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PregnancyThe Story

Pica- It’s Back

by Jill April 4, 2013
April 4, 2013

I want, I crave, I salivate thinking of eating a spoonful of wet sand. I would love to eat a couple pieces of chalk.

I want these things more than anything else. More than pickles or ice cream, more than pizza or french fries. Nothing sounds as good to eat as sand and chalk. I’d even settle for the shavings of a gritty rock… like the one I craved when I was pregnant with Leyna. 

rockpica-2

It sounds so strange to you, I know. And to me, when I would try to explain how I “used to have pica” to people, when I was past it, it was so strange to me, too. But now? In this moment? It makes total sense in my head. Why wouldn’t people eat sand and chalk? Why don’t those things sound delicious to others?

*sigh*

This is bizarre, and yet it’s not… to me.

Of course, I’m not acting on it. OF COURSE, I’ll tell my midwife about it at my appointment next week, and my blood will be checked for iron levels again, and I’ll keep taking supplements and cooking everything in a cast iron skillet. I’ll keep requesting steak whenever I get the chance, and adding a side of leafy greens or broccoli.

But, I don’t think it will go away. I did everything I could when I was pregnant with Leyna to try to get it to go away. My iron levels were never dangerously low, but still it was there -the constant, strong desire to eat earth, rocks, sand, dirt, which started around 6 months pregnant. Right where I’m at now.

Quite a few of you asked when I posted about Kendall’s rock jar a couple weeks ago if I was craving those rocks in that jar. And I wasn’t. Then. I’m still not, not those rocks. Not really rocks at all this time… so far.

But soon after, I found myself thinking, “Wow, I bet the sandy dirt at the bottom of that river would taste really good.” And then, on our rainy drive home from St. Louis, I couldn’t stop dreaming of wet, sandy dirt along the side of the road. Cracker Barrel couldn’t hold a candle.

So it’s back – this weird obsession that makes everyone but me cringe. Because to me it makes total sense. Why wouldn’t I want to eat chalk and sand? That’s like someone asking me why I wouldn’t want to eat a red velvet cupcake. That’s just absurd, of course I’d eat that.

Except I won’t. Yet.

 


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27 comments

Arnebya April 4, 2013 - 2:03 pm

I don’t think it sounds weird. I mean, it does, but it doesn’t. THAT sounds weird. Put it this way, nothing strikes me as weird these days, especially as you have a name for it and it’s related to pregnancy hormones. Just like the people on My Strange Obsession are obsessed with eating the things they do (tissue, drywall, sofa fillings, cleanser (even though they act on it. Regularly)), I think body chemistry can be a freaky weirdo.

Reply
Jill April 4, 2013 - 11:05 pm

Pregnancy is SO weird. It makes our bodies totally freaky.

Reply
Tena April 4, 2013 - 2:12 pm

They do make those dirt flavored jelly bellys, the Bertie Botts Every Flavor ones. So there’s that option?

Reply
Jill April 4, 2013 - 11:04 pm

Hmmm…. but half my craving is for the texture. I need them to be sandy, gritty, chalky jellybeans. Ha!

Reply
Constamce October 25, 2014 - 1:46 am

Im not pregnant. ..in fact my last youngest child is SEVEN years old but I do STILL, have this very STRONG craving for sandy textures. I eat Splenda, any off brand yellow package sweetner and Pixie Sticks….the LARGE ONES!!! In fact I was getting one from my bag and I thought, “Am I the only person like this? WHY do I crave it so much?!” Thats when I happily found you guys!! Now I dont think Im CRAZY anymore!!

Reply
andrea April 4, 2013 - 2:28 pm

I don’t *think* I had pica because I never craved anything but when I was pregnant with #2, I RELISHED the smell of our basement, vents when the air conditioning would kick in and even the firehouse garage where my hubby works. I don’t know what it was but my mouth would water whenever I’d get a whiff of something “chemically”. Several times a day I’d open our basement door and take a deep whiff! My husband thought I was weird….but man, it smelled SO GOOD to me.

Reply
Jill April 4, 2013 - 11:06 pm

Mmmmm… Tide… smells so good.

Reply
Andrea April 4, 2013 - 2:38 pm

I read about pica and knew it could potentially hit me, but I have never had it myself. I just got back from my checkup and my iron levels are terribly low. But even then I don’t crave dirt. I mainly just crave oxygen, frankly. Feel like I can’t breathe most of the time. Thank you for sharing this. It’s one of those things you may hear about, but rarely know anyone who had it, or admitted having it. I am so glad when women speak up about all the weird things that pregnancy brings with, instead of just singing praises about how miraculous and natural the process is. I mean – it is miraculous and natural, but it is also so much crap that just feels like nature kind of didn’t know what she was thinking, too. Hope this is short lived for you!

Reply
QoB April 4, 2013 - 5:26 pm

This might sound like an odd question, but: is there a reason why you shouldn’t eat some chalk? It’s just calcium carbonate, which AFAIK is non-toxic as it’s in antacids and hard water (if not, you know, an actual foodstuff 🙂 ).

Reply
Jill April 4, 2013 - 11:06 pm

I would be lying if I said I haven’t seriously thought the same thing.

