And now I shall
discuss some of the less dignified side effects of pregnancy. As a
sidenote, I hope this post doesn’t sound too complainey. I’m SO thrilled
to be pregnant and I haven’t forgotten how lucky I
am. Just want to make that clear before I dive in.
Pretty much from the moment I got a positive
pregnancy test I started feeling a low-grade queasiness throughout the
day. It came and went, but was mostly there all the time. An
undercurrent of nausea peppered here and there with instances
of feeling okay and bouts of puking.
Maybe I should have kept a better timeline of my
symptoms because when I describe them I find myself using a lot of wishy
washy language, but alas. From around week 6 to week 14 I was puking nearly every day. Which, I didn’t think
was a huge amount since I’ve heard so many stories of pregnant ladies
puking, like, every HOUR or something. I would usually just feel kind of
mildly queasy all day and then have one big session of puking in the
evening after dinner. It was, on the whole,
a rather frustrating existence. I would battle against the nausea to
eat something and then either throw it back up or not, but either way I
would be hungry again in like an hour and a half. Second verse, same as the first.
Once in awhile I would puke at work. Like this one
day I felt like I really wanted to eat a cucumber, so I walked to the fruits
& veggies stand down the road and bought one. Then I brought it
back, sliced it, and ate it at my desk with a side
of ranch. I was so smug and proud of myself like Look at me and my
healthy snack! Gold star for feeding my baby VEGETABLES! And then as
soon as I finished it I had to run to the bathroom (AT WORK) to throw it
all up.
I’ve found that puking at work is especially
miserable. Afterwards I usually do feel better, but I also kind of want
to lie down and feel sorry for myself for a little while, which is
difficult/impossible to do at work. Plus, it’s just
grosser to get sick in a public bathroom rather than in my own at home.
PLUS, sometimes I would be puking so hard that the toilet water would
SPLASH ME IN THE FACE.
At weeks 14 to 18 ish the puking dwindled down to maybe two or three times a week. And at about that time I also started having, erm, accidents
while I was puking. I would throw up and sometimes ALSO PEE MY PANTS, which just
feels like a new level of undignified. This is my first baby! I thought incontinence issues weren't supposed to start until one has already given birth!
I brought an extra pair of undies and leggings to keep in my desk drawer at work, just in case.
Plus, there was the exhaustion. The entire
first trimester I was JUST. SO. TIRED. So tired! How do women do this
with other children? I don’t understand. It was literally all I could do
to make it through the workday, get home, battle with
my stomach for dinner, and lie down for the rest of the evening. AND
the first trimester is traditionally the time of pregnancy when most
people try to keep things quiet for one reason or another. So I
was miserable and tired and pukey at work and I
didn’t even feel like I could tell my coworkers. Of course, knowing I was pregnant since week THREE made the first trimester go
particularly slowly and I ended up
telling my coworkers I was pregnant when I was at week nine + change.
Some of them had already guessed after seeing me run to the bathroom
wearing my anti-nausea wristbands and looking all
ghostly white and sickly.
Things that are especially wretched to throw up, an incomplete list:
-
Cucumbers- Sushi (hold your fire! It was just and avocado/rice roll) & soy sauce
- Tuna sandwich
- Fries & ketchup
- Ramen noodles
- Tomato soup
- Potato soup
- Caprese salad
- Popcorn
Things that actually aren’t so bad to throw up:
-
Waffles- Ice cream sandwiches
- Chicken tikka masala (surprisingly!)
At this point
(21 weeks) I’m feeling a bit better. Within the past few weeks I haven’t
puked nearly as much and I haven’t had that continuous undercurrent of
nausea [*knocks on wood*]. I hope I didn’t just jinx
that. I did recently vomit popcorn in the Target parking lot and the
chicken tikka masala episode was last night, but really it hasn’t been
so bad. I feel better overall. I am also starting to feel a big
squished. And in the afternoons I’ve started getting
heartburn pain in my stomach which later turns into feeling the hot
stomach acid in my THROAT.
