After School Specials Never Warned Me About This

In the past 4 days, the hardest thing about being pregnant is quitting caffeine right when you need it most. I stopped drinking coffee regularly since we started trying to conceive but I do usually drink green tea in the mornings. Well lately with buying a new house and everything I’ve noticed I’ve been more tired than usual, so I’ve been drinking (just one cup) coffee every day until Monday when I found out the real reason I’ve been so tired lately. So Tuesday I broke down and had tea and half a cup of coffee (still in shock really). Tuesday was also the day I was the most tired. Wednesday I just had some tea (chai), but by Thursday I was completely off the caffeine and managed to drink only decaf black tea I found in the bottom of my drawer.

So I went to the store and stocked up on decaf which I’m totally loving right now. I know it has some minimal amounts of caffeine, but I think my body is mostly just used to the routine of drinking tea every morning. With a little motivation I managed to do what I could never do, quite coffee cold turkey.

A Little Back Story

Because of my somewhat hippy parents, I’ve been a vegetarian all my life and despite what many people think vegetarian does not equal healthy. In recent years, I’ve been trying to move away from my all Doritos diet that was soo useful during college. And now that I’m pregnant, I’m especially worried about not getting enough protein or whatever other nutrients that the baby might need. I’ve been consistently taking pre-natal vitamins and omega 3 supplements for a few months now, but now I’m also forced to think about eating a well-rounded diet.

Since December, I’ve been living with my in-laws and I find it harder to eat healthy there. Usually I try to keep all temptations out of the house, but they’re always stocked up with chips, ice-cream and whatever else your heart (or tummy) desires. Also it’s harder for me to have a source of protein for dinner since they’re not big into cooking tofu.

Like today for breakfast I had german pancakes (fried crepes) also 3 teaspoons of nutritional yeast and some vitamins. Then I snacked on almonds during the day and had yogurt (chobani if you must know) with flaxseeds and granola for lunch.

For some reason I didn’t feel nearly as tired today as I did the previous 3 days and I didn’t even get a dizzy spell today. I also didn’t feel the need to eat as much, so perhaps there was something that was missing from my diet?

And So it Begins..

Okay, so just 4 short days ago, I found out the big news. It’s exciting but mostly scary. And very difficult to suddenly adjust to all the things you can and can’t have. Even though I just found out Monday afternoon, by Tuesday morning I was more tired than I have ever been and feeling extremely woozy all the time (which makes going off caffeine particularly hard).

I noticed food seems to help a bit with the sleepiness and the wooziness, but only if I eat every 5 minutes. Like really? Only 4 weeks along and I’m stuffing my face nonstop? Since yesterday, I’ve been feeling slightly better. I’ve been trying to get to bed by 7pm and have been eating about 2 teaspoons of Nutritional Yeast everyday in case I have a B vitamin deficiency.

I’ve also been trying to snack on nuts and other healthy items during the day. For some reason, since about Tuesday, I seem to have this strange aversion to junk food. Like no matter how much I want chips, I can’t bring myself to eat them. A co-worker made brownies the other day and I only ate 1 (very unheard of). So at least my baby will be healthy hehe.

Oh and last night, I couldn’t sleep on my stomach. I suppose it could be just a stomach ache from eating too much (didn’t have dinner until about 7 and then went straight to bed). And this morning my skins all dry and itchy. I suppose I should start rubbing my tummy with cocoa butter, but I figured it was too early to have to worry about that now.