Food Poisoning + Pregnancy: A Self-taught Lesson Well Learned

So it all started with finding myself glued to the bed. Every time I opened my eyes, I felt so exhausted I just fell right back asleep. I could not get off the damned bed.

Then my morning sickness (or so I thought) came back violently. Then, well, so did many, many, many bathroom trips. As well as some freaky abdominal pain. I felt like my second month of pregnancy (can you say hell?) had come back, determined to drag me to my doom. Or grave. No biggie.

Maybe I had forgotten to eat every 2-3 hours. Maybe I wasn't sipping on icy cold liquids as often as I thought. Maybe I genuinely suck at appreciating the fine aspects of pregnancy. Maybe someone who doesn't like me willed this shit to happen.

It took three days of going through this crap before food poisoning came to mind. And by "came to mind" I mean it took me that long to finally type my symptoms into google and see every single search result highlighting "food poisoning" big and bold in my 'well-read about pregnancy' face. Hee.

What did I eat and why was I not more careful since I'm pregnant with the next superman/woman? Well, it was 3AM on Wednesday, hubby was asleep, I was starving and on the verge of fainting, and I just reheated the only thing left in the fridge.

Half of a dhalpourie roti wrapping some curried chana and aloo and stewed chicken. Chicken roti. A classic down here. Except it was bought around lunchtime the day before. And most likely cooked from very early in the morning of that day and left in a serving dish at room temperature until hubby bought it. Quite possibly cooked 24 hours and un-refrigerated before I was eating this questionable half.

I know, I know. Common sense would think about all these things very carefully and find something else to eat. I, however, was blinded by dizzying hunger *whines*. So I didn't think about those things at all. I just popped it in the microwave and started eating.

Didn't it smell funny? Was there absolutely no warning? Um...about that. The first thing I smelled was a very strong odor of rancid oil that made me throw up. The last time I smelled food that I was hungrily about to eat and threw up, it was in fact something that had gone bad and my pregnancy nose and baby actually saved me from food poisoning. Yay pregnancy nose! Yay baby! Stupid, stupid, stupid me.

Did I mention I was hungry and on the verge of fainting? *shuffles feet* So.....*whistles nonchalantly* I started eating. SCREECH. Stupid, stupid, stupid you! Didn't it taste funny? Yes, self, it did. Idiot. But I was hungry *whines*.

So I kept telling myself that it was all in my head and tried to get some food in my tummy to feed my baby. Excuses, excuses. Until pulling out weird tasting pieces wasn't enough anymore, I just threw the rest of it away.

And it did not occur to you that eating food that had gone bad WHILE PREGNANT may would definitely give you food poisoning? Hee. I went to sleep shortly after and totally forgot about it until google was all "food poisoning" three days later. Sigh. What do I do with you? Sigh. I don't know self, I don't know.

According to a whole bunch of websites, as long as I stayed hydrated I would be okay, and if I developed a fever or it lasted for over 72 hours, I needed to contact my practitioner right away.

Luckily, my instincts have been super-awesome (more awesome than usual) since getting pregnant, and early on, back when I thought I wasn't sipping as much icy liquids as I thought (it's okay, you can scroll back up), I started hydrating like crazy. So I had this shit covered.

By the end of day three all of my symptoms were easing up and aside from feeling like I had been beaten half to death by Thor's hammer and had the energy of a dying snail, I was back to normal. Then I threw up eight times on the night of day four, and five times on day five.

You idiot. Relax, self. I'm totally fine now though. Hubby gave me a serious scolding and informed me I was never to be that stupid careless again. I was to wake him for any problem, whether it be a speck of dust or food. Cool. Rant, rant, rant, rave, rave, rave, upset much, worried sick, what do you do with me, et cetera, et cetera. Lesson learned.

Despite the pregnancy nose/tastebuds things kind of screwing with my cooking skills, we're both trying to go back to home-cooked meals at least for my benefit (because he's a picky-as-hell eater). And if I'm hungry, I will rather throw up stomach acid three times and take painful deep breaths as I struggle to painfully swallow my own saliva while waiting for my food, than feel like I'm dying for three days because I ate some spoiling completely spoiled food I was too forgetful dumb to throw away.

The lesson we've learned here, is not be an IDIOT like me. Don't eat spoiling or spoiled food, especially when pregnant. Home-cooked is always best (and you know it's fresh). If something doesn't feel right and you feel like you're dying, call your OB-GYN right away or at least walk-in at your general practitioner to be safe. Also, if it doesn't smell good or taste good, it's not good. Duh! Thank you, self. That will be all.