Constant Craving

Our mom-to-be tries to imagine a day when bacon won't bring tears to her eyes.

By Meagan Francis

"What's this?" I asked my husband, holding an unwrapped sub sandwich in my hands.

"I decided to get you something different this time," he said with enthusiasm. "It's a turkey and bacon club."

"But--" I tried hard not to let my voice ratchet up an octave. "But I don"t want bacon!"

"Then take it off," he said with a shrug. "Big deal!"

Take it off? Big deal? Something different? My brain struggled to make sense of his words.
At any other time, getting a sandwich made up of turkey, bacon and lettuce when what I was expecting was turkey, sprouts, and lettuce would be no big deal. But this is no ordinary time. I"m pregnant, and the taste buds of a pregnant woman are not a thing to be trifled with. The most ordinary ordering gaffes can equal instant nausea, extreme aversion or crushing disappointment.

 A few months ago, while making spaghetti, I asked my husband to pick up a loaf of frozen garlic bread while he was out. He came home with frozen garlic bread sticks, which do not offer the combination of chewy crust, toasty top and soft, buttery inside that I had been craving.

I had to turn my head so he wouldn't see the tears welling up in my eyes.

Another time, I developed a sudden hankering for a piece of white bakery cake. It was 10:00 PM and my husband dutifully went out on his mission but instead returned with a package of Twinkies.

"It's 10 PM," he said, noting my stricken look. "Did you really want me to go all the way to the grocery store?"

I didn't say what I was thinking, which was, yes, of course, where ELSE are you supposed to get white bakery cake at 10:00 at night?

I'm not usually so demanding. And I'm not a particularly emotional person -- food doesn't generally make me cry, no matter how disappointing it is. But when I'm pregnant, all bets are off. A mangled food order or missed drive-thru item can put me in a bad mood for hours.

During pregnancy, food can be a loaded issue. Maybe it's because we spend the first three months trying to choose foods we can actually keep down, so textures, smells and flavors take on a critical level of importance. At the same time, our bodies are prompting us to eat more, more, more, giving those cravings extreme urgency. At no other time can food taste so good or so awful as it does when I'm pregnant.  

Of course, it's not my husband's fault. Never having been pregnant, how could he possibly understand the way my stomach turned over when I learned there was bacon under that turkey? And how could he truly grasp the level of my yearning for cake?

Well, there's no use crying over lost sprouts and frosting.  I guess next time I've got a heavy hankering for a certain food, I'll make a detailed shopping directorial for my husband, including specific "do not include" ingredients lists and "under no circumstances leave the store without ____" guidelines.

And if it still doesn't work out, I'll grit my teeth, try not to complain, and imagine a day, not too many months away, when bacon won't bring tears to my eyes.