Mama PlaygroundA Blog for Moms

I have a tenuous love/hate relationship with salt right now. In small amounts it is quite addictive. But too much on any food and it absolutely RUINS the meal. My taste buds are so heightened right now. It actually burns my tongue to eat many of the normal foods. I am left with unsatisfying burritos, nauseous eating sun chips, and turned off from many other foods. There must be some biological justification.
Maybe my body is trying to keep the baby as well hydrated right now as possible. The baby is probably just starting to test the limits of his new prime real estate. Really grabbing hold of large amounts of fluid and floating about comfortably. As undesirable as it is to be to the bathroom all day long, I can’t really drink enough water if I try.
My lips have become a bit dry lately. Is it a spring thing, or is Baby2 making an ocean instead of a pool for himself? All I know is that I had a perfectly good carnitas burrito destroyed by too much salt today. I look forward to the part of the pregnancy were food is not only harmless, but becomes magically delicious again.

Well, well, well. Of course something so hip and urban of me, and yet so mistaken. I ate blue agave and have apparently put my baby in mortal danger!
This morning I decided to really treat myself to a meal (ie. I didn’t shovel some cereal in to my mouth while caring for my infant). I made a huge plate of french toast using cinnamon raisin bread, and some spicy sausage on the side. I put blue agave on the french toast instead of syrup because it has the same yummy effect, but does not cause the same spike in glucose, and resulting spike in insulin. Theoretically those glucose and insulin spikes and drops can result in nausea, and could lead to gestational diabetes. I thought I was making a good food choice. I have since learned that it was a terrible food choice and blatantly irresponsible.
Apparently blue agave can cause uterine contractions (smooth muscle in general, but pertinent here because it effects the uterus), and should be avoided during pregnancy. Especially the first trimester! Not to mention the sausage which is apparently loaded with nitrates.
Us preggos are a slightly more tender (if not blatantly neurotic) subpopulation anyways. Why does there have to be all of this doom and gloom talk lurking in every corner awaiting us. Especially when it comes to the one true pregnancy comfort: food!
Now I have convinced myself that I am having cramps, and I am nauseous due to the fear of what I have done. Friggin french toast wasn’t worth this…
I looked up agave and pregnancy. It is listed on this website as a teratogen! It is also an emmenagogue (dislodges fertilized egg from uterus). http://www.92024.com/herbsnpregnancy.htm
But on further investigation, ginger is apparently an emmenagogue too, and ginger is readily prescribed to pregnant women!

http://www.sisterzeus.com/Emmeno.htm

Conclusion: stop being paranoid, and don’t consume agave during pregnancy.