Pregnancy and Food

[bavila]

I'm currently pregnant with number 2 (first trimester), and hubby is bumming cuz I'm in no mood to eat, much less cook. About the only appealing foods are incredibly boring -- rice, cheerios, mac-n-cheese, etc.

I remember from last time a total aversion to onions -- sort of difficult when you like to cook, right? Once I passed the eternal nausea, I also craved spinach and lots of protein -- meat, meat, meat, eggs, eggs, eggs -- not so surprising, I guess. And I also had less of an appetite for refined sugars.

Any good stories? Any good recipes?

[torakris]

I had bad morning sickness with all three pregnancies and my craving were different for each one. With #1 is was tomatoes and pizza, but only one specific frozen pizza that was sold at only one store by my house. With #2 it was anything raw, lots of sushi and yukwe (Korean raw beef dish), with #3 it was umeboshi, the Japanese pickled sour plums....

For all three pregnancies I could not eat noodles of any kind, even after the morning sickness passed....

Good luck!!

[Jensen]

I had only one pregnancy and didn't have any morning sickness whatsoever. But could I eat! The biggest foods on my "got to have" list were Japanese food (anything that any Japanese restaurant anywhere in the world would sell, I'd eat) and Greek food. Mostly Japanese food though.

Guess what the Spawn's favourite food was when she was a wee one?

Yep. Japanese...

[Kim WB]

Son #1, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches. He was a November baby, so I had really excellent jersey tomatoes until the last month...then I jsut had the cardboard ones, with extra mayo. Also buffalo chicken wings, until the last month when the indigestion was killing me.

Son #2, liverwurst and raw onion on rye, with honey mustard. And I mean full 1/4 inch slices of wurst AND 1/4 inch slices of onion. Really, think about how THICK that was! Also green salads with kalamata olives, goat cheese and pignoli, from a restaurant called Capulets, on Montague street in Brooklyn Heights...I kept saying we should name him Romeo but his father vetoed it.

Edited January 18, 2005 by Kim WB (log)

[daniellewiley]

I'm also in my first trimester with my second! Great topic.

My sickness has subsided somewhat in the past few days, so we are finally eating again. :-)

With my first pregnancy, I wanted sour cream and root beer (not together).

This time, I'm loving fresh, crisp apples, sour cream again, and pizza sounds really good to me. I've been making myself mocktails of cranberry juice, seltzer and Rose's lime juice. I've also been craving Japanese. That's what we ordered in for lunch today, and I totally pigged out. Spicy tofu roll, cucumber avocado roll, sweet potato tempura roll, soup and salad. Boy was I full. But it was goooood.

[iamthestretch]

My wife went completely off red meat and fish for much of her recent pregnancy, so I ended up cooking a lot of chicken in various forms. Her taste for spices also picked up a lot, so we went through a ton of Indian, Thai and Burmese food. The only real oddity (some might dispute that characterization) was her appetite for whole bananas spread with a quarter-inch layer of peanut butter.

[kellycolorado]

Strangely, the thought of broccoli made me gag and I normally loved it. To this day I much prefer broccoli rabe or chinese broccoli. I was lucky and didn't have real morning sickness.

I craved Thai and Indian food (like usual!) and red meat, strange because I'd hardly eaten it for over 10 years. My carnivorous leanings have stayed with me too. I'd read that eating a variety of food in the 3rd trimester and while nursing will help your baby get accustomed to different tastes and it seems to have worked. She's really versatile.

[Cleo]

I had my first baby in October (she's 3 months old today !). It's so weird now because the whole pregnancy seems like it was a million years ago!

Anyway, during the first trimester I was pretty nauseous. There were many days that I would sit at my desk at work and eat macaroni and cheese and plain white rice for lunch. It just made me feel better. Once the nausea passed (at about 13 weeks), I didn't have any real cravings except for chocolate milk. I just couldn't control myself each morning.

And the only thing that I really couldn't tolerate during the entire pregnancy was chicken. It just made my stomach turn.

