THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407060047
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
``WE HAVE A problem,'' said Debra Owen's voice on the other end of the phone. ``I'm not going to be losing any weight for a while - nine months to be exact.''
My whoop could be heard across the newsroom. After eight years of trying, Owen was unexpectedly pregnant.
How unexpectedly? Four years ago, she gave up hope and sold every baby item and toy in her house.
Last month, she and her husband and 8-year-old daughter moved into their new house in Chesapeake, where she decorated the spare bedroom with a dark, flowered border and twin beds.
Half of their back yard is bare - awaiting the swimming pool they were going to installl; it's now on hold.
``My focus was on a bikini, not a baby,'' she said with a laugh.
It's not the weight loss that finally helped her conceive, she says - she's weighed less than her current 219 pounds. But the exercise and healthy eating, she figures, ``have just made me ready.''
In the past, she says, her low-calorie diets vs. the low-fat diet she's following now, put her body in ``starvation mode,'' definitely not conducive to pregnancy.
And pregnancy - it was something she'd given up on. When they moved into their new house, she looked around at all the young, childless couples, and thought about how depressing it would be when they started having babies.
``Now I'm the first in the neighborhood to get pregnant,'' she said.
And, ironically, after the hundreds of dollars she's spent on home pregnancy kits over the years, this time she knew she was pregnant - not because the stick turned blue, but because of the pancakes.
She was fixing some pancakes for her mother-in-law when she looked down at the syrupy cakes and felt as if she wanted to throw up. That, coupled with the three-hour nap she'd taken the day before (``I never take naps'') and the digestive problems she'd been having, made something click in her head.
``That's when I knew, because pancakes don't nauseate me; they make my appetite sing.''
She figures she's due in mid- to late-January, and she plans to continue the same healthy eating habits and exercise program she's followed for the past year.
She's even bought a new pair of athletic shoes - the third pair in a year.
So far, her biggest problem hasn't been weight gain - it's been morning sickness that lasts all day. The pretzels she couldn't get enough of before her pregnancy sicken her now. Instead, she'll fix a snack of pasta when she's hungry.
And her constant cravings for sweets have stopped. Now it's roast beef and other comfort foods she craves.
We'll follow Owen through her pregnancy and then into the postpartum weight-loss season. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
After eight years of trying, Debra Owen is unexpectedly pregnant.
The baby is due in January.
by CNB