This post has been sponsored by GavisconSooo, you feel like you’ve been on a three-day bender without the fun of actually going on a three-day bender? Sounds like you have morning sickness. The worlds most stupidly named symptom of pregnancy because, as well all know, this bastard lingers all day long. For WEEKS on end.
He’s like that creep at the bar that just stares at you all night until it feels like his eyeballs are gently nudging the back of your neck. Why doesn’t he understand you’re not interested? Fuck off mate.
The horror of morning sickness varies for everyone. From a general “day after hangover” queasiness that lurks and makes you feel a bit gross and shaky, to the full-blown, throwing up everything you eat torture that is grounds for hospitalisation. Nausea is the worst. You can push through a headache. You can solider on with a sore throat. But bad nausea will have you flat on your back, wishing for death with every hiccup and burp that promises a spew.
If you’re extra lucky like me, you’ll score morning sickness through your entire pregnancy. Because the first twelve weeks didn’t break your spirit completely.
But there are ways to cope and to keep it under control (somewhat).
Being waited on hand and foot
Always my first choice. Someone to take care of any other children and someone to cook and clean for you will do wonders for the disposition.
Oh, is this not realistic? Shit.
Well you’ll just have to try these tips and tricks:
Eat
Yes this is the last thing you want to do, but I promise, eating makes it better.
It’s hard to wrap your mind around stuffing your face with food just as you’re about to vomit. It goes against everything your body is saying but it must be done.
Word of warning: don’t wait until you’re really hungry or it will be too late and you’ll throw up whatever you’re eating. You either need to keep on top of it and eat something small every hour or so, or you need to eat the very second your mind tells you you might be a tiny bit hungry. If you wait for the actual hunger pains… Just head straight for the bathroom. Or eat a dry biscuit and lie down. It’s coming….
Protein
Make sure you’re eating protein with every snack. Add some cheese slices to your dry biscuits. Have a steak for lunch. Eat some porridge for breakfast. Put some peanut butter on your toast.
The protein works. Trust me. You’ll be fuller for longer and it really does keep the sickness away for a bit.
Tea
Ginger tea. Peppermint tea. Sip it. It calms the tummy.
Ginger beer
Sip again. Make sure it’s proper ginger beer made from real ginger. Ginger works to calm nausea so this, along with the sugar boost, can work if you can’t possibly fathom putting food in your mouth. A few sips while sitting still could calm your tum for long enough to get a sandwich in.
Coke
They don’t call it the Brown Doctor for nothing. A few sips of icy cold coke can make you feel a bit less shaky and gross. Again, this is a stop gap so you can stomach eating something. It’s always about eating.
Berocca
There are some doctors who believe morning sickness is caused by a vitamin B deficiency. Grab a tube of Berocca and have one a day. It could help.
Please note, if your morning sickness is bad, you will eventually start to feel sick when you drink Berocca and Ginger Beer because your brain will start to associate those tastes with nausea. Excellent.
Marshmallows
Or whatever treat works for you. For me, I needed marshmallows. Something sugary that bumped my sugar levels really quickly and seemed to keep me going a bit longer. Obviously not a doctor approved approach, but I’m not a doctor, I’m an actual sufferer.
Maxolon
If all else fails and you simply cannot function, get yourself to the doctor and demand some drugs.
I went to one when I was about 15 weeks pregnant and said I was still vomiting and that it was so awful I couldn’t bear it any longer.
The doctor looked at me and said “really Lauren?” Like I’d just suggested I was breastfeeding a unicorn in my spare time.
I won’t tell you what I said because I’m a lady.
Oh, ok, I said something along the lines of “I’m sorry, have YOU ever experienced morning sickness SIR? No you fucking haven’t so shut your face and give me ALL the drugs, you insensitive prick!”
HOT TIP: Don’t tell a pregnant woman she’s not as sick as she thinks. In fact, don’t ever second guess a pregnant woman on how pregnant she’s feeling. Particularly if you’re A MAN.
If you’re like me, you’ll also score a dose of heartburn to accompany your nausea. Basically your stomach hates you and wants you to suffer as much as possible. I’ve been chewing Gaviscon Dual Action tablets like lollies this time around. They taste like chalk but they really work.
Bed
If all else fails, lie in bed and don’t move. Something about equilibrium. Science etc. Of course this solution is possible for about 1% of the population who don’t need to work, clean, shop, care for other children or generally live. But, you know, if you can manage it, well done.
What got you through the morning sickness? Or did you totally escape it all like a lucky bastard?
42 comments
My morning sickness the second time was heaps worse & I had to get a prescription too. Just hell really & has me currently thinking 2 kids may be enough… For now 😉 it’s just evil but while it wasn’t so bad first time, I had worse horror stories. Like the time I threw up in my desk bin at work. Lucky it was lined with a plastic bag so I could dispose discreetly haha oh boy, the things we do!
Oh poor you. I just ate and ate and put on 18 kgs with both kiddos and bled the first 14 weeks with my first kiddo. I thought I was having a miscarriage daily, awful. I was so happy when the bleeding finally stopped.
