Back to the land of the living!

While summer plowed forward around me I tried to just hold my own against the storm of nausea, food aversions and extreme tiredness. I desperately wanted to hold BBQs, go out with friends and have some sort of a normal life. And while I am very aware that what I went through is mild compared to what some pregnant women experience during the first trimester, this was all new to me.

I am the girl with 2 paying jobs, 1 volunteer job, a couple of “job hobbies”, three active dogs, a husband and lots of side projects. My days are usually packed to the gills with lists and activities. During these months I found that I could pretty much only do one thing a day other than work. On some days just going to work was all I could do. I would fall asleep on the couch at 8pm like an old lady. I would clean the kitchen and declare that I was done for the day. I have never been tired like this before.

Then came the food aversions. This was such a strange thing to me - I have never had an aversion to anything! Eggs were out for awhile, the idea of a runny yolk just made me terribly uncomfortable. Mr. Ramon brought home some oysters one night and I could not even look at them - I had cereal for dinner that night. Sometimes just a certain type of food did not sound pleasing. Nope - not pizza and not a burger. Weird stuff for sure. Cereal, toast and drinks with bubbles were my friends. And refried beans - what? Warm bowls of refried beans with salsa - bland, warm food - so comforting.

Nausea is my kryptonite. As a child I had pretty severe motion sickness. It caused my mom to announce on field trips as I entered the bus “My daughter has motion sickness and has to sit at the front”. Mortifying! I could not read in a car. Roller coasters seemed fun but left my brain scrambled and my forehead clammy. The idea of nausea makes me want to offer up a toe to be removed as a trade off. This was the one “symptom” of pregnancy that I could have lived without.

Finally I made it to the other side. I counted down the days and weeks until I was supposed to find some relief. And like a light switch it was off. I had a surge of energy that even surprised me. Food sounded good again - some things were and are a little weird for me but more or less I am back to normal. Nausea - gone!!

So onward I go into the next phase of this journey. I hope I can continue to feel this good!!