I don’t think I’m cut out to be pregnant. Everyone seems to
glow when they are pregnant. Not me! I’ve got my tired face in a toilet bowl –
at 28 weeks still! It all started with the nausea…
At first, I thought it was all in my head. I just found out
I was pregnant and a few days later, I felt pangs of nausea. The nausea got
worse. Pretty soon, my mornings weren’t complete without my daily throw up
sessions. That was still fine because I picked myself up from the bathroom
floor and grumpily headed on to work a bit later than usual. Whenever a wave of
nausea hit at work, I’d quickly make and sip on a cup of peppermint tea. I
remember once going through 5 cups of tea. I’m not sure how healthy that is or
whether it worked. Perhaps it was a psychological feeling cos I kept drinking
it until I felt better.
Then one dreaded day, the nausea was amplified and I just
could not stop throwing up. I don’t think I had ever thrown up five times in a
single day before. If I wasn’t throwing up, I was highly nauseous and holding
it all in. All that anti-nausea advice didn’t help. The anti-nausea medication
made me throw up. The travel sickness bands were useless. (I still used them
hoping the placebo effect would kick in.) The ginger sweets made me throw up.
The crackers in the morning turned into paste in my mouth and made me feel nauseous.
The next day the nausea didn’t give up and in the midst of a
heatwave, my husband dragged my dried up body to the doctor. There I was
diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum – basically excessive vomiting due to
being pregnant. I was put on a drip for extreme dehydration. The doctor and
nurse were so really kind to me. The bad news however was that they couldn’t do
any more for me. I’d basically have to stick it out for a few more weeks. They
promised it would be over soon. I really hoped so.
With three days of being man down, I couldn’t make it to
work and I was convinced that in my largely female team, they probably thought
I was just being a big drama queen. All women go through this. I’m just the
only one being a big baby about it.
I spoke to my mother about her experience. I found out that
through all her three pregnancies, she was violently sick for all nine months!
My online “research” didn’t make me feel any better either. A tiny percentage
of women get this sick and some have it way worse than me to the point that
they have to abort their unborn in order to survive. So I counted my lucky
stars and I felt a bit better knowing that this extreme sickness generally
comes with a lower risk of miscarriage. I guess this is why my gynae was
actually happy about how ill I became.
The constant nausea still lingered and eventually developed
into motion sickness. I felt sick when there was turbulence on a plane. I felt
sick driving to the grocery store. I felt sick walking or moving too fast!
But I survived that nauseous first trimester. My trick that
seemed to work at keeping the vomiting at bay was to wake up in the middle of
the night to eat something. (Two fish fingers with a slice of white bread, in
case you were wondering, with a huge dollop of hot Nandos sauce.)
I used to feel intense hunger, out of nowhere, and I think
the secret to that is to have some food I could stomach on hand. (A packet of
chips in case you were wondering.)
Keeping hydrated was a problem in a city that seemed to have
switched on summer two months early. My little sips of water didn’t taste nice
but I tried. (A tiny bit of apple ice tea did wonders in refreshing me in a
tasty way in case you were wondering.)
In my first trimester, my husband definitely had it worse
than me. He used to just stand there, helpless, while I propped my lifeless
body over the toilet. When he last made a tasty meal (spaghetti and meatballs),
he had to eat it in the other room because the meatballs smelled like animal
and the spaghetti smelled like ear wax to me. We no longer planned meals and he
certainly didn’t have a balanced diet anymore. He had to take time off work to
take me to the doctors or check up on me to make sure I was still alive. I couldn’t
RSVP for events because I wasn’t sure if I would be up for the drive or the
food or the company. He bought the things I actually ate, in excess, after I
hurried him up when grocery shopping because the nausea made me want to go
home. He was the one actually getting up in the middle of the night to feed me
and make my meals so I could avoid throwing up the next morning.
Oh my God! Did I mention the crazy things that made me nauseous?
So you already know that the anti-nausea tips and tricks made me nauseous. So
did food and the smell of cooking – the stuff that usually gets pregnant women
retching. But I also felt nauseous making a number two. Other peoples’ lunches
looked disgusting and so did the American meals on Food Network that make
Americans obese. I mean really, a meal of pork on pork with a side of pork! And
then they wonder why they’re so fat. And for the most ridiculous thing, (yes,
I’m clearly a mean person. I just want to put it out there that I couldn’t help
it); some people’s faces made my insides want bring up my stomach acid.
Into my third trimester, I can tell you that it didn’t get
better the way the doctors told me it would. I still throw up but my body got
used to it. Instead of avoiding it, I throw up and I actually feel better
afterwards. I no longer have a lack of energy after I throw up all my bile. I
can continue with my day running just a little late and suffering with a
burning throat.
And there you have it. My take on the good (absolutely
nothing), the bad and the ugly about morning sickness. If you’ve had it really
bad, I’d love to know how you coped.
