MY SURVIVAL LIST

ICE: Pregnancy brings on strange cravings. Mine happens to be ice. I crave ice night and day. I will eat it by the bowl full throughout the day. Adam has recently expressed his annoyance with the cracking and crunching of my binges. I can’t help it. I want this frozen watery goodness… The best I can do to make a association is when I smoked. The craving for a cigarette with the first drink of my cocktail is similar to me enjoying ice the minute I wake and moments before bed. If I don’t have it I think about it, no, I obsess over it. It beats soap, coffee grounds, dirt or something far stranger.

What I have learned is it is actually a ‘pica’. It is my iron deficiency that brings me to the ice bin! What? It doesn’t supplement my low iron, but for whatever reason ice is what iron deficient pregnant women naturally turn to and will chomp until the deficiency is tricked into being met. I am two points below a comfortable level of iron. It finally makes sense. Sorry Adam, you will have to live with the annoyance- I have a ‘medical reason’.

I am enjoying my simple pleasure as I type…

TUMS: Who invented this chalky little party favor? I hope whoever they won (or at least was nominated for) that particular years Chemist Nobel Prize. It is like four magic NECCO candies that erase all that disagrees with my intolerant pregnant innards. I am 31 years old and have four large TUM containers in miscellaneous places: car, bedside table, kitchen and diaper bag. Pre-pregnancy I thought (forgive me) that only the elderly carried rolls of these magic wafers; I have hundreds at an arms reach any where and every where.

Bravo TUMS person! Bravo! You allow me to eat… Wait. I should be upset that you have allowed me to gain these 20lbs!

BODY BUTTER: Lather me up- I feel like I am going to crack! This second skin keeps me from itching my skin off right to the bone. I don’t know how I can have dry skin (remember, I have ‘pica’ with ice). The key is using butter vs lotion. It is thicker and creamier. As I put it all over this massively growing body I may feel like a fat-butterball-greased-up-pig, but soon I glow and feel like a million bucks.

I think this is a product that should grace every ladies closet across America (pregnant or not) of course only as the accompaniment to a good sugar scrub.

TOOTH BRUSH: I was unaware until my pregnancy with Kaden that my gums would bleed and throb. I guess when warned that all of you will be uncomfortable it is no wives tale. It still seems strange that pregnancy effects the gums. I heart my toothbrush. It gives me great relief several times a day. It is as if I have my own gum masseuse.

It is my second, no my fourth love, behind Adam, Kaden and ice.

SHOWER: I wish I had the shower on my survival list because it was my retreat. It isn’t. As I scrub down I have a 16 month old who brings me treasures. He likes to jump in pjs and all giving me the element of surprise. I have to keep us in lock down with both doors closed. The bathroom quickly becomes a sauna, which is another no-no for the pregnant. It forces me to have a Jane Fonda cardio workout willing or not. The shower is now an experience of timed agility to beat Kaden’s clock.

The shower made my list because of the relief it offers my back. The heat and pressure is like a drug. I need it. I crave it at the beginning and end of my night. The water can’t be hot enough and the pulse is never sufficient. I dream of the day I can take a shower for me instead, but for now it is to feed the addiction. And I am okay with this…

CELL PHONE: My cell phone makes the list for a reason other than its common universal purpose. Adam and I both agree this tool allows moments to be shared, sure to communicate, but not verbally. I am constantly sending Adam pictures of Kaden throughout our shared days. When Kaden is doing something for the first time I capture it on video. If he is posing and being his typical funny self I click a quick photo. In an instant Adam is sharing in this memory too. It is a blessing that keeps Adam connected to our day as he works.

I hear people say the cell phone, Blackberry and iphone that due to all the texting and instant internet use have caused communication breakdown within society. I understand this. I follow this viewpoint. On the flipside, the device has presented our family the opportunity to remain connected in a unique fashion. We are never far apart in what we are experiencing. All the firsts throughout this pregnancy as well as the complaints were filed directly to Adam. And in a minute he knew what was happening with us in our home. This tool can be abused, but it is an amazing gift as well.