Reply
QoB April 5, 2013 - 1:17 pm

Hey, if you get heartburn… 🙂

Reply
Jen Church Biasi April 4, 2013 - 5:44 pm

Thank you for your honestly. I know you will be helping others by sharing your story. <3

Reply
Casey B. Mullins Coombs April 4, 2013 - 5:55 pm

Come on over here, Addie claims there’s a few things I make that taste *just like dirt.* Which is to say I’m only one culinary tragedy away from something tasting just like sand. 🙂

Reply
Lydia Deetz April 4, 2013 - 6:12 pm

Would something of a chalky texture suffice, I wonder? Like Sweethearts or those old candy cigarettes? Very interesting!

Reply
Willow Matteson April 4, 2013 - 6:25 pm

I had pica as a child. I ate a whole, real mud pie I made and got worms! The horror of pooping out a living animal made my cravings stop.

Reply
Heidi Komlofske-Rojek April 4, 2013 - 7:33 pm

I went through an anemic stage many years ago where I craved ice. I could not get enough of it. When I got my iron levels situated, it stopped.

Reply
Holly Borstad April 4, 2013 - 9:46 pm

I was just complaining about gestational diabetes, I should just be glad I don’t have Pica I guess 🙂 Stay strong!

Reply
Kirsten Oliphant April 4, 2013 - 10:58 pm

I haven’t had that, but this pregnancy, I was watching Fringe and there was an autopsy, and the sight of that human brain…oh my gosh. I just want to eat it. How HORRIBLE AND DISGUSTING is that? What does that even mean? Someone said maybe amino acids or fatty acids, I forget which. Either way, I want to eat brains. This baby is a zombie.

Reply
Jill April 4, 2013 - 11:07 pm

OMG. Dying. Dead. Best comment ever. I love you and wish you all the best with your zombie baby.

Reply
Wombatish April 5, 2013 - 10:05 am

To be fair, most “organs” on TV are made at least partially of food-stuffs, or animal organs (which are mostly edible).

The brain was likely either all gelatin or plastic model “slimed” with gelatin, depending on how it was handled and displayed.

I lol’d at zombie baby though!! Maybe it just really, really, wants some horse hooves and is good at spotting them c:

Reply
Tara April 5, 2013 - 8:39 am

Ah, I’m so sorry, there’s nothing worse than having a pregnancy craving you can’t fulfill! I’ve had low iron with two of my pregnancies, but luckily never craved anything but ice because of it.

Reply
Beth Payne April 5, 2013 - 3:09 pm

You know those Necco Wafers and the “marshmallows” in Lucky Charms taste pretty chalky to me…they might satisfy some of the texture craving. Or even a couple of Tums (but not too many, I heard you can overdo it on Tums).

Reply
Jess Heimer April 5, 2013 - 3:41 pm

My two year old wouldn’t stop eating the sand in his newly opened for the season sandbox yesterday. Maybe he’s pregnant? Hope your craving passes soon and thanks for the giggles at your expense.

Reply
K. April 7, 2013 - 12:18 am

I totally craved our powered laundry detergent when pregnant with my second. Just one day it smelled SOOOOO good. And the texture was appealing too! Craziness.

Reply
I Crave The Recline June 12, 2013 - 11:18 am

[…] worry. I don’t want to eat it. I just crave laying in it, eating in it, sleeping in it, watching the kids from […]

Reply
5 Things You Need to Survive the 3rd Trimester - One of Those Moms November 23, 2014 - 1:52 am

[…]  Really easy.  Not that this one has been difficult.  It hasn’t been.  I don’t crave sand like my friend Jill and I’m not on bed rest like my friend Page.  So all things considered, this pregnancy […]

Reply
Baby Rabies | Preconception Deception & Obsession – Pod-ioBook, Episode 4 December 3, 2015 - 1:03 am

[…] can talk over there all about the crazy things we did to get pregnant, our bizarre cravings (Hi, I ate rocks and sand) and how we felt the first time we saw that positive pregnancy test (or the negative ones) […]

Reply

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  • It’s the first day of Fall (or the first day of Summer Part Deux for us southerners) and finally, finally pregnancy is manifesting itself as something more than sheer exhaustion, boobs, and moods. My hair is magically happier this week despite literally months of straight up neglect (seriously I desperately need a chop), my nails somehow survived an out of state work gig that required lots of lifting and tinkering and my nails never survive events, my skin is behaving itself suspiciously well, aaaaaand I haven’t pooped in 3 days (which I’m much less excited about obviously). My bump still pales in comparison to some burrito babies I’ve had, but it’s nice feeling like exhaustion and titties are no longer the only thing I have to show for all this.
  • I do not take for granted that I work for myself and can nap when I need to, at almost any time I need to. 
I do not take for granted that the only beings I’m responsible for are four-legged and pretty chill. 
I do not take for granted that I have a partner who gladly cleans the house on Sundays while I nap for 70% of the day. 
And I definitely do not take for granted the tiny procrastinator I am housing who I’m pretty sure puts off all its growing for the week to the last 48 hours and crams it in at the end rendering me semi-conscious and starving every weekend. (Not pictured: the drool on the other side of my mouth)
  • We joke that @jillkraus.e had my child when she had her daughter Leyna. We have a lot in common, mainly our smirky face and love of all things pickled. But truth be told, she was SO suspicious of me when she was a baby. Like, I *looked* like her mom, but I wasn’t her mom, she didn’t trust this dark haired doppelgänger whose boobs were useless. (posting throwbacks because still not much going on over here to see besides exhaustion and looking like a kinda bloated porn star. 😳)

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