My dirty little secret

I have a dirty secret.

I really really really REALLY want to eat dirt. Sand, in particular, makes my mouth water and I can’t stop thinking about it. I swear I am not making this up, and I’m not exaggerating. I told Nate how much I crave sand and he totally doesn’t believe me. He was like, “You mean if I brought you a cup of sand you would eat it.” I said, “YES, yes I would.” And he said, “No, you wouldn’t.” And I said, “YES I WOULD.” He said, “NO you WOULDN’T!” I said, “Well I wish you WOULD go get me some sand I’d really like some!!"

HELP ME!!!!!!

I’m pretty sure it’s the pregnancy. And this actually happened with Carter, too. I still remember, Jenna and I were watching Baby Einstein, the water one, and there was this scene with some puppets playing in the sand. Well, suddenly I felt this intense urge to EAT SOME cause it looked so good. It was during the last few weeks of that pregnancy, too, and went away after Carter was born.

WELL it’s BACK, stronger than ever, just in the last couple weeks, and I’m going CRAZY!! I think about it all the time. But wait people, it doesn’t even stop THERE. A couple other strange cravings have popped up in the last while. I was doing laundry in San Diego and got Tide out of the vending machine and oh my heck that smell... I couldn’t stop smelling it, and I SO wanted to eat it, and then I wanted to chew on the freshly laundered clothes cause it smelled SO GOOD. Even now, I want to go grab a bite of detergent... I really am NOT trying to be dramatic, I am being completely serious.

And THEN a couple weeks ago I was getting something out of my parents’ food storage, which is the cement area underneath their front porch. I opened the door and caught a whiff of that musty, cold, earth-y aroma and it is like DIVINE!!!! It was all I could do not to lick the walls.

Concrete and detergent sound awesome, but sand is #1 on my list right now. I think about it all the time. Nate's convinced I’m pretty much INSANE and making this up but I am NOT!!!!!!!! It’s the strongest craving I’ve ever had. But do you know what, I’m not alone. I totally looked up pregnancy and craving sand on the internet and yeah it’s called pica and tons of pregnant women get it. And you think MINE are weird, well here are some others women admitted to:

Cotton
Comet Cleanser
Fingernail polish
Paint
Baking powder
Car exhaust
Pine Sol
Vicks vapor rub
Lighter fluid
Gasoline
Permanent marker
Bricks
Sponges

Some think it means you’re lacking iron. Well guess what, I found out my iron IS a LITTLE low. The doctor says he's not concerned. Then again, I didn't tell him I was eyeing his potted plant.

I can only hope this goes away after I have the baby... it has to, right?