Thursday, February 28, 2008

Okay, So Here's What Happened

I dunno if any of my ol' food blog buddies or friends that read my blog are still out there... But I feel an explanation for my long absence is in order.

I am currently close to ten weeks pregnant. My husband and I are very happy and excited. This is our first child, and there is plenty of reason to celebrate. The problem is, I had been very sick in the last few weeks. I was basically crawling to the bathroom and back to bed even until last week. My doctor put me on some meds (it was either that or be given fluids) and thankfully they helped quite a bit. Even though the medicine, Zofran, costs more than I imagine many illegal substances do (even with insurance coverage), I'm grateful that something worked.

When the sickness first hit, my husband and I were on a cruise ship, on a trip that we'd been planning for six months or so. Suddenly I couldn't stand the smell or the taste of any of the food on the boat, and I spent the second half of the trip doubled over in pain from I still don't know what. Stomach acid? I couldn't call my regular doctor or any friends ($7.99 a minute to call out), and the Carnival ship's nurse was an incredible bitch who told me (amongst other things) that there was nothing I could safely take since I was pregnant (not true: Tums, Mylanta and Pepcid are all now on my ok list), and why didn't I just try drinking some milk? As if I hadn't tried that already. She wouldn't allow me to talk to the ship's doctor because in her words, "I needed to take her word for it." All I could keep down were some Cheerios for several days. Don't get sick on a cruise, people.

Anyway, my point is that ever since the vaguely seafood-ish, definitely revolting odor that was present everywhere on that ship, I have had a very tenuous relationship with food. I don't have cravings yet, but I have some intense food aversions. For awhile, all I could stand was "tinned food": canned soup, chicken salad, Spaghetti-O's -- you know -- crap. The type of crap I don't normally look at in the store, let alone bring home with me. And now I can't stand that stuff, so I have a cabinet full of canned soup that Chris has to eat for me, a little at a time. And he didn't want any of it in the first place. And don't get me started on the odor in my refrigerator that apparently only I can detect. I have to hold my breath every time I open the door.

So what I'm saying is, I dunno if I can stand to blog about food just yet. Hunger and appetite as I knew them are long gone (I get nauseous, never hungry), and I have to keep telling myself that one day I will get to have my body to myself again. Right now I'm fighting a mental battle between the spicier foods that I like, and the stomach acid that I know will ensue if I dare to eat Indian food or, heaven forbid, drink a Fresca (I might as well suck on a car battery). But I've continued to improve, so I might soon be able to think about food long enough to write about it. I am hopeful. And I have enough stock photos and stories that I can start again quite soon.

Hang in there with me just a bit longer if you can. I'm looking forward to blogging about cravings in my second trimester, the post-birth mommy diet, and homemade baby food one day!