Gluten Free... Mom to Be?

I haven't been great about updating this blog lately. But for once, I have a pretty good reason.

Yup, my husband and I are expecting a baby! After five years of marriage, ten moves (and five of those to different states), finishing four graduate programs between us (my husband's now halfway done with his third, the crazy overachiever...), and having our first settled year in one place since getting married, we decided it was time to give this whole start-a-family thing a go.

I think we can also call these photos: "How to grow out a pixie cut." Expect to watch me go through some spectacularly awkward hair-do's in the next few months...

It's been SO hard to keep this a secret. The news almost come out many, many times... We had a 30-Hour Famine event with the church youth recently, and it was really tough for me to try to explain why I wouldn't be fasting with them. I am sure I sounded like a real excuse-making slacker. But now it makes sense. No starving the baby!

It's also been tough to keep it a secret considering how sick I've been feeling. I was pretty shocked to learn how rough the first trimester can be. Nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, insomnia... and other not-so-delicate miseries that had me running for the bathroom after even a nibble of food.

Even the idea of food has been too much for me at points. My husband made some amazing rosemary chicken-and-sweet potatoes meal for dinner, and as he described it to me, I had to go upstairs and lie down. Just the description of it made me nauseous. It's the weirdest thing.

My sister, who has two sweet little daughters, is a real stoic for keeping all of that first trimester misery to herself. I don't remember hearing a peep about it from her.

A lot of the early pregnancy events are pretty hilarious. People tell crazy old wives' tales like they are Gospel truth ("Do you have heartburn? Because that means the baby will have lots of hair!"), others are very grabby at my not-really-even-showing-yet abdomen (any tips on dealing with that?), people tend to be either overly sympathetic ("Oh you poor, poor dear. Hang in there!") or not at all sympathetic ("Women all over the world work in the fields all day, even when they're pregnant." - Yes, someone actually did say that to me... seriously!).

Not to mention the intricacies of navigating the medical world, a world that, one the one hand, isn't 100% convinced that pregnancy isn't some sort of disorder, and, on the other, seems to celebrate the miserable parts of pregnancy like they are award-worthy. At my first appointment, my nurse asked how I'd been feeling.

"Pretty crummy," I said, honestly.

"Great!" she said, brightly. "That's really good news! That's wonderful! That's how you should be feeling!"

Uh, yippee?

The biggest blessing so far has been finding an incredible local midwife-doctor team. And my midwife has... drumroll please... Celiac! It just came up in our first conversation together. I could hardly believe it! How awesome is that?

Now that I'm rounding the corner on the second trimester, I'm feeling a thousand percent better. I can keep down more than a handful of Glutino crackers and string cheese; I don't spend entire days drinking Gatorade and eating nothing; and I'm not going to bed at 8pm every night anymore. Praisealluia.

Baby is expected in mid-September! We're working on breaking the news to the cats, who will no doubt be a bit put out by their new second-class status in the house.

Upcoming posts will feature foods that have been helpful in getting me through the first trimester blahs, including the crazy nausea. Have you ever had motion sickness? Picture that, but nonstop for three months. "Morning" sickness, my butt. More like 24-hours-a-day sickness.

Still, for all the physical difficulties, it's been a really joyful ride. I have several friends who have been in the emergency room recently to get IV fluids because they've been throwing up so much during their first trimesters. I know several others who have lost babies to miscarriage, or who have been unable to get pregnant despite heroic efforts. My heart breaks for them.

A little nausea is certainly nothing to complain about, and I'm not - I just want to share what it's been like for me for those of you heading toward starting a family. In many ways, I wish I knew a little bit more about what these first months could be like before we started it ourselves. I don't know that I would have changed anything, but I would have been better prepared. In the movies, new moms-to-be throw up once in awhile but are otherwise fine. That's definitely not the case for most people...

For those of you with kids - any words of wisdom to this new first time mom-to-be?

Are there any mom-to-be posts you'd like to see here, or specific questions you have about being gluten free and pregnant? Do share!