Appetite...

Today was a normal day on most accounts. Except that I have had practically no appetite. I attribute this to the kumquat. (My loving name for the baby, which will change to something else Friday.) I tend not to fret too much about the appetite business. When I was pregnant with Moose, we asked my doctor about eating and whatnot. She told us that I could basically eat whatever I wanted, and the baby would take what it needed from my body. So if I wanted nothing but milkshakes for a day, eat milkshakes. This advice has served me very well for my last 2 1/3 pregnancies.  I never make myself eat something that doesn't sound good, and if I'm not hungry, I generally won't eat anything. (Unless it's nighttime, because I hate waking up hungry.)

Of course, I always take my daily prenatal vitamin, to make sure I'm getting the essentials. My strange eating habits generally don't last longer than a day. And as the pregnancy gets further, the strange days will be fewer and farther between. Today, the only thing I was really able to eat was cheese. And for dinner, animal crackers. (Which didn't really taste that good either, but I needed something, and they didn't make me squinch my nose when I smelled them.)

In my experience with pregnancy and cravings, I've found that my body will generally crave something specific. Like red meat, bread or pasta, or dairy. We have chosen to go with it, because we think it's my body's way of telling me what I need. I know a lot of women who feel this way. It's a hard thing to ignore when you body only wants one thing. Today, that was pretty much cheese.

I've never had too many of the "weird" cravings. Just unexpected. Like a sudden desire for curly fries, or pizza. Once it was hamburgers. Sometimes it's ice cream. For about a 3 week stretch or so, I had a bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and whipped cream every day. Sometimes after lunch, sometimes after dinner. It was when I was still really nauseated all the time and most foods didn't smell good. I ate pasta roni every day for lunch. (That, I find, is a habit I've had with all pregnancies so far.) The ice cream, in that combination with chocolate syrup and whipped cream, just tasted so good. It was the only thing I ate that tasted that good to me. So I ate it. Once a day.

I don't advocate pigging out during pregnancy, because all that weight you gain will have to come off eventually, and I'd sure prefer to not put it on in the first place. But I am a strong advocate of listening to your body, pampering yourself (making a baby is hard work!), and just taking it easy. I did not, one bit, stress out over the fact that for 3 or 4 weeks, I had a bowl of ice cream once a day with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. I wanted it, it tasted so good, so I ate it. And I enjoyed it. A lot.

I've been fortunate enough to not really gain any weight yet. I think that's mostly because I just don't eat as much as I did before. Combined with the hidden internal processes of baby making, I'm just lucky I guess. Although I know a lot of women who don't gain in the first trimester, usually because of being sick, however.  I'm sure it'll come in time. And when it does, I'll do my best to temper the weight gain with what's necessary to grow my little munchkin. But through it all, I will eat what I want, what tastes good, and what I can stomach.

I think I'm going to go eat some cheese.