Morning sickness, cravings, and soy

Big news!! I'm about 5 weeks pregnant!!! I'm starting this blog before I share the news so I can talk about all the great things that are happening along the way.

I really really REALLY want to share the good news with everyone, but I want to make sure everything's going OK first. I haven't even had my first doctor's appointment. Miscarriage is not that uncommon, and it usually happens in the first trimester. I just don't want to have to disappoint everyone if something goes wrong in the next few weeks.

Now for something positive! I have really BAD morning sickness. Wait, that's positive? Yeah! The pregnancy book I've been reading says that pregnant women who get morning sickness are much less likely to miscarry. And it's even less likely the sicker you are. So bring on the nausea and vomiting!

I'm not getting any weird cravings yet, but maybe that's because of the constant nausea. Sometimes it lasts all day, but even if I'm not feeling really sick, I still don't feel like eating, which is a very weird feeling for me. I'm practically forcing myself to eat so I don't deprive myself and the baby of much needed nutrition. I will say, I had been craving the chalupas del mar from 1308 Cantina ever since the hurricane closed down all the restaurants in our area. I finally had them on Friday night... the layers of black beans, cheese, lump crabmeat, lettuce, tomatoes and guacamole were all stuffed down, despite the fact I wasn't hungry for dinner at all!

I've been really paying attention to what goes in/on my body ever since I found out, and obsessing over doing my best to protect the baby. I discontinued all the facial products I was using, reluctantly, since my skin is finally starting to look pretty good! I have been trying to eat a wider variety of vegetables, and that includes LOTS of spinach, and taking my prenantal vitamin religiously. The other day, though, I began to panic over the amount of soy in my diet.

I started drinking soy milk instead of dairy milk a few months ago because I thought it might help my complexion, which it did! I also realized that many of the various snack bars and other foods I eat also contain varying amounts of soy protein. I have read before that soy has weak hormone analogs that can potentially have harmful effects on women's health. A brief search of the internet also uncovered many studies that suggest the reproductive health of unborn children and infants may be jeopardized by soy.

Knowing there is much 'alarmist' info out there on the internet, I tried to remain calm, and searched for evidence supporting the other side too. I was finally calmed by this blog from Fit Pregnancy magazine: Soy Wonder. And while it made me feel a little better about the amount of soy milk I've been chugging over the last 5 weeks, I've nonetheless decided to switch back to dairy milk (the organic, hormone-free kind).