I have been off the grid for quiet sometimes and one main reason was because I was dealing with morning sickness. Alhamdulillah we are blessed with the wonderful news not too long ago that we are expecting our second child. But then reality haunt me all over again.
Let me start by saying my family suffered from inheritable-unavoidable-morning-sickness-sydrome which basically means my mum had it bad and so did my sister and I am not off the hook. In fact, my sister who was a doctor herself suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum which is doctor’s fancy way of saying your morning sickness is on steroid. Nevertheless, it was a journey we had to go through to bring lives to our cute babies.
There are many reason for a mummy-to-be had to experience the morning to night sickness. One of the usual suspect is hormone among many other things like low blood pressure, body working hard etc. There are plenty of explanation one can google online. Symptoms varies between mothers. Some experienced mild and short while others can be rather harsh for a longer period. My first pregnancy was pretty bad and it started at 7th week to almost 7 months. I fear it happening again so much but thankfully my delivery was rather kind. The second pregnancy was not as bad but having said that I still suffered from 7th week until 15th week. My symptoms this time around is a 1) morning and afternoon vomiting session, 2) continuous ringing headache that can paralyze your day, 3) sudden pang of sleepiness or extreme tiredness, 4) painful gas belching out, 5) sharp acidic pain of the stomach and that 6) prolong nausea feeling like a lump of vomit at the back of your throat that refuse to come out. I hope I’ve described it precisely enough so many mothers out there could compare their symptoms.
Since it is my second round (although I know many said different pregnancies carries different experience) I feel that I proactively managed the situation making it a bit better this time around. Here are a few things that I did perhaps it could help others out there:
1) Followed my craving. Your cravings are actually your body signaling you on what it needs. If you crave ice-cream or yogurt, perhaps it’s your body telling you about your calcium need. This time around I would just purposely watch food related program or scrolled down recipes just to have my mind focus on food and what it wants. And usually your cravings are the only thing you could stomach. My cravings include barley drinks, anything with spinach, hot rice and something salty, boiled eggs, rice swimming in gravy with fish etc. Nothing fancy tho. Do not be concern of eating properly if you are going through morning sickness. It is best that you have some food and fluid in your system to give some energy. When you feel better you can consume other type of food too.
2) Sip plenty of fluid. This can be in form of hot water, chilled water, sugarless chocolate drink and hot barley. These were the only drinks I could take. Others made my stomach hurt. If I am dehydrated, the headaches and tiredness would be worst. I remembered the last time, I avoided water as it made me sick. This time around I pushed myself in taking fluid by sipping bit by bit the whole day. Btw, no coffee or tea too during this period. Its acidic and it sort of gave me gas.
3) Eat before I get out of bed and in small portion but continuously throughout the day. I had containers of bland biscuits or red apples by my bedside. The minute I opened my eyes, before the stomach pain kicks in due to gas and other symptoms kicks in, I eat something. It somehow reduce the pain and gave the acid in my stomach something to work on. During my first pregnancy, when I feel horrible, I refuse to eat. This time around I sort of forced myself to eat even just a little bit. It felt more bearable.
4) Zero processed sugar intake. At least till my morning sickness subsided. I do not take anything with sugar during that time. I realized when I did my symptoms got worst after that though not right away.
5) Nap when it gets unbearable or when the tiredness or sleepiness kicks in. I used to force myself to do things and end up crying feeling so helpless afterward. This time around I just snooze. I am so lucky to have bosses and colleagues who were understanding. I don’t know why but right before lunch time the craziness sort of peaked, so I would take at least half an hour nap just to ease the pain.
6) And finally, take your anti vomiting medication before bed. It helps when you wake up in the morning.
Having said all that, there were times when you get defeated by the sickness. Don’t feel bad cos you are basically growing a human being inside and that early stage is so important that your body works overtime. It helps to talk to somebody about it. That is where your spouse, parents, siblings and friends comes in the picture. Just hang in there! Do share your thoughts or your tips dealing with morning sickness too…
IdeaLisTale 