Nine Months of Hell

pregnant-woman-morning-sickness by Lynsey

Morning sickness is something that a lot of pregnant woman go through. Why it is called “morning sickness”, I do not know, As “morning” sickness can happen at anytime of the day or night. I am going to tell you about my experiences of morning sickness in hope that if anyone reading this is dealing with the same problems I can help to show them that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I had to go through a lot of PAIN and SUFFERING to write this review so I hope it helps someone.

When I was pregnant with my first son, the sickness started the day I found out. I am not sure if it is a psychological thing or not but as soon as that stick turned blue I felt sick. Or maybe that was just the horror of finding out I was pregnant. That night I felt terribly sick and so it started for 4 whole long months. I tried everything that was in the books, ginger, Peppermint and so on. But nothing. The sickness was constant throughout the day the only time I got relief was when I was asleep.

The same happened when I was pregnant with my second son. The sickness started the day after I found out. And continued until I was 19 weeks pregnant. I knew what to expect this time and managed a lot better with it. But just when I was beginning to think pregnancy was a doddle, I got pregnant again with my daughter. They say that girls are supposed to be worse for pregnancy sickness but I was never prepared for what the next 9 months were to be like.

I first found out I was pregnant when I was 3 weeks. I prepared myself for the sickness; I was expecting it to start straight away. I got all the usual things in like the ginger biscuits and the peppermint and I dug out the travel sickness bands. I waited for the sickness, Two weeks passed with nothing, With my other two pregnancies I managed to quit smoking straight away and remained quit throughout them, the taste never appealed to me when I was pregnant and It made me sick, but this time I couldn’t quit. I was now 7 weeks pregnant and just as I was thinking that I would get away with it this time it started.

The sickness was so bad I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I would do was be sick. I couldn’t eat anything and I was losing weight dramatically. I was constantly feeling sick all day and when I did eat I would automatically throw it back up. Life was becoming a living nightmare and I couldn’t cope with my lads. I was so weak I never wanted to move of the settee I was becoming a couch potato. My husband eventually had to leave his job to look after me so the stress of not having any money didn’t help me. The social weren’t much help they kept telling me I couldn’t claim income support because I wasn’t a single parent. In the end the only thing that I could claim was invalidity allowance. I had to keep getting sick notes from the doctor to do this.

At 13 weeks they admitted me to the hospital for re-hydration I was so weak and frail and I hated being in hospital. They did loads of tests to check the baby to see if she was ok, as I had not been getting enough fluid. The baby was fine they told me, which was a huge relief. But that didn’t make me feel any better. I was in hospital for 5 days and I missed my lads so much. I would cry myself to sleep at night, but being in hospital made the sickness bearable. They told me it was because the drip that I was on was giving me the fluids I needed to keep my hydrated, and that was why the sickness was easing.

When they discharged me it was such a relief to be able to go home to my own bed. It was hell in hospital seeing all the other parents with there babies knowing that I wasn’t going to be having mine for another 26 weeks. After two days of being at home the hell started again. The sickness continued and I started to feel weak again I had lost 2 stones in weight by this time and at 15 weeks pregnant I looked anorexic. I was becoming a recluse. I never wanted to go out for fear of being sick everywhere. I never wanted to pick my son up from school or go to the shops. My poor husband must have been fed up with having to do everything.

I was going to bed at 7pm every night because I couldn’t wait till bedtime. It was the only time when I got some relief. I dreaded waking up the next morning and every night I would pray that the sickness would go away. Every day I would lie on the settee watching the Salon on E4 and become addicted to it. Daytime tele was really bad then. (It still is) Then at 25 weeks they decided to try me on sickness injections. I would have to have a nurse round 4 times a day to inject needles into my backside. My bum looked like a dartboard by the time I gave birth. The nurse would come at 8am, 12 noon, 6pm and 12 midnight, this meant I had to drag myself out of bed to have the needle.

The injections never really helped and at 29 weeks they re – admitted me to the hospital. They gave me my own room this time, which was so much better. It was so embarrassing to be throwing up in front of other people. Again as before the drip helped and I stopped feeling sick for a few days, that is until I got home again. The nightmare started again. I tried so much to stop it and I was getting so depressed. I have suffered from depression a lot in my life and I was worried about my mental state. I started to look pregnant but not as pregnant as I was. Then at 34 weeks one morning I woke up and prepared for the sickness, it never came. I was so relieved I cannot put into words how happy I was. I could finally get some of my life back. I had been scared to go outside at one point and was worried that I might have a serious problem. But as soon as the sickness stopped I was out.

I made it to 38 weeks and my daughter was born. I was so overjoyed I had a sickie labour but I don’t remember too much of it. They always say that you forget the pain of labour and its true but you never forget the pain of pregnancy. My daughter is the light of my life and she was so worth all the pain and suffering that I went through to get her. I had always wanted a daughter and I finally had one. But when she is old enough to understand I will tell her all the problems she caused her poor mummy.

The doctors told me that I had suffered from Hypremisis gravidarum. It is a complication of pregnancy affecting less than 1 percent of pregnant women. In cases of hyperemesis gravidarum, the expectant mother is afflicted with extreme and persistent nausea and vomiting (20 to 30 times a day), will lose between 10 to 20 percent of her body weight.

There are a lot of myths about morning sickness and how to avoid them but I am going to tell you some of the things that I found do help to a certain extent.

· Eat frequent small snacks rather than large meals
· Eat dry foods like bread and crackers, and fresh fruit and vegetables. Avoid foods that are fatty or spicy
· Drink plenty of water or herb tea or fruit juice. Rest as much as you can
· Avoid cooking smells, tobacco smoke if they make you sick
· Some women swear by ginger. Try ginger biscuits, crystallised ginger, ginger ale, ginger tea, or get some ginger in capsule form from a health food shop
· Some women find wearing the wristbands that are designed for travel sickness can ease the nausea
· Research has shown that acupressure and acupuncture can help relieve nausea

There is no cure for pregnancy sickness but a lot of these can help with easing it. I hope I have helped someone in my situation. Don’t worry it will stop soon, and remember at the end of it all there is light. That light is your new baby and no amount of pain and suffering could ever take away the feeling of love that you get from that.