Cabbages & Calories
Whatever nutrients you aren’t getting from food, your baby will take from your body.
According to a study published in the journal Science, it takes 50,000 calories to create a human baby over the course of a pregnancy, quantified as 50 pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. 96% of the calories come from the mother, while just 4% are generated by the cells of the fetus. This is typical of mammals, which require more energy to reproduce than any other type of organism. Human babies are especially hungry due to their long gestational period.
At 30 weeks pregnant, Parents.com estimates that my fetus is the size of a large cabbage, but my ultrasound technician states that it’s more the size of a 28 week cabbage. How is that possible? I’m 20 pounds heavier and as round as the moon, circulating between the three outfits in my closet that still fit me and hoping the seams stay stitched together for just a little while longer.
I haven’t attempted to tally the pints of Ben & Jerry’s I’ve consumed, but the number is disgracefully high. People often ask me about my cravings, which vary by day and by week. My fetus is made of ice cream, but also eggs, cheddar cheese, butter, cherries, habanero hot sauce, maple syrup, matcha lattes, and copious amounts of hibiscus lemonade. A dairy baby with a penchant for peppers and pigments.
We don’t make babies out of calories alone. Our bodies have minimum nutrient requirements that change depending on the week of pregnancy. According to Dr. Nicole M. Avena’s book What to Eat When You’re Pregnant, you need 75-100 g of protein per day depending on your body weight and increasingly more during the second and third trimesters and while breastfeeding. To support your body’s increasing blood volume, you need at least 27 mg of iron per day. Growing fetuses benefit from their mothers eating at least 500 mg of EPA and DHA for their brains and nervous systems to develop optimally.
These nutrients enrich the soil where our little seeds take root.
I had the flu for three weeks this past spring. My body prioritized my growing cabbage over powering up my immune system, so my symptoms dragged on. I had no appetite and sometimes had trouble keeping down food.
“Don’t worry,” my provider said. “Whatever nutrients you aren’t getting from food, your baby will take from your body.”
Even without the flu, exhaustion is my number one symptom. During the first trimester, my whole life was work, sleep, and snacks. At home I relied on my partner to keep me fed and hydrated while I wilted on the sofa, more like a pothos than a person. In my second trimester I was able to start pilates and prenatal yoga classes, which boosted my energy levels.
Throughout the past few months, I’ve soaked in many anecdotes from real life and Reddit about the cost of pregnancy. Many Americans have little to no parental leave, but also can’t afford childcare. Others are guilted out of using their paid leaves because their understaffed workplaces apparently need their labor more than the infants do. They might be rewarded with 60 hour work weeks because they’re so good at their jobs. And of course, they might be let go from their jobs while they are pregnant, losing their income and healthcare. Many pregnant people consider terminating because there is simply no money, safety nets, or support. Inevitably, a European enters the thread to say, America is truly hell.
Why aren’t millennials having children?
As my pregnancy progresses, I’m haunted by the awareness that mothers and children elsewhere are starving to death. In Gaza, World Food Programme reports that “100% of people in Gaza face acute levels of food insecurity.” The media often refers to this as a famine, as though Palestinians are suffering from an inhospitable climate, while the Israeli government restrains WFP’s 116,000 metric tons of food behind a military blockade. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli and US operated aid distribution scheme, provides meager quantities of food from just four sites while opening fire on those seeking aid. People drop dead of malnutrition while waiting in line for food that is insufficient and often spoiled. Even if the blockade is lifted, many have reached a phase of starvation that can’t be reversed without significant medical interventions.
“Eating for two” is impossible when you can’t even eat for one, but babies will take nourishment from the mothers’ bodies until there is nothing left.
A boy named Mohammad, at a year and a half old, is dying of severe malnutrition because his mother is no longer able to provide breast milk and no other food is available. Doctors in Gaza warn that children will suffer from lifelong conditions if they survive the genocide, such as neurological impairments and learning disabilities. One infant in Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza was born with no brain and a severely deformed skull. (Don’t click this unless you’re prepared for a disturbing image.) Not only are babies growing without the nutrition to build healthy bodies and brains, but the environmental toxins and radiation spewed by Israeli and American weapons is assaulting them on the DNA level.
I wonder about the soil we’re planting our future in. According to data from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations from 2020, 33% of soils on the planet are considered “moderately to highly degraded,” with the worst degradation found in regions that endure the most poverty and famine. Degraded soil might be contaminated, acidified, eroded away, or infertile. Our bodies are an extension of the land we live on and what happens to the soil is reflected in our bodies. Can you have a healthy body or grow a healthy infant on bombed out, polluted land? We are made of more than just calories.
Nourishing Herbal Infusion
This is one of the infusions I make to ensure I’m getting adequate nutrition. Oatstraw contains minerals that maintain healthy bones, teeth, hair, nails, and support nerve health. The vitamins and minerals in stinging nettle nourish pregnant bodies and increase the flow of breastmilk. I could go on and on about these herbs and the magic they contain. A nourishing infusion is an effective way to get easily assimilated nutrition when you are feeling depleted. Stinging nettle and oatstraw remind me that I don’t need to import superfoods from the Amazon rainforest - we already have superfoods here!
Ingredients:
-½ oz dried oatstraw
-½ oz dried stinging nettle
-A few sprigs of fresh mint
Place all the herbs into a 32 oz jar and cover with boiled water. Cover the jar and let it steep overnight or for 8 hours.
Note - Consider sourcing your dried herbs locally. The herbs are usually the freshest, they don’t need to travel as far to get to you, and the plants that grow around you are often the plants that you need the most. If you are in the Northeast US like me, these are some great farms to order from:
-Healing Spirits Herb Farm (NY)
Love Notes
The fundraiser zine that Marinka and I are compiling is on hold for the moment, but there are many organizations and families who still need support. Consider giving to the Gaza Mutual Aid Support Network, which provides direct aid to families on the ground in Gaza. Bayader Youth Team is a verified group of young people who are distributing water and supplies. Wala is still collecting donations to help her husband survive the genocide and reunite with the rest of the family. If you’re in Queens, be sure to follow Queens Families for Palestine.
I feel like this newsletter is a cousin to this previous newsletter about colonizing Mars when Earth is already perfectly made for us.
While writing this, I thought about the maternal gift economy that Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about in The Serviceberry, which I’ve written about here before. Check it out if you’re looking for a super short, digestible book to read with a bowl of berries while dreaming up better futures. (I got my copy from Black Walnut Books in Glens Falls.)
Lately I’ve been staying logged out of IG or deleting the app for weeks at a time. BUT there are still some good things on IG. I’ve made a hibiscus lemonade recipe from Railyard Apothecary’s IG (mentioned above) about ten times this summer so far, sometimes with lemon balm and sometimes with lemon verbena. It’s a perfect electrolyte drink. Hopefully my baby will come out a beautiful burgundy hue.
If you are a pregnant person and want to dream with the spirit of your baby, I’m going to bring together a small group in the fall to do some group dreaming! I will share more about this soon, but you can contact me at brittany@entangledherbs.com for more info.