Early this morning, our midwife came over for a home visit. She commented,
"This is a very precious baby. They all are.
But you have worked especially hard for this one."
Often, when others ask me how I'm feeling they will say, "Don't you know morning sickness only lasts for the first three months?" or "Just you wait, it's way easier having a baby in than out!" or, "You need to start packing on some pounds if you're ever going to produce enough milk for baby!" Each of these can easily be true, but in other situations, they just may not be the case. Those comments might not be the best thing to say to a woman who has just tossed her cookies...many, many times.
During the first 20 weeks of my pregnancy, I experienced full on Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a medical term that translates to Extreme Morning Sickness. It is relentless and caused me to loose many, many pounds and vomit many times a day.
Most women are encouraged to exercise throughout pregnancy, but there were times when I was told to even limit even how much I walked in a day to avoid loosing more weight. After switching to a new doctor, I was able to get the support I needed medically to get through the period of time. I decided prior to becoming pregnant that I would do all I could to avoid medication during my pregnancy due to personal reasons, past experiences I have had working with my students and conflicting results I had found in my research. I wanted to honour that decision, so along with my doctor and my sweet Ryan, we made action plans to help me through the experience.
My doctor watched me closely and had me visit the ER regularly for IV. I had many, many ultrasounds and countless trips to have my blood work tested. I trusted our doctor that she would start me on the medication as a last resort if truly needed. She was very much an angel sent to us. As the weeks went on, I developed many strategies to deal with my symptoms and miraculously continued to fulfill my many, many responsibilities during that time as best as I could. One of those magical strategies was swimming! Going to the pool and swimming laps with Ryan was almost instant relief. I didn't even feel nauseas in the pool.
Even after 20 weeks, I have still struggled with strong periods of nausea and continued occasional vomiting. It's is common for Hyperemesis Gravidarum to taper off a little after about 25 weeks, but does not usually just go away. So, we have kept swimming whenever we can! The photo above is about two weeks ago. Swimming feels extra nice now with my belly, too. The midwife shared that swimming is actually extremely good for the health of the placenta. So, it's a double bonus! Other strategies that have worked for me are yoga/stretching, light walks, very bland foods and then strictly avoiding them after they no longer work for me, deep breathing and meditation after I vomited, taking a short nap after work so I could carry on for the evening and chewable prenatal vitamins.
My heart goes out to other women who experience Hyperemesis Gravidarum. From my experience, it was crucial to advocate for myself medically, find the right doctor, have my husband as my incredible support system and be gentle with myself. Whether you choose to medicate or not, it is an extremely difficult experience at times but be proud of each day you continue to put one foot in front of another. Remember, tomorrow is a new day! I remember feeling so discouraged when I found something I thought I could eat, only to vomit a few minutes later or when I saw the scale had a smaller number than the week before. Just remind yourself: your little one is still growing inside of you. Babies are very resiliant! Every bit of nutrients you hold onto goes straight to baby, so give yourself a break and remember the hard work your body is trying to do.
