And Away We Go …

So I just got back from a business trip and wanted to share a few observations from the vantage point of a food/restaurant writer who is secretly almost 6 weeks pregnant at a food-communications conference:

1) When you’re avoiding cocktails at a conference where the attendees are toting around drinks almost as often as their cellphones and blackberries, it’s hard not to be self conscious that everyone can guess what’s going on. On the upside, avoiding all those drinks wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I felt much better in the mornings.

2) Even if you order your ginger ale or club soda in a rocks glass with a cocktail straw and a twist so it looks like a real drink, people still ask what you’re drinking. And I’m a terrible liar.

3) Things that are normally perks of my job are frigging mine fields when you’re pregnant. For example, at  the reception showcasing dishes cooked by all the top local chefs, I couldn’t eat most of the meat dishes (except some pretty fantastic braised lamb) because they were all cooked perfectly (nice and pinkish-red and juicy).

When we had dinner the night before at a restaurant recently named the best in town, one of the ladies at my table loved her funky cocktail so much that she passed it around for everyone to try. Now how often does that happen with a drink? Food maybe; drinks, not so much.

And speaking of unusual occurences, on Tuesday I was perusing the buffet at a cocktail party and someone asked me if he could take a picture of me eating this blue cheese so he could bring it back to his client, who had provided the cheese. I had to tell him I was off cheese and just let him think I was lactose intolerant (I keep reading that I’m not supposed to eat soft cheeses, though I’m sure it was pasteurized, but I keep reading that this is the most critical time in the baby’s early development, so I wanted to be absolutely sure). Anyway, in the grand scheme, it’s not really a big deal, but come on – how many people get asked to pose with cheese? You just can’t foresee these moments.

4) Getting through four 16-hour days in a row without the benefit of caffeine, headache medicine or alcohol is just about as fun as it sounds.

No, actually, the conference went pretty well considering that I could have been plagued by morning sickness (none really so far, just a few instances of mild nausea that could just as easily be attributed to the mass quantities of different foods I was consuming) or that terrible exhaustion that’s supposed to be a hallmark of early pregnancy (I’m sure it’s on its way).

But now I’m glad to be home and am looking forward to my first ultrasound appointment next Friday. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Of Pork Loins and Jimmy John’s

I’ve been head-achy the last couple of days. Could be pregnancy related, could be that sinus thing that’s going around, could be nothing. Just thought I’d mention it.

So far (yes, the in the whole two days) since I took the positive test, I’ve had two main concerns. These aren’t things I’ve been obsessing about (although that would be completely and utterly expected for me) but just things that keep coming up. Food, of course, is the first one.

I’ve done a bunch of research (heating up deli meat in the microwave? that’s not how I want to eat my Jimmy John’s!) but still there are some questions. Like today at lunch I was all set to have one of the Asian rice noodle-and-sodium bowls I brought from home, but when we went down to the cafeteria there was a luscious-looking pork loin. But after I got it. I kept staring at the slices and wondering if they were cooked enough. They probably were, but I didn’t know for sure if I should have ordered it.

Am I destined for 9 months of overcooked, dry food? Eew. Bad enough that I know for sure that I won’t be having a juicy, pink medium rare burger for awhile. Somehow I’d forgotten about that in my pre-pregnancy thoughts on eating restrictions. Luckily Portillo’s beautiful burgers are chargrilled to a nice blood-less medium well.

The other thing that keeps coming up, per my hypochondriac nature, is these little pains around the abdominal area that I notice on occasion. They’re probably just gas, but in true worrywary fashion, I can’t help but wonder if something is going wrong. 4 and a half weeks is so early. All sorts of things can happen. But so far I’m doing well at not freaking out aout anything. We’ll see how long that lasts.

I am a little, well, not worried but not really happy about going out of town for work for five days starting Sunday. I know it’s fine, but it’s such a critical time in the pregnancy with all the organs beginning to develop and it just doesn’t seem like the ideal time to be eating all that conference food and living that 15 hour day schedule. I guess I should just hope I don’t start to experience any real symptoms. Sore boobs and feeling cold half the time are one thing, nausea and total exhaustion are quite another. I’ve definitely been feeling a bit run down, but not totally wiped out yet.