Finally… I can explain why my recipes have been limited for the past 3 months!
I actually had a fairly easy trimester. I only threw up once, and I think that was because I took my prenatal vitamin on an empty stomach (Rookie mistake). I never experienced any (TMI ALERT!) constipation. I never felt too nauseous, and when I did get queasy, it was only in the evenings, which made it easy for me to stay productive during the day.
That’s not to say that things weren’t different…
I LOVE vegetables. Usually. I enjoy eating veggies, hummus, beans, fish and all sorts of healthy food… usually. By week 7-8, this completely changed!
There is no way to describe it besides I didn’t feel like myself. The thought of broccoli made me want to gag. In fact, anything that wasn’t a straight up carbohydrate wasn’t getting anywhere near my mouth. And my taste buds were specific.
I wanted bagels. But only bagels from NY Deli, toasted, with their vegetable cream cheese. (I know, no veggies, but only wanted vegetable cream cheese? I didn’t say my hormones were logical…) If it wasn’t that exact bagel, yuck, I didn’t want it. The lovely people now know me by name.
I lost all desire to cook. This actually made me so sad. I really enjoy getting into the kitchen and whipping up dinner, but I just didn’t want to anymore. I figure it was a combo of being tired and not having my usual adventurous appetite, but it was so strange. We ended up eating a lot of take out. Hot and sour soup (quite often), baked potatoes from Wendys or vegetable subs from the grocery store (because no deli meat allowed!).
I had to eat every 2 hours. I kept reading posts on the What To Expect forum about how people never wanted to eat and kept losing weight. Whaaaat?? I wanted to eat ALL THE TIME. I actually think this kept me from ever getting queasy. But my snacks weren’t normal. In between my bagels and baked potatoes, I craved spicy and salty. One time I ate a whole jar of pepperoncinis in one sitting. Oh yes, I did.
I also enjoyed popcorn smothered in Texas Pete and jars of my Nannie’s homemade pickles. I know, sodium OVERLOAD, but baby wanted salt!
Oh, and cottage cheese. I LOVE cottage cheese right now.
Soda water kept me sane. Soda water with lemon and La Croix’s were wonderful. Something about the bubbles made me feel good. Sometimes, I even tried to fancy it up…
Jolly Ranchers. I am not a big candy person, but when the night time headaches and queasiness arrived, Jolly Ranchers saved the day! Sucking on these (watermelon was my favorite) kept the queasiness under control. I highly suggest you buy a jumbo bag as soon as you get pregnant!
On top of all the changes in appetite, I was reading about all the things I should be abstaining from for the next 9 months. So here are some other changes I’ve made:
- No caffeine. Only decaf coffee, no sweet or unsweet tea, and no hot tea unless it’s decaf. No sodas, either, but that wasn’t hard for me since I don’t drink sodas anyways.
- No sushi. But I did still eat a lot of brown rice California rolls.
- No alcohol. Duh, right? I’m actually surprised how many pregnant people I know that still have wine a few times a week. To each their own!
- No soft serve ice cream or yogurt. Did this one surprise you? It surprised me! Supposedly the machines can harbor listeria. It may be extreme, but I’m staying away.
- No deli meats or hot dogs. I didn’t think I’d care about this one, but I do miss a turkey sandwich every now and then.
- No soft cheeses… unless they’re pasteurized! Thanks goodness that in the US almost all soft cheese are pasteurized! I don’t know what I would have done without my goat cheese. And I’m actually now enjoying the odd looks I get at restaurants when I ask them if their cheeses are pasteurized
- Ok, that’s a long post, so I’ll cut it off there. Let me just say that food aversions are REAL. Some days I didn’t even recognize myself. But through it all, I tracked my food everyday to ensure I was getting enough protein, which was difficult because of my carb loading. Thank goodness for cottage cheese and peanut butter
- The good news… now at 15 weeks, I’m back! Feeling good and eating normally. Bring on the veggies!
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I had the weirdest food aversions too! But the first trimester with both pregnancies, I was sooo nauseous…never threw up…but I wanted to sometimes soo bad. It was hard to do anything or smell anything because I was so nauseous!
I call BS on the frozen yogurt. Never heard that one and I ate plenty during my pregnancies.
