The Foods My Fetus Feasts Upon
I’m pregnant.
Now, under normal conditions this would be a free pass to eat whatever I wanted. Sadly, during this one time in my life where it is actually cute to gain weight, food is my nemesis. But it’s a love/hate relationship right now. On one hand, I am not hungry at all with this pregnancy (which I have read can be an indication that you’re expecting a girl..) but on the other hand if I don’t have food then I get sick.
Speaking of morning sickness (which for me is morning and late evening sickness these days), it’s still going strong. But here’s the catch. I get sick if I’m hungry and I also get sick when I eat something.
I just can’t win.
When I was pregnant with Bean, I wanted everything rich, creamy, spicy, and full o’ flavor. I lived and died by Mexican food. I had a sweet tooth that was unstoppable. I put hot sauce on everything. These days though, all I want is bland, bland, bland. And carbs, carbs, carbs. I even had an entire CAKE on my kitchen counter for a whole week and didn’t eat one stinking piece.
Topping my (short) list of favorite foods right now are:
McDonald’s plain biscuits – My friend, Anne, sent me an email about these and I about died when she mentioned them because I had just discovered the power of the plain McD’s biscuit last week. I don’t know what it is about them. Maybe it’s the salt they put on them? The butter? Maybe it’s the way they are chewy on the outside and soft in the middle? Who knows. But they settle my stomach like nothing else. And it’s so odd because I’m not a big breakfast fan OR of McDonald’s.
Cheese grits – I craved these when I was pregnant with Bean, too. Actually, I had never had grits before I was pregnant with Bean and one morning I woke up with them on my mind and that was it. It’s been the same with this pregnancy, too. Twice I have woken up in the middle of the night thinking about cheese grits. I have no idea why or where this comes from, but it’s an intense craving.
Oranges – With Bean, I ate strawberries by the carton. With this baby, I’m eating oranges by the barrel. Or bushel. Or whatever it is oranges come in. I’m eating a lot of them though.
And that’s really about it. Isn’t that sad? I’m a pathetic excuse for a pregnant woman. My only hope is that next week when I finally enter my second trimester this sickness will go away and I’ll finally be able to eat more.
Until then, I’m collecting donations in the form of McDonald’s plain biscuits.
I’m also collecting donations of foot rubs.
And naps.
And if anyone wanted to do my laundry, I’d accept that donation, too.
(By the way, I lost my camera again for the third time in two months. Remind me to do a post later on how irresponsible I am. Thank you.)
44 Comments
Tabitha (From Single to Married)
Oh I remember that time very well! I found myself craving Taco Bell which most certainly wasn’t good for my expanding waistline! But it was one of the only things I could keep down!
Jessica @ How Sweet It Is
I love those biscuits and I’m not even pregnant!
Nate's Mom
If I could send you vouchers for biscuits, I would! I also forgot that canned mandarin oranges were a staple for me. Cannot tell you why. The ones at Trader Joe’s were the only ones we could find that weren’t imported from China. So, so, so good. Maybe I will get a biscuit in your honor this morning for breakfast! 🙂 I’ve never had cheese grits – or grits for that matter. Where do you get grits?
Katie
Duchess Diner. Stratford. Go and eat well, my friend.
Kat @ Living Like the Kings
With Peanut the first few weeks all I wanted was Orange Juice. Gallons of it. And bagels.
Katy @ MonsterProof
No appetite means a girl, eh? Good to know.
Sarah H.
Sounds about right. My coworker is pregnant with girls and she doesn’t want much food either. It’s totally normal. No worries, the new guy will take whatever it needs 😉
Meredith
If I lived near you I’d come over with an armful of McDonald’s biscuits and then I’d stay and do your laundry. or actually, I’d probably make you homemade biscuits (because I LOVE baking) and then do your laundry (I actually don’t mind doing laundry, it’s kind of calming). Move back to Connecticut, then I’d only live 2.5 hours from you!
Cavegirl
I’m currently 25 weeks with a boy and all i want are carbs! mac and cheese and garlic bread top my list. mexican is a close second. oddly enough, my life long love for ice cream has gone out the window, convincing my husband i’m an alien clone. that’s made for some fun conversations 🙂
eat all the darn biscuits you want! hopefully your morning sickness goes away soon (who thought to name it morning sickness anyway? progesterone poisoning is how i think of it)
Michelle @ Mommy Loves Stilettos
I hate McDonalds but their biscuits are to die for!!
Jen at Cabin Fever
I love McDonald’s Biscuits!! KFCs are really good too… lol.
