The Dark Side of Pregnancy

Image from medguidance.com

Yep I’m talking about morning sickness!

Well for me it started with night sickness, then to all day sickness, and then to just morning sickness. 

They say that morning sickness only lasts in the first trimester, for some woman this is true, but for others it a big fat lie. Honestly, you cannot base your body on what a book says or on how others tell you it should “generally” go. Your body is different from everyone else’s so, it’s going to do its own thing and beat to its own drum, or should I say little kicks?

So you might be wondering what I went through. Well I will happily tell you, because although it’s embarrassing, it makes me laugh now. 

I had the classic, try to eat anything and your body plays a funny joke of accepting it until you have to go somewhere. I swear every time I ate something and had to go somewhere I would get sick, but not if I was just staying home. For example, one afternoon I had an apple with peanut butter, petty healthy snack right? Well my husband and I pulled up to the university to go meet with a friend and as soon as we stepped into the campus center, I bolted for a bathroom. The worst part was there were some people in there, so I had to wait and push the urge down for the sake of not embarrassing myself. You may ask “why didn't you just relieve yourself?! You’re pregnant for goodness sake!” Well I know that, it’s just hard for me to puke with others listening.

That’s not even the worst for me! One morning I had some toast and tea, and I was feeling good. We had to go to the bank to discuss our accounts before moving to Florida. We got out of the car and I was feeling a little queasy but I thought I had it under control.  As soon as we stepped into the nice shiny clean office, I knew I wasn't going to make it. I quickly asked if there was a bathroom I could use and the man snidely replied with a “yes but customers cannot use it, but there’s a library across the street”, so I ran, I ran as fast as I could, only to make it just outside of the bank doors. I walked over to my car to try to clean myself up, my coat was covered in what was once tea, and I’m pretty sure I didn't look to peachy either. I took off my jacket and threw it in the car and walked over to the library to clean up some more, only to have more of my breakfast come up. When I done attempting to make myself look presentable, I walked back to the bank office, my husband tried to comfort me with a squeeze of the hand, all too well knowing what just happened, and the bank manager stared at me like I was nuts.

Ohh... the joys of ailments that come with this beautiful phase in life. But no one ever said it was going to be easy right? The only thing that I can say helped me was saltines, they were my lifesavers. I also realized that getting up a little early, or making sure I ate at least an hour before I went anywhere helped with any unpleasant bathroom trips. But like I said, everyone is different so there will be some trials and error to go through until you find the right thing for you!

Here’s a list of things that others recommend:

• Lots of rest!

• Loose clothes

• Get up slowly, you may find yourself getting dizzy accompanied by nausea, do yourself a favor and just take it slow.

• Ginger (usually tea form, but ginger ale works too) its suppose to help the nausea

• Watch out for acidic foods, anything that can cause heartburn or acid reflux will not do you any good.

• Having something small to eat before you go to bed and just as you wake up, so keep a package of crackers close by.

• Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Not kidding, drinking a lot of water can help you.

• Small meals.

• Pregnancy pops? I never tried any but they do sell little candies that help with the nausea.

I wish you the best of luck in this amazing journey, and just remember this is a small part of it all. It will go away and you will feel better! I would love to hear stories from anyone, it’s great to just loosen up and let go of those awful parts of pregnancy with laughter.