Pregnancy Cravings

Pregnancy cravings are no joke, people. There are things that I don’t normally like or wouldn’t normally eat that I can’t get enough of! How does that even work??

I know this is not my first child, and I should probably be used to this by now, but it still catches me off guard every single time. So what is my craving with this baby? Well, lately (among other things) it has been Raspberry Bismarck Doughnuts. Seriously. I’ve never been a huge fan of that type of doughnut. Especially the raspberry ones. But, lately, I can’t walk by any bakery counter without having to grab one of these lovely little pieces of enjoyment. I don’t know what is going on with me!

This baby though, has made me crave all sorts of things. At the very beginning of the pregnancy, I didn’t want anything to eat. Everything looked disgusting and smelled even worse. I couldn’t stand the sight of food. I ended up losing some weight, which really didn’t bother me one bit, but it probably wasn’t ideal.

Once I got over the whole “gagging at the sight of food” stage, I started to crave things again. I remember the first thing I actually craved with this baby was the chicken tender basket from Culver’s. I could probably still eat those meals every day. Yummy!! If you don’t have a Culver’s in your area, you have my condolences. You have no idea what you are missing!

Some of my other random cravings have been tacos (who doesn’t crave those normally though?!), caramel shakes from Dairy Queen (this one is bad since we live across the street from Dairy Queen), pretty much any type of meat, most salty foods, and water. Give me all the water. The last one kind of bums me out today though. They are flushing a fire hydrant down the street, so my water turned brown. It’s safe to drink, but it’s grossing me out a little. I’m hoping that it clears up quickly! I want to drink my water!!

Here is one other weird one for you. I hate pop. Can’t stand the taste of it or the smell of it. I also can’t stand carbonation. I’m not a fan of how it makes me feel. It upsets my stomach or something. But, for the last few days, I have had a horrible craving for Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice. Yep. We normally have it once a year at Christmas time. The kids always look forward to it. I enjoy it on that once yearly occasion. But the rest of the year, no thanks. Until this week.

My in-laws brought over some pop for the kids one night. We never have pop in the house, so you can imagine how excited they were! One of the flavors they brought over was a grape pop. I opened it for the kids and thought I would try a sip to see if I liked it. Just opening the bottle made me crave the Sparkling Juice. I almost puked when I tried it. And that definitely did not satisfy my Juice craving. I never told anyone what I was actually craving, and just went along with my day.

A few days later, I sent my husband to the grocery store on his way home. I have not left the house all week. It is spring break here, and I’m more than ok with not going anywhere, so we didn’t. It also had a little something to do with sick kids, but who’s counting? Anyway, Phillip went to the store. I rarely send him to the store because he always comes home with things that were not on the shopping list. That day was no different. But this time it was a good thing. He came home with Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice!! It was amazing! My little heart just about leaped out of my chest I was so excited! I told him what had happened a few days before and that I had been craving that stuff ever since. He just smiled and told me he was awesome like that. I had to agree with him that day!

Thankfully, I don’t normally have any completely crazy cravings. Most things I want are very normal, easy to satisfy cravings. When I was pregnant with our first baby, we moved from Minnesota to Oklahoma City. I had three major cravings when we moved. Dairy Queen, Taco John’s, and KFC macaroni and cheese. I told my husband that they had better have all three of those restaurants in Oklahoma City. He laughed at me and told me that we were moving to OKC and not to Africa. Hesitantly, I said OK. I was not at all convinced. When we got there, there was a KFC right down the road from our apartment. That was perfect. Then I found out that there wasn’t a Dairy Queen within forty miles and no Taco John’s in the whole state. I was not a happy person. I don’t think my husband was all that happy for a while either. He rarely heard the end of it until the baby was born. Poor guy!

With almost all of my babies, I craved meat. It didn’t usually matter what type of meat, but I wanted meat. I don’t know if I was craving the protein or the texture or both, but I wanted meat. I’m the same way with this one. I guess at least it could be worse. I’m very thankful I’m not constantly craving sugar. I had that issue with my second baby. Thankfully, it was caught in time and I was able to control the glucose intolerance with just a diet change.

I know sometimes cravings happen because your body is lacking some nutrient that a specific food will furnish, but why in the world am I craving doughnuts and sparkling juice?! I’m trying to avoid them for the baby’s sake, but good grief! It’s hard!

Life can sometimes be like this. Our heart and soul begins to crave something because we have a deficiency of some sort. Maybe we are lonely so we start to crave for the phone to ring or door to be knocked on. Maybe we are sad and are looking for something to cheer us up. Maybe we don’t know what we are needing so we are looking for something, anything, to fill that void. Those situations can get messy and drawn out because we don’t know what we are needing and looking for. Life is a struggle at times.

But I do know something that can fill all voids in our life. More specifically, someone. God can fill any and every void we feel in our life. He already knows what it is that we need. He can, and will, complete us. He knows us inside and out. He created us after all. I don’t know about you guys, but I am so thankful that I have a God like that. I am so thankful and blessed that He cares enough for me to stay by my side all the time. There isn’t a situation that we have come across or through that He doesn’t know the answer to. He will be there with us. If not right by our side, He will carry us through the hardest times in life. He wants us to rely on Him and to ask Him for help. I know I can’t do life without Him. I wouldn’t have survived this long, I can guarantee you that. My God is so amazingly loving and caring. He is way more than I deserve.

So, while the majority of this post is about physical cravings women will get when they are pregnant, it can apply to everyone. I hope this little metaphor can bring some clarity to someone if they are needing it.

And for those of you who are having actual physical food cravings, enjoy yourself! I know I am! I’m drinking my Sparkling Grape Juice as I type this. This stuff is so good! I’m probably going to need some Tums after this glass, but I think it’s worth it for now!

Have a great day, everyone!