Surviving Morning Sickness

I started this post in the end of October, still very much dealing with the symptoms of morning sickness. I haven't really edited out what I wrote at that time, but I have added to it since then. Sorry if the context/tense is weird or hard to understand because of that.

I have been dealing with morning sickness for about 8 weeks now. On top of that, I have had a cold since October 1. Today is day 27 of this cold! I am seriously SICK of being sick! As far as the morning sickness goes, each day has been a little bit better than the last, with a few exceptions. I am believing this is a good sign that I am almost done with it, and also believing that I may have found some tricks that bring relief for me.

While talking about surviving, I have to first of all thank Josh for truly helping me survive this. He gets up early and works hard at work all day long. He deals with clients and employees AND my anxiety ridden [read: needy] texts and calls. Then he comes home and helps me recover from the day, takes over most the responsibilities with Merit, makes us all dinner, and then starts on the housework that I have been overwhelmingly behind on lately. He is incredible.

I also want to talk about morning sickness in general. I think it is really misunderstood. I definitely misunderstood it before I was pregnant. Partly because everything about being pregnant, being a parent, is different for every person. Each pregnancy is different from any other pregnancy, even in the same woman. Not everyone gets morning sickness. At all. The name "morning sickness" itself is a complete misconception.... for instance, I feel sick all day long. Waking up and getting out of bed is the worst, but some days the afternoon or evening is the worst. Some women throw up once and then feel better. Some women throw up all day long. Some women don't throw up much, but are on the verge of throwing up all day long.

The difference between every women's morning sickness makes it really hard to find any concrete thing that will actually help. What turns out to be a miracle for some women is repulsive to others. Here is what has helped for me, and I think they will all help you out too.

Be intentional about what you eat. My first pregnancy, I lived on crackers. As long as I was snacking on crackers all day long, I felt OK. This pregnancy, crackers made me gag. I couldn't even swallow them. I was too sick to eat anything really, and the longer I went without eating, the sicker I became. I drank soup broth for about a week straight. My midwives told me that protein was key. They said carbs and crackers and sweets help because the bring your blood sugar up, but since it then drops quickly, you're left feeling sick again soon. Protein helps balance your blood sugar. They suggested snacking on a handful of peanuts every hour, and making sure that all my meals were high in protein. It took me a long time to be able to eat that way. Either I was too sick to prepare food, or too sick to eat anything. So I started with protein bars from the store , and other sweeter foods that were easy to get down, and I tried to eat something high in protein right after, when I wasn't as nauseous. I think that this, and eating well in general, AND eating all the time really helps

Lean on others. It was easy to see that sometimes Josh was feeling overwhelmed by my state of sickness. It was also easy to see that I was super overwhelmed. Luckily, I have awesome friends and family that were texting and calling to check on me. Offering help, praying for me, and letting me know they were there. It helped me not to feel alone. I am not one to ask for help, but I really appreciated that people were constantly offering it. If there was something I needed, I knew that I could easily ask someone. It's hard for anyone to ask for help, and sometimes it's even harder to know what to ask for! But if you think of something, or someone offers, TAKE THEM UP ON IT!

Have grace for yourself and others. It is really hard for me to find grace for myself. I have all these expectations and get seriously down when I come up short. Or when I don't come up with anything at all. Give yourself grace. Know that you are doing a much more important job in being a safe place for a starting new life! Also, give grace to others. Josh doesn't really do anything around the house the same way that I would do it. I tried my best to give him grace, to bite my tongue. The point is, he IS doing it!  We are getting to the same end, despite the means, and they are so not important during this time. [I am of course talking about cooking, cleaning, etc]

Stay thankful. Try to be thankful for the little things. Try to be thankful that there is new life in your body, that your body is capable. Be thankful for the good moments. Be thankful for the help. If nothing else, be thankful that you are where you are. I have witnessed for myself pregnant women who literally live in the town dump, or in grass huts. They don't have stores, they don't even have money! They don't even have clean water to drink. The people who live in the dump eat trash. I am humbled to be thinking of them now, and how pregnancy, aversions, morning sickness, cravings might effect them... we are so blessed, even in the hard times.

Take one thing at a time. If that means day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, or task by task. It's ok. Just get through that.

This too shall pass. I cannot say when. Every pregnancy [I used to read that as "every woman", but no, every pregnancy] is different. They have things in common of course, and one of them is that they ALL come to an end! Most women feel better after the first trimester, some after the second, some not at all for a day of their pregnancy. But even then, you won't be pregnant forever!



If you are struggling with sickness in or out of pregnancy, or any other feelings of anxiety or depression, and you want someone to talk to, please feel free to contact us! We have been there, and you are not alone.