Hungry

Throughout this pregnancy I have felt a kinship with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Pregnancy hunger has been like no other hunger I can remember feeling, though I expect it is something like the hunger you feel when you are very young.

Pre-pregnancy I'd grow hungry over a period of time. First feeling a slight twinge that would become more and more uncomfortable until I ate.

Sometimes it seems I can go from not hungry to extremely hungry at the drop of a hat. And sometimes, like the caterpillar, I can eat and eat and still imagine eating my way through an apple, an orange, a pear and piece of cake.

This began early. In Iceland we called this hunger "The Urge" because it was like a beast that would awaken me in the middle of night and beg to be fed. It could not be ignored and I had to purchase little midnight snacks to keep close to the bed so that I could feed myself when the "the urge" struck.

One night on the eastern side of the Iceland Joe awoke to what he thought sounded like a raccoon foraging in our room. It was me, furiously eating away.

Suffice it to say, I will have great sympathy for the little crying child that wakes me up at night to feed. I'll look at their sweet baby face and think, "believe me, I know kid."