Hopefully your new bambino (bambina) allows you to broaden your horizon for cravings
Cabin Fever in Vermont
Katie van der Meer
I found that I had to have crackers (soda) right by the bed so the moment I woke up I ate a couple before I even stood up. That worked to get rid of the nausia right away and then I could wake up a bit before contemplating what I wanted to eat for breakfast.
Ashley
I love reading pregnancy blogs — it’s all very interesting and unknown for me. =)
I’d come do your laundry if you didn’t think it was too strange =)
I need a laundry fairy at my house — I don’t mind doing other people’s laundry but I really loathe doing my own…strange, right =)
Kate B
Katie, I was THE SAME way when I was pregnant! I had my girl 4 months ago. I was sick, sick, sick. And all I wanted were crackers, carbs, and fritos. And I remember being sick if I ate, and sick if I didn’t, just like you describe! I remember swearing that I would only have one child, that’s how miserable it was. I couldn’t even read PW because the cooking pictures made me sick to look at! Hang in there! Now that I have her, I want 4 more. 🙂 I hope it ends soon for you!
Casper
I am about 19 weeks right now and I feel you. I don’t crave much and not a whole lot sounds good. My morning sickness was an all day/all night affair, a few weeks ago I went on med’s to help me keep stuff down as the morning sickness wasn’t going away. Hang in there! I too don’t eat a lot of what I used to love to eating.
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
Having been in your nauseous shoes, I know that advice and suggestions will just turn your stomach so I will offer none. I will, however, offer deep sympathy.
liz
i remember when i was preggo alllll i wanted was carb carbs and more carbs – settled the stomach 🙂
Leah
At least you’re still in the 1st trimester and you can hope that will all change. For me I’m 15 weeks, 5 days and I’m attempting to keep down the first thing of the day and it’s my staple…McD’s fries and chicken nuggets. Everyone says I’ll be better by 16 weeks but I really don’t see anything changing in 2 days. Nothing else stays in my tummy and I’m with you on not wanting to eat. Poor baby. On a rare good day I’ll want something sour (i.e. sour patch kids, etc) which apparently means I’m having a boy. But for now I’m surviving on McD’s nuggets with lots of ketchup.
Casper
I am right there with you. They kept telling me it will go away by week 16. It didn’t. So I went on med’s so I could start gaining some weight. It has worked, not 100% but I at least keep most stuff down!
Sarah@Crazy Love Gamble-Style
Try watermelon, I am telling you, it is the PERFECT pregnancy food!!!
Layne
That’s too funny! I’m 22 weeks along with a girl and, yes, I have not had much of an appetite. EXCEPT, one morning about a month ago on my way home from an all-night shift, I found myself pulling into McDonald’s and ordering 2 plain biscuits!! I was starving and those were the only things that sounded good. The first I ate plain and the second I added apple butter. YUM!
Megan @ Red Dirt and Crazy
Ohhh the oranges I consumed with I was pregnant with Q-Tip. I remember in the beginning it was oranges and vegetables of any kind. I would get those single serving frozen veggies and feast on them. This all after the morning/noon/night sickness left around 11 weeks. I was sick 24/7 but the kind of sick that is just stuck in the back of your throat and you can’t do anything about it. Ya know like your gag reflex is set to the ON position. It was NO fun.
Hope you get to feeling better quick! Yea for the “honeymoon phase” of pregnancy…or so my doc called the second trimester.
🙂
Megan
Megan @ Red Dirt and Crazy
I also had low blood sugar issues so I had to eat a little something every 2-3 hours. I got used to it but it was quite a pain in the patooty.
Niki
I craved Taco Bell tacos (which I didn’t like pre-pregnancy) and strawberry icees (not necessarily together) when I was pregnant with my son. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I craved anything chocolate. Especially Coco Pebbles and Russell Stover chocolate covered cherries. With both, I lost my taste for my favorite Mexican restaurant and bread. I also quit liking donuts when I was pregnant with my son and haven’t liked them since. But that’s a good thing.
deepa
Ugh – with me it was clementines and microwaved potatoes with nothing on them. That’s all I ate for weeks and weeks, I actually lost 10 pounds… somehow I didn’t throw up once, but have a feeling baby #2 will mean payback for my goodluck the first time around.
Kate
Oh Katie, I feel ya girl! When I was pregnant with Bridget, I wasn’t hungry at all for about 4 months. When I did eat, it was only a few things. Spaghetti (with butter and cheese), fruit snacks (the gummy kind), and Ritz crackers. Oh, and REALLY cold salad.
