I have very absent here for the past few months, and unfortunately it will continue for another few. If you'd like to know why, continue reading.
With all the media surrounding Kate Middleton's pregnancy, (see HERE) I have decided to help spread awareness of HG. It infuriated me to watch professionals get their info so wrong. (See The View discussing it HERE.)
For those of you that don’t know what HG is, I envy you.
What it is: Although 90% of women suffer some amount of morning sickness, HG only affects around 1 in 200 women. Symptoms include severe nausea and vomiting, food aversions, significant weight loss, dehydration, fainting, and malnutrition. It is serious, and without the proper care, can result in life threatening complications to both mother and baby.
For those of you that don’t know what HG is, I envy you.
What it is: Although 90% of women suffer some amount of morning sickness, HG only affects around 1 in 200 women. Symptoms include severe nausea and vomiting, food aversions, significant weight loss, dehydration, fainting, and malnutrition. It is serious, and without the proper care, can result in life threatening complications to both mother and baby.
Here is my story:
Pregnancy #1: Husband and I find out I’m pregnant; we are thrilled and clueless like any first time parents are. I feel great, and I naively think I will love being pregnant, just like my mother. It shouldn’t be surprising, my mother and I are nothing alike, but I get sick at 8 weeks pregnant.
The first 3 months are spent with my head in the toilet. I throw up an average of 30-40 times a day. Occasionally, I don’t throw up at all, and that results in me momentarily blacking out. I lie in bed all day, fantasize about taking a shower standing up.
I don’t cook supper, and I don’t let my husband cook supper. The smell of the sun gets me sick, my husband tries smelling it and can’t. We go on vacation when I’m five months pregnant and I black out after standing out in the heat for ten minutes. I sit under a tree while my husband gets me water, and a bunch of people are staring at me. I laugh, thinking it’s no big deal, this happens all the time, but it hits me: This is not normal.
Baby is monitored constantly throughout the pregnancy, baby is growing well. At nine months pregnant, I weigh less than I did at my wedding. After a long labor, I give birth to a huge, healthy baby. A little while later, I eat a peanut butter sandwich, followed by meatballs and spaghetti.
The first 3 months are spent with my head in the toilet. I throw up an average of 30-40 times a day. Occasionally, I don’t throw up at all, and that results in me momentarily blacking out. I lie in bed all day, fantasize about taking a shower standing up.
I don’t cook supper, and I don’t let my husband cook supper. The smell of the sun gets me sick, my husband tries smelling it and can’t. We go on vacation when I’m five months pregnant and I black out after standing out in the heat for ten minutes. I sit under a tree while my husband gets me water, and a bunch of people are staring at me. I laugh, thinking it’s no big deal, this happens all the time, but it hits me: This is not normal.
Baby is monitored constantly throughout the pregnancy, baby is growing well. At nine months pregnant, I weigh less than I did at my wedding. After a long labor, I give birth to a huge, healthy baby. A little while later, I eat a peanut butter sandwich, followed by meatballs and spaghetti.
Pregnancy #2: My mind tricks me into thinking I can handle a second HG pregnancy. Once again, we are thrilled and clueless like any second time parents. I get sick sooner this time, at 6 weeks, and it’s more severe. My vision of a normal pregnancy is gone, and is replaced with the reality of popping 25 pills a day.
This time, the sun doesn’t have a smell, but water does. Husband doesn’t agree. I don’t drive, I don’t bathe my son. I don’t cook, clean, or work. I rarely leave the house and I often make my husband skip work to stay home and help me do absolutely nothing.
I am unable to physically care for my son, so I send him to daycare, and it breaks my heart. Its déjà-vu this time, so I don’t freak out when I black out. The pills work, I don’t throw up so much. Instead, when I do, it’s very sudden so I throw up on my bed, in the sink and on the floor, unable to make it to the toilet. Pros: We finally have a reason to dry clean our blankets.
I am now a little over five months pregnant. I’m over the worst, but still going through it. I throw up once in a while usually accompanied by a brief black out. Based on my first pregnancy, I will most likely feel this way until I give birth. I cannot wait until my babies are older so I can tell them what I went through and make them feel bad. Just kidding, I would never do that.
