a matter of taste

A friend gave me some extraordinary chocolate back in August, three kinds including one made with guajillo chile. I managed to taste two (the dark and the super-dark) before my taste buds rebelled and left no food or beverage appealing to me. I'm saving the chile chocolate for... I don't know when, but I hope that eventually I'll be able to appreciate it. I haven't experienced any cravings or true food aversions so far, but I also feel like my taste buds have been numbed. A gourmet meal is just as blah as a dry piece of toast. I'm thirsty, but no beverage tastes particularly good to me. And everything leaves a semi-bad taste in my mouth, so I've taken to chewing a piece of gum after every snack and meal.

Today, I think I made some progress on the food front, though. I took a chance and bought a chocolate chunk scone from the bakery on my way to work. The scone, especially the chunky chocolate bits, was really good! I can even say that I enjoyed eating it. Hurray! I love food, or at least I did until about 12 weeks ago, so to enjoy the flavor and texture of something again is a milestone. I did have to pop a piece of gum in my mouth as soon as the scone was gone, but the memory of the flavor lingers. Maybe I'll give (decaf) coffee another try tomorrow.

In pregnancy news, I am one day shy of a full 16 weeks along. I don't know how much weight I've gained because my scale is horribly unreliable, but I'll see the midwife again on the 19th, at 17w4d, for some accurate measurements. I no longer even try to wear non-maternity pants, and I'm about 50% into maternity tops to accommodate the much larger chest that has me sleeping in a stretchy sports bra every night. Our cheapie doppler has picked up the heartbeat twice. Ishkabibble is definitely a mover because as soon as I find her with the doppler, he moves (purposely mixing my pronouns). When I lie on my back, I can kind of feel a weighty spot which seems to be where Ishka is hanging out. I haven't felt any movement yet, although last night I may have... or it could have been the purring vibration from the cat lying beside me. I still need an extra hour or two of sleep each night, but I wake feeling refreshed now, which is a vast improvement over the constant exhaustion of the first trimester. I only occasionally want a mid-afternoon nap, and I usually have enough energy to cook dinner when I get home from work. And, for some reason, the smell of diesel exhaust has settled into my nose. I can't tell if it's lingering outside my window from a passing FedEx truck or if it's a figment of my imagination. It smells very real to me, and has been with me intermittently for about a week.