Morning Sickness

About 70-85% of pregnant will experience nausea and vomiting. Although it is very unpleasant it is not usually harmful. In certain cases, the vomiting can become so severe that expectant mother's will lose weight, become dehydrated and require to be hospitalized. Left untreated this can become life threatening. This life threatening form of morning sickness is not very common and happens in perhaps 4-1000 expecting women.

Although it is called morning sickness, the nausea and vomiting can happen at any time during the day.

As a mother of two children, I had some terrible experiences when it came to morning sickness. For my first I was so terribly ill that I couldn't even attempt to get off the couch. I started my pregnancy at 175lbs and by the time I was 9 months pregnant I was 170lbs. I had lost 20lbs in the first 3 months of my pregnancy and gained 15lbs during the remaining 6 months. During my first 3 months of pregnancy the only foods I was able to keep down were watermelon, green olives and beef jerky. I was in my third month and my doctor told me to see her in a few weeks and if I wasn't gaining any weight I would be hospitalized and monitored to ensure that my weight didn't decline anymore then it had already. Needless to say when I returned, I had gained 1lbs. The numbers kept going up after that. When my second pregnancy began the symptoms were very intense. Morning sickness was worse then the first pregnancy. During the first two months I lived on the couch and in the bathroom by the toilet. I carried soda crackers with me everywhere. They didn't stop me from vomiting but they helped me keep everything down a bit more. I would spend my days in the bathroom with my 2 year old holding my hair, rubbing my back and saying, "It's ok Mommy!" Finally it was two weeks before my wedding and I was still sick as a dog. I had to do something, so went to the doctor's office with a little beach pail in case I needed vomit. I spoke to my doctor and she prescribed me some Dyclectin. It is a doxylamine-vitamin B6 pill that helps tremendously with morning sickness. It saved me from being too sick to go to my own wedding. The morning sickness continued during the whole pregnancy so I had to continue taking Dyclectin till the end. Regardless of the horrible experience I had with morning sickness, I have two beautiful daughters and I would do it all over again.

Although no on has found the real cause of morning sickness, the theory is that it is probably linked to pregnancy hormones. They say have done studies and shown that most women who have morning sickness have higher level in these hormones than those who do not experience morning sickness at all. Some theories state the body is trying to protect the foetus from poisoning. Therefore, it rejects the food that it believes may be harmful to the foetus. With a large variety in foods now a day, it is no surprise that the body may be confused and reject all kinds of nutritious foods.

There are a few tricks and tips to try to keep the nausea and vomiting to a minimum.

1.) Stay away from thing that will prompt nausea and vomiting ( like certain smells)
2.) Keep salted soda crackers by your side or any kind of salted crackers
3.) Don't eat fatty & acidic foods
4.) Try snacking through out the whole day instead of having 3 big meals
5.) Try to eat carbohydrates like rice & potatoes
6.) Eat soups
7.) If you are taking prenatal vitamins, stop taking them and see if that helps
8.) Try acupuncture
9.) Talk to your doctor and see if a doxylamine-vitamin B6 pill is right for you

Morning sickness is a pretty common symptom during pregnancy. Whether it's a bit of nausea or if it's a lot of vomiting. It's something that every pregnant woman may have to deal with it. Though there isn't very much we can do, all we can do is try to deal with it the best we can. Pregnancy is something special that not all individuals can experience. But just remember what ever doesn't kill us will only make us stronger!