I have to say, I was a bit of a lucky bastard as I only got it for a very short time when I was preggos with number 3 😉 Sorry lol xx
Oh Son, me too. Only got it with one pregnancy and that little one got chosen to be a twinkling star, so it was only a couple of weeks all up.
I had no understanding for just how hideous morning sickness is until I was pregnant. I used to think oh it’s just a bit of nausea, you throw up and you’re done. I was so naive. It was hell. 16 weeks of hell. Tiredness and nausea and general feeling like shit-ness. I couldn’t stand the smell of food cooking, or the food smells that stuck to the dishes/pots/pans so I did no cooking or cleaning for the first few months I was pregnant. My husband totally thought he was being scammed.
I am all about the Gaviscon now with the heartburn though. I’ve been through about 750ml of Gaviscon (straight from the bottle!) already. I think I’ll manage to polish off a round litre by the time I’m done!!
I feel for people who suffer from morning sickness. I really do. I never had it luckily. I know you hate me already for saying that. Some great tips there :). x
I had all day, all pregnancy long sickness with my first, I was hospitalized twice and generally wanted to die. My wish nearly came true when I became so ill, they needed to induce baby 6 weeks early. Took me 6 years to go back and have another child. Yuck, I feel for you xxx
I had some mild queasiness but that was it – I’d just eat a bit of crystallised ginger and that worked a treat. I have a friend who was hospitalised then put on the kind of medication they use to stop nausea in cancer patients for both her pregnancies who openly hates me for it but I remind her I needed IVF so it all balances out (in my mind)
Except when toy had to do IVF to get pregnant and then your so sick throwing up becomes relief because you feel okay fir about 10minutes before your so sick you dont want to exist…
Coke is the brown doctor indeed. When my hubster got a stomach virus in France, the hospital insisted that he drink coke, just a few sips at at a time. When you’re stomach is empty and all you want to do is gag, the sugar is good and I think it makes some sort of lining in your stomach. But I might be wrong about the latter because my French is a little rusty! I hope the morning sickness is soon a thing of the past, but in the meantime, enjoy the marshmallows! x
Oh really Sammie? That actually makes me feel better knowing that actual doctors agree with the coke thing. I’ve always sipped coke when I’ve been hung over and it always makes me feel better (along with some grease) and the same seems to work with morning sickness – which is just like a hangover that never ends.
I’m in the drugs boat! Nothing else worked for me and I still spewed multiple times a day on the drugs! Sucks ass. I wouldn’t have another baby because the thought of more MS makes me feel sick (ironic really!).
Oh god Haidee isn’t it the worst? My Maxolon was doing anything for the first 15 weeks or so but it has just started to work a bit for me, possibly because the nausea is easing a bit anyway. I was clinging to the knowledge that some women don’t get sick in every pregnancy so maybe I’d miss it this time. I was wrong!
Ah Jesus wept. You poor thing. I know exactly what you’re going through. It was all day and night sickness for me in both pregnancies. Some days all that I could do was lie in the bottom of the shower with the water running on me. Eating definitely helps. I found two – three toasted cheese and vegemite sandwiches a day did the trick 😉 I took Maxolon as well. I found it stopped the vomiting, but the nausea was still there. Argh. I really feel for you. I hope you start to feel better soon.
Wowzers, you poor thing, that really sounds horrendous. I had next to no morning sickness the first time around but then for number 2 was vomiting several times a day for the first 4 months. I craved salty things, but then as soon as they hit my stomach I’d need to puke again. That limbo land of knowing you need to eat, but not being able to face putting anything in your mouth is just awful!!
I really hope it eases up a bit for you soon honey! x
You poor poor poor thing! Hard to believe no one has discovered a cure for MS yet. Or officially re-named it to something more realistic!
I had it until about week 16 with both pregnancies but much worse with the second and needed the drugs. Coupled with blackouts in the early weeks, I wasn’t one of those ladies who loved being pregnant.
I really hope this time it eases for you huh. Hang in there! xx
This sounds just awful, you poor thing. Don’t hate me, but I’ve been VERY lucky with not experiencing much MS at all with my pregnancies. Even with my twins! But don’t worry, I’ve paid my dues many times over with chronic and heavy-duty sleep deprivation with every baby….
I had severe hyperemesis, so won’t even go there with the stories except to say picture the exorcist – but the beached whale version.
Hydralyte ice blocks would be my tip and a sympathetic GP. My obs actually told me an IV bag or two in Emergency is better time spent then a lot of sipping of ginger ale.
Oh I do feel for you. I had awful morning sickness with both my two kidlets. All day, all night, all 9 months. It took me 4 years to work up the courage (stupidity) to have another one after the first. Luckily I had a lovely doctor who gave me all the drugs possible but they didn’t really help much. I’m afraid my Mr 4 watched way too much TV during those 9 months while I lay on the couch cursing my poor hubby. It was, of course, worth it in the end but ohhh it wasn’t fun at the time. Strangely I was always drawn to food shows on TV – self inflicted torture?!?