[kellytree]

the skin on tomatos - ick.

pecorino cheese (vomit---- the worst thing was I had to make the junk) - especially the smell--ick ick ick.

[bavila]

the skin on tomatos - ick.

pecorino cheese (vomit---- the worst thing was I had to make the junk) - especially the smell--ick ick ick.

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I can imagine that being sickening smell. When I worked in a diner (long before I was pregnant) I grew abhorrent of the smell of catsup.

I've been thinking food smells could be pretty devastating to the pregnant chef. I'm lucky to have the option of just abandoning my home kitchen.

[Aileen]

I've had two kids, and experienced an average amount of morning sickness with each (went away after the first trimester). During my first pregnancy I developed a dislike of ice cream - couldn't stand it - and peanut butter. Both continue to some extent today (10 years later). During my second I had a serious aversion to anything even resembling teriyaki. I couldn't even stand the smell of it! I worked near a teriyaki fast-food restaurant, and I had to stay inside around lunchtime.

[therese]

No particular cravings. Morning sickness much worse with second pregnancy (a girl) than the first (a boy), but I did have weird aversions during the first pregnancy: the odors of both basmati rice and lemongrass made me faint with nausea.

The second pregnancy I ate a lot of plain baked potatoes. Well into my fifth month I'd gained essentially no weight (was still wearing my very skinny pre-pregnancy clothes, and this was a second pregnancy) and was sternly ordered to start eating a lot more. "Eat dessert. In fact, eat two desserts," are not words you get to hear too often.

[RebeccaT]

I just started my second trimester with my first. THe first 10 weeks or so, I just wanted plain stuff - not bland, but very run-of-the mill dishes. I made sloppy joes for the first time in my life, mac and cheese, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Nothing too exotic. For the past month, now that my energy is back up somewhat and I have a taste for interesting foods again, I am back to Indian, Japanese, Moroccan, etc. But I still have a taste for those basics.

No real cravings or aversions yet, but the only thing that actually made me lose it during those early queasy weeks (right between Thanksgiving and Christmas) was the smell of a pumpkin pie baking. How weird is that? Don't know if I'll be able to stand it next year.

[cjs]

when I was expecting ( with twins ) had no real cravings, but my appetite was enormous! You did NOT want to be in the same room as me if I had missed a meal or dinner was really late. The only thing that put me off, not food related though, was the smell of a zippo lighter my husband used to have.

All the best to you pregnant ones!

[bottomlesspit]

Child #1 aversion: onions. Which is mine and hubby's favorite herb, so first trimester was challenging from the cooking standpoint. Child #1 craving: Burgers of any sort.

Child #2 - no particular aversions or cravings. The only thing that kept me away from food was fatigue.

[Toasted]

Thirty-nine weeks pregnant here. Right now I'm craving pasta and artichokes and anything with potatoes. Earlier in the pregnancy I craved cheese grits in the worst way. Kind of weird because I had never even eaten them before I got pregnant. My adversions are mostly to smells, the fish counter at the store makes me gag, the smell of eggs-yuck, banannas.

The hardest part of being this pregnant is constantly craving and even dreaming about foods that I just don't have the energy to make right now. You know, homemade ravioli with broccoli rabe, good bread, etc. Oh, well, it will all be over soon.

[Cleo]

Oh, well, it will all be over soon.

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It's just beginning! As I said earlier in this thread, I just had a baby in October. Take my advice...cook all you can this week and do whatever else you can because once you have the baby, you will first be tired!!!

But it's so worth it!!!

Good luck!

[Malawry]

Oy. I was hoping to avoid this problem, but here I am about 8wks along and food is just...weird. I have a really hard time getting up the gumption to cook. I am mostly living on Stoned Wheat Thins, Gin-Gins sharp ginger hard candies, and lemonade. At least I'm not yarking. Is it possible to steel my stomach to at least make decent food for my spouse? Sigh.

