Morning sickness can be one of the first signs of pregnancy. For some women, it is just a touch of nausea at the start of the day, and for others, morning sickness means hugging the porcelain throne every morning. Some unlucky women have morning sickness that starts first thing in the morning, and just keeps going all day long, into the night, and right up until they go to bed. As you will often hear, every pregnancy is different. I had the type of morning sickness with my first five pregnancies that required me to get up, immediately throw up, and then proceed forward with my day. That was easy enough.
With my youngest child, things were completely different all around, and one of those differences was that my morning sickness was relentless. It lasted all day, and instead of disappearing at 12 weeks as my morning sickness had with all of my other pregnancies, this all day long sickness went on until I was 26 weeks pregnant. Not only was there constant nausea, but there was barfing, and a lot of it. The need to throw up would hit in an instant, set off by a smell, or a change in barometric pressure, or Lord knows what, but when it came on, I had little time to act. That meant a lot of public vomiting, beside roads, in flower beds, or into any suitable, nearby receptacle.
People who ate a lot of garlic would send me running straight to the toilet. One whiff of garlic breath could ruin an entire day, and possibly a good friendship. Try as I might to explain that it was nothing personal, some people just seem to take offense to unintentionally provoking vomiting with a simple, stinky, "hello," and become even less hospitable when told, after the first trip to the loo to wretch, that you really cannot come near them, or you will be back in the bathroom barfing again in a heart beat. Bad morning sickness is no fun for anyone.
Imagine being invited to someone's home for dinner, walking in the door, smelling the aroma of whatever is cooking, and having to run to the powder room before even removing your coat. It quickly becomes a drag. Once the first trimester passes, most will expect the morning sickness to end for you. That's what everyone is hoping for, but when it doesn't happen, then you have to add apologizing for still having a sensitive tummy passed the prescribed norm to all who have to witness the continued cookie tossing.
As inconvenient as never ending morning sickness can be, it can also mean that you do not gain weight, or you may become dehydrated. One day I went to my doctor as I was going through a particularly rough period of days were nothing was staying down, and I felt miserable. As usual, I was asked to pee in a cup, and when my doctor saw the small sample that I had been able to provide, she likened the color of it to really strong iced tea, then hooked me up to an I.V. and gave me a whole liter of fluids, which perked me up immensely. This happened more than once.
So, how did I survive the morning sickness from hell? First of all, I stayed in bed a lot. If I was laying down, I usually felt a whole lot better. I also was forced to become very honest about certain things with certain people. I had to ask the co-worker who ate raw garlic every morning for her health to please, oh please, cease and desist from that behavior on the days that she would be seeing me at 7 a.m. She was kind enough to agree. I ate tiny portions of what did seem remotely appealing, and I took to drinking sport drinks to try to maintain hydration, and calorie supplement drinks to try to get some protein and calories into my body. I also napped a lot and I never left home without something to barf into.
It did end. The all day morning sickness did eventually end. And as predicted, I did finally gain weight, right up to where I probably would had I not been sick for two-thirds of my pregnancy. It is all a dim memory now, and the child ended up being my biggest baby of the seven. All day morning sickness is one of those "This too shall pass," things, though while you are in the midst of it, that is hard to believe, especially when you cannot pass a restroom without stopping to make another deposit. It will pass. Trust me, it will pass.