(And I’m not saying you’re making that up…just saying its ridiculous the things they say you cant have sometimes. I always played it 100% safe the first tri to first half of my pregnancies though and then opened up occasionally about some things).
Wow, that is alot to give up when getting preggers. I’ve heard that eating carbs while pregnant actually cures the nausea, but I haven’t actually researched it. Though maybe eating the carb loaded diet helped you. Are we going to see any baby bump pics popping up!?!
I don’t think I’ve noticed it in any of the recent pictures of you. I don’t even the actual point that women start showing.
my sis-in-law is pregnant and her dr told her she could have a small glass of wine every once and a while. i don’t think that “few time a week” thing qualifies!
no deli meats? that will be a major issue for me…why??? makes me sad
I had no idea that you had to avoid things like sandwich meat and soft serve. At least there’s still Ben and Jerry’s, right?!
I’m not pregnant and I have lost all my desire to cook too! My excuse is that perhaps I’m just lazy
I was much the same way during my first trimester! I swear I could go bite-for-bite with a high school boy during the afternoons.
Veggies are still a challenge. Well, some veggies. Egg white scrambles loaded with green are a good way to get ‘em in.
Congrats and good luck!
Interesting stuff! I know so little about pregnancy, I’ll have to read up when the time comes. I do think I’d be one to still eat sushi occasionally, though I will definitely abstain from alcohol. I know getting those healthy fats is critical for baby’s brain development!
Question… do you know if you can drink Kombucha while pregnant? I love the Gingerade kind when I feel queasy but I’m not sure if it’s “safe” for preggers.
Oooh. This explains the TGFB tweet! I didn’t click the link haha. You poor thing! I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t love broccoli anymore. And no sushi? Wow! Luckily it will all be worth it, but boy oh boy it sounds rough. Hopefully your little one will appreciate your sacrifices
I want to eat all those things every day and I’m not even preg!
Glad you are able to get back on the veggie train now!
Side note: I told my husband about how your brewmaster Hubbs makes his own beer and (even though it’s illegal in Alabama, shhh!) Forrest would like some tips, haha.
I totally wanted bagels and cream cheese during my first trimester. Second trimester hit me and the thought of a bagel and cream cheese now kind of makes me gaggy. I was (and kind of still am) also off the cooking wagon. The smells of cooking eggs gets me now and I don’t particularly like raw meat at the moment. I got back into veggies after a while, too. I’d never heard the soft serve yogurt thing
Must take that into consideration. Congrats on your baby. You and I are a week apart 
Did your doctor tell you no soft serve, or did you find that on your own? I’ve never heard that before. Also, same question with no caffeine? My doc told me the equivalent of 1 cup of coffee is fine (which will mean a bit of chocolate for me once my appetite really comes back!).
To those wanting to know why you can’t have deli meats during pregnancy:
Deli meats have been known to be contaminated with listeria, which can cause miscarriage. Listeria has the ability to cross the placenta and may infect the baby leading to infection or blood poisoning, which may be life-threatening. If you are pregnant and you are considering eating deli meats, make certain that you reheat the meat until it is steaming.
I’m not pregnant, but I can fully appreciate that bagel. Yum.
Glad to hear things are back to normal for yoU!
I love hearing about weird food cravings. Hilarious you ate a whole jar of pepperocini’s!
I love reading about this…I think my own clock is tick-tick-ticking!!
I’m glad you’ve been feeling pretty well!! The different cravings are interesting. And I imagine it gets to be a little anxiety-provoking with everything they tell you to avoid, but you sound really calm and assured
I had no clue about the soft serve ice cream!!!
Reading your blog makes me happy ; ) So glad you are feeling better!
I’m sorry, but that bagel looks delicious. I want one, and I’m not pregnant.
Although I had NO idea about the soft-serve ban. That’s very sad news.
I’m totally stalking your early pregnancy posts, as I’m 8 weeks along now. Your first trimester sounds EXACTLY like mine (I’m currently dipping bits of bagel in salty chicken noodle soup, and have been stockpiling sparkling water since I found out!) I know it’s silly, but I’m feeling like SUCH a blob now (although I don’t seem to be gaining too fast), so it’s nice to read your later posts and hope the rest of my pregnancy will be the same.
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