[daniellewiley]

here I am about 8wks along and food is just...weird.

Is it possible to steel my stomach to at least make decent food for my spouse? Sigh.

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Congratulations!!!!!

And nope - no way to do it. But, it should be better in about a month.

I couldn't do steak the whole nine months!

[Marlene]

One pregnancy - no sickness at all, nor any aversions. I did however eat rice and soy sauce every day of my pregnancy!

[lesfen]

I didn't really have morning sickness with my pregnancy, but I could not tolerate the smell of flavored coffee. The hard stuff... no problem. French vanilla and the like... Houston, we have a problem. I work in a small office and my co-workers were kind enough to switch to the instant stuff for a while. Love them.

I craved anything hot and spicy. Mexican, Thai, and anything with wasabi that our local sushi could come up with while respecting the "no raw" rule. Sure enough, my little monster loves spicy food. Oh, and guacamole. I couldn't get a good avocado to save my life (Ohio... sheesh) so I made due with the giant bag-o-guac from Sam's. It was a fine substitute.

I'm actually looking forward to a second pregnancy. I love the idea of being FORCED to eat three squares a day, plus snacks! (Within reason, of course... I think I'll try and avoid the 55 lb. weight gain this time.)

[Rebecca263]

I spent days naked in the tub eating mango after mango. I just couldn't stop. And, yes, they're one of my kiddle's favorite fruits to this day. However, my ex had his own weird cravings, and they usually involved me cooking for HIM in the middle of the night. There was the evening he woke me up at 3am to make pancakes for him. And I still remember roasting an entire turkey for his fresh turkey breast sandwich craving on the night I went into premature labor.

[bavila]

However, my ex had his own weird cravings, and they usually involved me cooking for HIM in the middle of the night.  There was the evening he woke me up at 3am to make pancakes for him. And I still remember roasting an entire turkey for his fresh turkey breast sandwich craving on the night I went into  premature labor.

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Any connection to him becoming the ex?

So here I am, counting down the dwindling moments til c-section on Friday. First trimester seems a long time ago!

I thought I'd note that hubby started the low carb thing somewhere in my first trimester. I sort-of joined him -- still ate fruit and an occasional bagel, but cut way back on refined carbs (bread, crackers, pasta, rice). I actually felt better after doing this -- energy levels seem to be more even, less roller-coasterish. May be worth trying for those of you in the early weeks.

Of course, somewhere into third trimester I shifted into dessert mode. Ate healthfully for meals in general, but have had plenty of ice cream and cookies and such. Trying to ignore the number on the scale...ugh.

Good luck to everyone!

[lesfen]

However, my ex had his own weird cravings, and they usually involved me cooking for HIM in the middle of the night.  There was the evening he woke me up at 3am to make pancakes for him. And I still remember roasting an entire turkey for his fresh turkey breast sandwich craving on the night I went into  premature labor.

←

Any connection to him becoming the ex?

So here I am, counting down the dwindling moments til c-section on Friday. First trimester seems a long time ago!

I thought I'd note that hubby started the low carb thing somewhere in my first trimester. I sort-of joined him -- still ate fruit and an occasional bagel, but cut way back on refined carbs (bread, crackers, pasta, rice). I actually felt better after doing this -- energy levels seem to be more even, less roller-coasterish. May be worth trying for those of you in the early weeks.

Of course, somewhere into third trimester I shifted into dessert mode. Ate healthfully for meals in general, but have had plenty of ice cream and cookies and such. Trying to ignore the number on the scale...ugh.

Good luck to everyone!

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Best wishes!!

[Malawry]

I managed to cook some blackened salmon for my spouse's lunch this morning. I'm slowly working down some grapes. I crave chocolate pudding but I have no milk, no cornstarch and no cocoa powder--and I doubt I can source decent cocoa powder out here in the sticks.

Best of luck to you on Friday, Bavila. It seems like the waiting is the hardest part. I can't believe I have to wait 7-8 more months to meet my own baby!