Learning the Hard Way
To this point, I would say I’ve been lucky, maybe even extremely lucky with this pregnancy. Yes, I had about three solid weeks of continuous nausea, but I never had to pray to the porcelain gods. I’ve been really fatigued, but extra sleep has taken care of that pretty well, even if my activity level has dropped a bit and the housekeeping suffered. My sweet tooth has diminished severely, which isn’t really a bad thing, though I’ve probably more than made up for it by cravings for salty/fatty things like chips.
But last night, I think I paid for that luck, at least a little. I have a pretty robust digestive system. Of course, I come down the stomach flu from time to time and have my share of feeling queasy even when not pregnant. In the past I have been lucky enough to avoid heartburn. Well all that changed last night when I tried to go to sleep. It’s my own fault, I just didn’t know it at the time. I put a pork shoulder roast in the crock-pot with barbecue sauce before leaving the house for work, anticipating a tasty and easy meal of pulled bbq pork for dinner. And that’s what we had. I also had a nice salad with balsamic vinegar and a tall glass of lemonade. And I paid for it; I’m actually still paying for it. It turns out that progesterone secreted by the baby’s placenta affects the smooth muscle of the digestive tract, allowing the valve that usually keeps digestive fluids out of the esophagus to leak, causing a nasty burning sensation. I took Tums, I drank milk, and eventually gave up and went to sleep. I didn’t realize that my dinner was, as Matthew so eloquently put it, “a recipe for an acid time bomb.” Apparently vinegar (which I had on my salad and was in the bbq sauce) and citrus (like lemonade) are really bad inducers of heart burn. Perhaps any one of these things alone would have lead to a bit of discomfort, but together, they were pretty excruciating. Upon Matthew’s advice, I propped myself up in bed this morning and dozed until the lead brick in my stomach felt more like a regular brick. And that’s about how it still feels now. I’ve learned my lesson! I’ll be more careful of acidic foods in my diet from now on!
You sneaky so-and-so! Congrats and I am so excited for you!! Somehow I wondered when I would be hearing you two were expecting! We should all be careful of the indigestion foods at our ages. I have problems from time to time myself. But I also still do it. K-sigh, no helping us mangeons (can’t spell French right.) translation us people who love food (tasting different kinds, etc.) Probably should get back to work.
Congratulations again you two!!!!
Laura, I tried to call you but forgot you were vacationing in the beautiful isles of Hawaii! So, we’re not really sneaky! I just figured a voice-mail wasn’t very personal and we wanted to let people know!
I never get heartburn either. Ever. I do have a sensitive digestive system, although cutting out 90% of dairy seems to have changed that for the better, but once, I had the most amazing chili and corn bread. I love chili and corn bread, but don’t have it often. And once, on a trip, I had it with several glasses of lemonade and was awake all night. Blech. So avoid that combo too.
And congrats!
DeAnna, I love chili, I didn’t think about that! I really think it was the lemonade that sent me over the edge, I start to feel it as soon as I drank it! Thanks!