MistyK
I found the most friendly food to be plain bagles.
andrea
with my son, AJ, I wanted anything you were willing to put on my plate and lots of it. meat, pizza, tacos and more meat…i think my husband was kinda scared. then when I was prego with our daughter, Ryan, I wanted nothing to do with food. I lived off of popsicles for almost two months, it was the only thing that sounded good and that wouldn’t make me sick just thinking about it.
can’t believe you are already at the second trimester!! so excited for you and your family. and slightly jealous, Ryan is 11 months old today and I really miss being pregnant…again i think my husband is scared 🙂
Sarah
Yeah, 1st trimester preggers here too….I had a citrus thing with my first pregnancy….and a CRAZY chocolate thing! And I made my hubby stop for Skyline (we’re in Cincinnati) on the way to our Bradly class one night…it made us late, but I didn’t care!
Didn’t have any noteworthy cravings with my second….we’ll see how it goes this time.
My cousin had an inSANE lemon thing when she was preggers…she ate them…peel and all…alll day long. Bushel, basket, crate, whatever. It was the craziest thing!
Cassi {Miles from Suburbia}
I probably shouldn’t say this, but Popeye’s makes a damn fine biscuit as well. 😉
Beanie's Nana
Found your camera on our dining room table…….
Hilary
I didn’t feel any different with my pregnancies. I had the same cravings and everything, except I didn’t get horrible heartburn with my son the way I did with my daughter.
Mandy
When I was pregnant with my daughter I was throwing up for FIVE months. I didn’t want to eat at all, but if I didn’t I would get sick. I would literally throw up and then have to eat right after. And all I wanted was carbs. Once I hit 20 weeks though I got my appetite back in full force and craved sweet things like crazy! I’m definitely guessing you’re having a girl!!! Start dreaming of pink and pink and more pink!
Liss
You poor thing. 🙁 I know exactly how you feel, the needing to eat to not feel sick, and then feeling sick because you ate.
My ‘morning’ (ahem, 24/7) sickness didn’t go away until well into my 2nd trimester, and I was losing weight, too. For a little while all I could stomach was McDonald’s cheeseburgers. Of all things.
I had a diminished appetite my whole pregnancy, actually.
And I had a boy.
My mother had three girls and didn’t get sick at all.
So I’m not sure about the boy/girl myths.
But crossing my fingers for you! (Even though another boy would be just as lovely.)
Also glad to see your camera has been found. 😛
Betty
Hmm, I want to try a McD’s biscuit now! Somthing I ate by the carton/box was Ramen noodles with no flavoring. Just plain noodles. yum.
Michelle
You poor thing! I remember those days! The first 16 weeks I was pregnant with Ava (she’s now 5 months old) I had terrible morning sickness and nothing sounded good! I did eat TONS of fresh fruit and had plain popcorn on hand in case I ever started feeling a little queasy at work. Good luck with the next week few weeks. By the way, if you find someone to do your laundry, can you send them my way when they finish yours….
Emily
I’ll never be able to distinguish pregnancy cravings from normal cravings. Do you get craving combinations? My stomach is big on those. Mainly blue raspberry Slurpies and pad thai.
Megan (Best of Fates)
I’ve never had grits.
But then again, I’ve never been pregnant.
Before now I didn’t realize those two things were obviously related.
Kelly
When I was preggo (with a girl, no less), I became a very efficient eating machine. Which, of course, is closely related to me gaining an absolutely ridiculous amount of weight. I just really wanted cheese all the time. And no peanut butter. Couldn’t even stand the smell.
Lori @I Can Grow people
With Porter, I got sickest when I moved too fast in the mornings. The days of the week when I was running late, Monday and Wednesdays, I was the sickest. Porter apparently wanted me to take it niiiiice and eeeeeasy…except for all of week 12 when I was sick all day everyday. Then after I got sick I devoured cherry cheese danishes from Publix and chocolate soy mild.
Man, pregnancy is weird.
Kaitlyn
For almost four months of pregnancy, I ate a baked potato with butter and shredded cheese, a plain bagel with plain cream cheese, and cucumbers and ranch dressing. This was my breakfast, lunch, and dinner… all on the same plate! I also could NOT STAND chocolate during this time which is so unlike me!
Kristin
I lacked an appetite for most of my pregnancy with Vivian. It wasn’t until the last 4 weeks that I was actually hungry and had an opinion about what I wanted to eat. I didn’t realize that a lack of an appetite was a sign for a girl – but it was true for this girl and her girl!
Carrie
Katie~ The first trimester was a bugger for me too. I could not eat, but had to, and then I’d be sick. Morning and late evenings were horrid. I learned to munch of cherrios and wear sea bands. What a fashion statement those sea bands are. I also craved oranges. Couldn’t get enough of them. I was afraid the baby would come out with one of those fruit hats on. Ohh and last week.. our little girl arrived!
Ann
Katie – close friend of mine could only eat peanut butter on saltines her entire pregnancy. The blandness worked for her and the PB at least gave her some protein. 🙂