Sorry lovely, but I’m one of those who got through pregnancy with very little ms. Had trouble getting pregnant, but when I did, my one and only pregnancy was easy. Guess we all have something hard to deal with. I hope it settles for you soon. x
Ah yes the joy of ms. I had all day/sometimes night sickness. Got to the point where one day I had been sick 7 times before 10am and my sister found me curled in a ball on the floor sobbing my eyes out. A dr visit followed and I got put on Ondansetron. It helped but I was still sick, just not as much. I’m better now at 19 weeks, unless I get too hungry then it’s a rush to the toilet before stuffing my face!
I had all-day morning sickness for the first trimester with both my boys and I totally agree with “eat something”. It was the only thing that made me feel better, but unfortunately led to a 26 kilo weight gain with my second. Whoops! Gosh, it’s such a cruel side-effect of pregnancy. I was lucky mine was short-lived, and I really feel for women who get it the whole way through.
I’m 19 weeks and still going through it, today it’s coupled with a horrid pregnancy headache that feels like my sinuses and eyeballs are being squeezed in a vice…
This is my 3rd bub, you’d think I’d be used to it but I stupidly had a 7 year gap to forget everything except the cute little poop machine that comes out at the end
I said to hubby a few weeks ago that I didn’t remember being so wiped out and exhausted with the other 2, he lovingly reminded me I was a lot younger then! I didn’t kill him for that though, he’s one of the good ones that does EVERYTHING for me to make sure I’m comfortable.
He sounds like a keeper Sam! I’ve got a good one too, thank god.
And thank god for that memory lapse that happens with making babies. Otherwise we’d only ever make one!
Yikes, you poor thing. I’m one of those lucky bastards who didn’t really suffer from morning sickness at all apart from some mild nausea early on, instead I like to make up for it with other fun complications further along. The joys of pregnancy! Congratulations x
Oh you lucky thing. But it’s just one thing pregnant women have to deal with isn’t it? You skip one thing and get hit with something just as bad further down the track. It’s not easy!
I only had it for the first 12-14 weeks but that was bad enough.
I would add, eat whatever you think you can. If you need hot chips from a particular store with extra seasoning, get them. Or send someone else to get them. If you think you can stomach it, do it.
Oh Jess, hot chips have been my saviour. In my first pregnancy my OB gave me grief for eating them all the time. They were all I could eat! They made me not throw up. I would have eaten them three times a day if it stopped the nausea. Fat be damned!
You poor sausage. Don’t eat the sausage. x
Don’t even SAY sausage Bron!
I found that if I constantly grazed on food that I felt pretty ok. Morning sickness is no fun and I only had mild queasiness. I really feel for those hit hard.
Yep Malinda, I’ve put on about 7 kilos in the first 17 weeks because the only thing that really helps me is constantly eating. I’m gross.
Oh Lauren I feel for you. I had to have a muesli bar at the ready at all times but got off pretty lightly, pregnancy was ok but breastfeeding was where it got me.
Oh no, what happened with the breastfeeding Vicki? I guess I had it easy where that was concerned so maybe I shouldn’t complain too much…
Holy shit I think I would have only had one kid if I had had to go through any of that!!
Don’t hate me for the no morning sickness with 5 pregnancies thing……my throwing up in labour totally makes up for it
Doesn’t even start to make up for it Veronica! Labour is shit anyway, so a bit of throwing up is just the icing on the cake. Throwing up when you’re supposed to be working or caring for your other kids is torture. Horrible horrible torture. That doesn’t end for weeks and weeks on end….
You poor thing… my three months of mild nausea, no vomiting sounds positively delightful in comparison. I can recommend one food to NOT eat in early pregnancy though – dried apricots. I got it into my head that they were a good, healthy pregnancy snack and thought that my crippling wind pains and chronic farting condition were an unfortunate pregnancy symptom. No, just a by-product of all those damn dried apricots I was stuffing in my gob. I actually remember the wind pains more vividly than the morning sickness with my first pregnancy…
Bahahahaha…. oh Zoe, that’s fantastic. I mean, it’s not, it’s horrible, but hilarious. I love how when you’re pregnant you get all these ideas about what you should be eating because you want to grow the best human you can. I’ve been eating SO MUCH FISH.
You poor thing! I had a fairly bad case but thankfully only for the first few months. I found the only thing that really helped was Ginger Bears (Like Gummy Bears but revolting!). I basically sucked those bad boys all day everyday. And vegemite toast was good too.
Oh I’ve seen those ginger bears. Hadn’t thought to try them. They do look a bit gross…. And who doesn’t love Vegemite toast. Always a winner. Bonus Vitamin B too.
Oh yeah, MS was the PITS- I’ll pass your tips along to a friend struggling with her first trimester- it’s awful!
Oh god, send her my best. Poor thing. I feel so much for anyone else who’s suffering xxx