Cravings and Other Changes

If anyone was familiar enough with me in high school to know about my eating habits, you'll know that I had an addiction to salt. I loooooved salt! I would even add extra salt to french fries and tortilla chips. In college my go-to snack was pretzels. I would probably go through an entire bag of pretzels each week. As a special treat for a particularly difficult exam, I would buy a little bag of pretzels from the vending machine before I made that awful trek up the stairs to the testing center room. As much as I loved the pretzels, what I loved even more was the salt at the bottom of the bag once I'd finished the pretzels. I'd lick my finger and eat up every last granule. I think I knew logically that this couldn't be good for me, but I didn't care. It must have been around the time I got married that this addiction subsided. I don't recall making a conscious effort to stop eating so much salt, I just didn't anymore.
Well, the craving is back, though thankfully not as strong as it used to be. One day a few weeks ago I just really wanted something salty- enter restaurant style tortilla chips- and I added extra salt to each individual chip. It was glorious. In the weeks that followed, I've probably had this craving four or five more times. One day when we didn't have anything I could use as a vehicle or salt Paul said, "Why don't you just tip the salt shaker into your mouth?" I seriously thought about that as a very delicious option, but then decided against it. I've got to draw the line somewhere. I'm hoping to exercise a little more self control from now on- I don't need to retain any more water than I already am.
As far as other changes, with two months left of this pregnancy, I am now experiencing heart burn and acid reflux on a daily basis. I did a little research on the causes of heart burn during pregnancy and found out that the relaxation of muscles is subject to all muscles, not just those in my abdomen, and the lower esophageal sphincter is no exception. In addition, Mr. Bump is pushing my organs out of his way putting an upward pressure on my stomach. I read all sorts of recommendations from sleeping in an upright position to not eating anything up to three hours before lying down. These helped a little, but I still had heartburn that would keep me awake at night. I hate the idea of taking any type of medication without a substantial cause, but after waking up several nights in a row coughing on my own stomach acid and the okay from my OB, I now take Maalox as a precaution every night before bed.

Mr. Bump has been changing a lot too. This is what he looked like almost three months ago when the gender was determined:


Last Thursday I had my first ultrasound since that photo. I love this little guy and all, but AGGGGHHH!! Creepy clown face!!!


This one is much better.