Morning Sickness

If you've never experienced morning sickness, I don't think there's a way for you to really understand how horrible it is. And if you've been pregnant and never had morning sickness, I am so jealous.

I have experienced miserable morning sickness with all three pregnancies so far. I have read every article I can find on morning sickness causes and cures and talked extensively with my midwife. I have tried everything, all with varying effectiveness but none that have taken it away all together. Luckily, I am the norm and my morning sickness fades before 14 weeks (as opposed to unlucky women who experience it their entire pregnancy).

With Ashtyn, I remember feeling just miserable. I would go through phases with what I could stomach--I would be able to eat bagels or orange chicken or tacos from Taco Bell, for a short amount of time, until, suddenly, I would no longer be able to stomach it. I was in school at the time, which made it more miserable, and actually ended up having to retake statistics because I missed a test and didn't realize it.

I'm sure that my diet affected me negatively. I just ate whatever I wanted. To a point, this is okay (in my opinion) when you're so sick, because you need to get food in you, but eating pizza or Captain Crunch cereal isn't going to get any nutrients in you and it will leave you feeling worse than before you ate it (I speak from much experience). In all likelihood there is a much better choice (even if it's a sandwich on white bread that gets some protein in you) that you can stomach. I say it's likely, because honestly, it might not be sometimes. I think in my case, though, I didn't try to healthier options my first pregnancy, I just walked through the store and bought whatever looked good at the time.

I tried a few things--ginger, vitamin B, orange juice--but nothing really helped me feel better until it passed. My morning sickness passed, right in time for me to start a new semester at school and start fresh and try to eat healthier the rest of the pregnancy.

With Parker, I was eating on my midwife's diet and taking supplements. I wasn't feeling sick at all and thought maybe I wouldn't get morning sickness this time around. Then it hit, very suddenly. I had made a ginger chicken stir fry for lunch (incidentally, Ben loved it but I haven't been able to make it again because of the morning sickness) and felt terribly sick. I couldn't finish it. It went downhill from there.

I could eat very little. Because of this, Parker's pregnancy was, by far, the worst for me when it came to morning sickness. I could eat green beans, popcorn, and our homemade ice cream. I also was still nursing Ashtyn at the time and trying to strictly follow the pregnancy diet (no flour, no sugar, no dairy). I remember just being hungry and sick all the time. I lost ten pounds before the morning sickness passed.

I tried everything with this pregnancy. I didn't eat any dairy. I tried all sorts of supplements, but the hardest thing was I couldn't eat protein. Eggs, chicken, meat in general, all made me feel sick even just smelling them. When I forced myself to eat them anyways, I felt worse after eating them than I did before. I even tried a plant based protein powder in smoothies, but I couldn't stomach it. When I didn't eat, I felt worse, and the worse I felt, the less I could eat.

It, too, passed. I remember waking up on Thanksgiving, dreading the day, and smelling the turkey cooking. It smelled wonderful to me (a stark contrast to my previous weeks) and I was able to eat that day. After that, my morning sickness passed until it was gone and I was able to eat again.

With this pregnancy, I decided I wasn't ready to start on the diet right away. It was Christmas time, we were living in my sister-in-law's house in the progress of moving into our house, and I just wasn't ready. I got slight nausea, but nothing too bad. I was hoping that meant I was having a boy and my morning sickness wouldn't be as bad this time. The day before we moved into our house, I started feeling horrible. It was hard to unpack, to do Christmas, to do anything. It got worse and worse and I got to the point where I was living off sandwiches and yogurt drinks.

Because I was also very tired, my midwife suspected low blood pressure, so I started taking two licorice root capsules a day. The next day, I was still nauseous, but I could get out of bed. I could eat more and that helped me feel better too. It was night and day.

Now my morning sickness is beginning to pass (I'm 13 weeks and a few days). I can eat pretty much anything now and as long as I'm careful of keeping enough food in me (or eating something sweet without a protein), I don't really feel sick anymore. It's so nice to be coming out of it.

Next pregnancy, I'm going to do all that I can before I get pregnant to try to prevent morning sickness. If it does hit, I'll eat what I can, take the supplements that help me feel the best and are most important for baby, and just survive again.

But who knows, maybe next time I won't get sick. Every pregnancy is different, right?