No oranges please.  Yuck.  No fruit at all for that matter.  I couldn't bear the thought of a banana this morning.  Crackers only before getting up.

2. Potatoes, but not to the extent as last time.  Mostly I want Ruffles potato chips.  Pretty certain that I haven't eaten a potato chip since Fall 2005 (last pregnancy).  Not the healthiest choice in the world, but there's just something about them.  

3. Steamed broccoli and cauliflower with cheese.  Maybe this offsets the potato chip craving. This is what I ate a few minutes ago when I took my break.  :)  It was so good, I'm about to go have some more!

4. Pasta with no sauce... don't love it, but I can tolerate it.

5. Orange gatorade and Chik's lemonade is back on the list!

6. Chicken.  Good chicken... not just any chicken.  Too bad I can't stomach cooking it myself.  

I need a personal shopper and chef to take care of me and my family during first trimesters.  Meal planning is gone, because what sounded good on  Sunday might make me head to the bathroom on Thursday.  Luckily, Eva doesn't eat much to begin with and would be content to eat macaroni and cheese every meal for the rest of her life.  Ryan is pretty easy most of the time, too.  He can fall back into "bachelor mode" and live on microwavable meals if he needs to.  I'm the one who decides at 6:00 on Monday that I wanted a hamburger for dinner and had to go out to eat.  So high maintenance.  Just 7 1/2 more weeks until I'm out of this.  May God have mercy on us until then!  :)

Seriously, though, please keep praying for my stomach.  I have moments where I feel good enough to do something easy like load the dishwasher or start some laundry and then I have to go lay down again.  It's terrible.  I have felt very prayed for though.  Thanks and keep it up!  :)