I’m lucky. I never stayed overnight at a hospital and managed to avoid an IV. My story is not one the really bad ones, you don’t want to read those, they’re crazy. Kate Middleton is pregnant, and although I sympathize with her greatly, I’m happy that HG will finally get the awareness it needs so people stop telling me, “Just try ginger, it helps wonders with nausea.”
LINKS:
This time, the sun doesn’t have a smell, but water does. Husband doesn’t agree. I don’t drive, I don’t bathe my son. I don’t cook, clean, or work. I rarely leave the house and I often make my husband skip work to stay home and help me do absolutely nothing.
I am unable to physically care for my son, so I send him to daycare, and it breaks my heart. Its déjà-vu this time, so I don’t freak out when I black out. The pills work, I don’t throw up so much. Instead, when I do, it’s very sudden so I throw up on my bed, in the sink and on the floor, unable to make it to the toilet. Pros: We finally have a reason to dry clean our blankets.
I am now a little over five months pregnant. I’m over the worst, but still going through it. I throw up once in a while usually accompanied by a brief black out. Based on my first pregnancy, I will most likely feel this way until I give birth. I cannot wait until my babies are older so I can tell them what I went through and make them feel bad. Just kidding, I would never do that.
I’m lucky. I never stayed overnight at a hospital and managed to avoid an IV. My story is not one the really bad ones, you don’t want to read those, they’re crazy. Kate Middleton is pregnant, and although I sympathize with her greatly, I’m happy that HG will finally get the awareness it needs so people stop telling me, “Just try ginger, it helps wonders with nausea.”
LINKS:
I will do my best to return to regular blogging as soon as I feel up to it.
This makes me so sad for you. My first two pregnancies were normal. The last one, I had HG. There were times I literally thought I was going to die. I thought no one could survive who threw up that much. The good medication that actually worked was not covered by my insurance and was ridiculously expensive. I filled the script once and took it only when I couldn't function. I can't imagine doing it more than once. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. My husband and I joke how were paying more in medication then we are in rent. Unfortunately, there is no avoiding it.
DeleteThis is horrible! I just had my baby four months ago and girl, i was blessed this time around on only experiencing morning sickness one week out of my entire pregnancy. I cannot imagine what you are going through. I am so glad you shared this because I am sure like myself many people hve no idea what that is. Hope you feel better.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sweet comment. It's great to help spread awareness.
DeleteI'm a nursing student and I agree this condition deserves more attention. I studied this pathology so had an idea about it but your personal story raised my awareness.
ReplyDeleteWell I'm not going to say "try ginger" despite some clinical evidence on its effect, I'll just say to keep calm since stress increases this condition and keep hydrated. I'm sure you'll have a beautiful baby that will make it worth.
Sorry for my bad english but it's not my native language and i'm kind of rusty.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.
DeleteThank you for sharing your story. I had no idea there was a name for what I had in pregnancy. For me I was lucky because I was really overweight when I became pregnant each time. I lost 60 pounds with my oldest daughter. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Thankfully there is more awareness now. My midwife told me I should start off my next pregnancy with 20 extra lbs.
DeleteHey, that's not fair. I had really, really bad morning sickness. Thank G-d, not HG, but I was laying in bed, doing nothing, for most of the first half of my pregnancy. I threw up a lot, and ate very little. I also lost about 5 kilo from my already-underweight frame during the first trimester. I smelled apple juice everywhere: on the bus, in the house, from the people walking in the street below our apartment. And it made me nauseous, and it made me throw up. I slept with a throw-up bowl by my bed, because I knew that getting to the toilet might prove too much energy. Ginger helped. Not all the way, but it helped. But, by the time I found out about it, I was over the worst part. So no, it didn't help as much as it probably could have. My MIL, a doctor, said that I had the toughest pregnancy she'd ever seen (I presume, barring medical diagnoses). I did get an IV once, by the way.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm trying to say is: Don't put us down, just because we (thank G-d) weren't diagnosed with HG.
Where did I put anyone down? Please clarify.
Delete