Why I drink pickle juice - adventures in pregnancy...

So it turns out, I'm pregnant. 14 weeks tomorrow so I can talk about it now! Yay for indiscretion!!!

This is my first go-round so I have absolutely no idea what to expect, although everyone and every pregnancy website (all of which I've scoured) have told me exactly what would be happening with my body. I won't go into the details of what I've experienced thus far as I'm sure many women have been there, done that, but I will talk about the weird shit.

Okay, seriously, it's all weird, right??

I have absolutely NO DESIRE to drink coffee. That was the one thing that scared me most about getting pregnant. Sure, my abdominal muscles splitting in half and having a tear inevitably happen that goes from vag to anus sounds mildly terrifying, but WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT I CAN'T HAVE CAFFEINE? So initially (before the doc told me that 200 mg a day was safe), I made a switch to decaf coffee. Which was fine because it tastes the same and tricked my body into thinking it WAS the same.

But then the nausea, smell and food aversions, they came on without warning - not unlike the pack of dirty "gang" kids who roamed the streets of my neighborhood when I was a kid. (Okay, so maybe I hung out with them one or two times).

Back to coffee. I just don't want it. I don't want to smell it, I don't want to taste it. In fact, just writing about it is making me throw up in my mouth a little bit. I'm through the first trimester, so dying to know when (and if) this will go away. Every morning I wake up hoping to want a delicious cup of (gag) hot coffee, but nothing so far...

So let's talk about pickles. I have worked my way through several jars since about week 6 and can't get enough. A couple of weeks ago, I finished yet another jar and my husband was playing a video game in the living room. Well, after finishing the last of these pickles I looked into the jar which was my first mistake. The green, vinegary juice looked back at my with such intensity - it took me back to sitting on the kitchen counter when no one was home, downing yet another glass of pickle juice before anyone could find out (yes, I drank pickle juice as a child. It was one of many quirks). I looked over at Chris and he was pretty wrapped up in his game. So I dared. I quickly took a swig right out of the jar and at THAT VERY MOMENT he turned his head and stared at me with a sort of disgusted look of curiosity.

I couldn't really explain. What was the point?