Time changes when you’re pregnant. Months turn into weeks; weeks turn into days; and in the beginning, days turn into hours. You hope each hour is better than the last; you hope the next hour holds a little relief, or a little sleep. You’re not complaining and don’t regret those hours, because it’s part of the deal; but you sure won’t mind when a few of those hours cut you a little break.
Morning sickness is no joke. I’m impressed by those that have pushed through it with another child to take care of; with difficult hours to work; with those that have had it way worse than me. And I’m 100% confident that having children is the absolute wonderful thing they say it is, because no woman in her right mind would willingly go through this twice otherwise.
Pregnancy doesn’t wait until you’ve gotten used to the idea of being pregnant. It doesn’t wait for you to have a bulging belly. No, instead, it starts throwing stuff at you left and right from day one {ok, technically day 14}. Aching hips, cramps, headaches, dizziness, and oh the nausea.
I’m convinced there’s a conspiracy to keep the truth about morning sickness under wraps. Each book, website, and blog I read tried to pull the wool over my eyes.
Every book says some form of the following sentence: “but don’t worry, even if you are one of the 80% of women who get morning sickness, it usually passes by the second trimester.”
Imagine how you feel when you’re extremely carsick, sea sick, or hungover. Now imagine that for 24 hours a day for, oh, say 12-14 weeks. That’s 84-98+ days. Translation: a really, really long time. Suddenly I have a loathing hatred for the word “usually”.
Aside from a friend who’s been hospitalized all too frequently with hyperemesis, no one has shared even a glimmer of truth of what it’s really like. I vaguely recall hearing someone refer to it as “pregnancy poison” once, and that’s about as close to accurate as you get. Books, doctors, and even other moms make morning sickness sound like an unfortunate case of allergies- somewhat annoying and inconvenient, but really no big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Well let me tell you otherwise. It is constant, unrelenting nausea with no escape. Nausea so intense it makes you want to crawl out of your skin. So overwhelming that at times you can barely think, put a sentence together, or even begin to comprehend what someone else is saying to you.
It’s constantly eating to keep your stomach from churning in on itself, although eating is literally the last thing in the world you want to do. Except maybe go on a roller coaster.
Eventually you get passed the worst of it, or more than likely, get used to functioning feeling like crap, and you start having some days that are better than others, and you have to jump on the opportunity to fit everything in. You never know when it’ll knock you down again.
{On a side note, as soon as you start feeling better-than-awful, you start forgetting how bad it really was. So maybe it’s not a conspiracy. Maybe it’s just lack of accurate memory…and no, it’s not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Just don’t tell that to a pregnant woman in the throws of morning sickness.}
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I think it’s kind of like labor itself… your body and mind are designed to forget about the pain and discomfort because otherwise most people wouldn’t do it again! I’m sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well 🙁 Luckily most people get out of it by week 15-16. Hope it continues to get better for you!
Wow. You’re really making me rethink my plan of having the majority of my pregnancy take place during the school year…
You’d be surprised what you can make yourself push through…you could handle the school year 😉 Better than doing it during your summer break & missing all the fun!
Do you read Daily Garnish? She’s talked a lot about her morning sickness. Not sure if it’ll help but at least you’ll know that you aren’t the only one! Hope you feel better soon.
I do! I love reading her updates, especially now! It’s always nice to read when someone starts feeling better haha.
I just hit the third tri, and sadly it is coming back.
Oh no! Don’t tell me that! I hope it doesn’t last & you start feeling better!
You poor thing! That sucks that your first trimester was so rough – but it is true that you begin to forget what it’s like (must be pregnancy brain). I was in the lucky 20% who hardly had any morning sickness symptoms – I only felt nauseous at night and was able to sleep through it. I’m not a big puker not pregnant, so I never threw up either. EVERYONE is different. Some people just respond to the change in hormones better than other people – my body responded poorly on The Pill, so I wasn’t surprised to take to pregnancy pretty well. Although, now that I’m in the 3rd trimester, I am starting to get nauseous again and ridiculously exhausted from doing practically nothing. Enjoy the second trimester while you can!
Oh no- I keep hearing things about it coming back during the 3rd tri- another thing I never knew about! That’s funny you didn’t do well with the pill but did in pregnancy- I heard it’s usually the opposite which was why I was surprised I felt so bad.
Poor Heather! I’m a little nauseated just reading your description! It’s not a conspiracy, though — you just have it much worse than most people. (over-achieving again!)
I don’t know if you did it on purpose, but it’s pretty funny that you used “throws” instead of “throes” at the end there.
Hope better days are coming soon…
Haha I couldn’t decide what the right word was- guess we all know what was on my mind. 😉
I had no idea what I was letting myself in for either. And I kept beating myself up because I had it easy – no other child and no work to plough through regardless. I was scared stupid that it wouldn’t let up in the second trimester, thank goodness it did. I feel for you. Every hour is a triumph.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that didn’t know what I was really getting into 😉
Morning sickness is no joke. It comes from a hormone imbalance, and is supposed to be the worst with the first pregnancy. Kelley didn’t have any morning sickness thanks to the 2 rounds of IVF we had to do. She was so pumped full of hormones there was absolutely no change to cause the sickness. That was the only thing she was grateful for after going through IVF.
Oh dear. You just made me thank my lucky stars that I had very little sickness during both of my pregnancies (God – I hope this doesn’t make you feel worse). I honestly feel for you. Hope this passes SOON for you.
You poor thing! I never actually vomited, but I was nauseous the entire 40 weeks. Yes, even before I knew I was pregnant, I was nauseous.
Just so you know (I’m warning you!) those same people who tell you that the nausea goes away in the 2nd tri, or that it’s a mere inconvenience, are the same folks who tell you that breast feeding may cause “mild discomfort”. Oy!
Oh man, all 40 weeks? That stinks!! And oh geez- I’m beginning to think all these books were written by men. 😉
I was really sick, really miserable. Third time round the eldest thought I must be dying. All that suffering turns into sweetness, I swear.
By the way, no one tells you about teenagers, either…. until it’s too late.
I’m definitely already fearing the teenage years. Actually, I’m already fearing the toddler years. But baby steps, right? 😉
Completely agree! I spent every Sunday during the first trimester in bed and did nothing else. I also napped 2 times each day. It’s the only way I could not feel sick to my stomach constantly. Totally worth it though <3
This is so true- I had a comparatively easy time of it (only threw up twice), and that was bad enough. It was the constancy of it that did me in- and the tiredness. I could never have imagined just big pregnancy fatigue could be.
And even with some symptoms starting to ease at nearly 13w, I’m starting to forget it…
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