Eating ALL the things! in The REAL Baby Journey!

I can't get over how much I'm eating lately! I have to eat as soon as I wake up as the nausea starts the instant my consciousness becomes aware. An hour or two after that, I need another small meal. Lunch is earlier and earlier every day and sometimes there are two full snacks before dinnertime. Then, because my belly can only be empty for a short period of time, I have to eat literally an entire second dinner right before I go to sleep or I wake up at 2 AM and am ravenous and queasy. Sometimes despite that 'fourth meal' I still wake up at 4 AM and have to eat cereal or a sandwich in order to make it to 7 or 8 AM when I can inhale breakfast again. I haven't gained any weight but MAN is it crazy!

The things I'm eating are especially weird. I've always been a pretty light eater, have a smaller breakfast, a medium sized lunch and then another smaller meal for dinner with occasional snacks. I also never ate fast food and while I enjoyed fried foods, I steered clear because of how unhealthy I know they are. I was also pretty much a vegetarian, only really eating the fish in sushi or a burger once a year. NOW I can't get enough meat! I just stopped at a drive through to inhale a cheeseburger at 1030 AM because I had to have one right then. I've made Rob stop and buy chicken tenders at 10 PM on our drive home from dinner out because I NEED MOAR MEAT NOWWWWW. It is nuts!!

I am enjoying all the extra tastes and flavors and am thankful I'm not blowing up like a giant balloon but I'm also worried about the consequences of eating all of this junk! I'm trying to find other sources of protein that aren't so unhealthy but 80% of foods right now make me dry heave and throw up in the back my mouth. It is completely unreal how my relationship with food is entirely different. I eat to quiet the angry demon in my belly (not the baby - pretty sure a hormonal dragon lives in my stomach) and not for pleasure anymore. It isn't what I expected with pregnancy but it reminds me every day in every way that I'm not in control anymore. There is a little 13 mm creature that dictates when I'm hungry, tired, energetic, exhausted, nauseated, etc. So cray! :)

Today I'm heading over to my mama's house for our last Mother's Day as just the three of us - my mom, my sister and me. We're planning to lounge on the deck in the sunshine, eat my mom's favorite foods (thankfully they are our favorites too :)) and just chat, gossip, catch up, go over baby things and relax. We'll wear yoga pants and t-shirts and flip flops, there will be no make up or pressure or timeline...it will just be us, hanging out, spending the day how my mom requested. For all the millions of reasons why I love my mom, one of them is how low maintenance she is. No aires or pressure or fashion forward outfits required. Just the good stuff, just how I like it. :)

Here's a happy Mother's Day to each of you who are moms or who are trying or currently pregnant. Also a quiet little side note to send support and strength to those who have lost a little one along the way and for whom Mother's Day may be especially difficult. Love and light, my friends. Thanks for being part of my journey so far :)