Dealing With Morning Sickness
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You took a pregnancy test and it was positive!! This is big news!! A new chapter of your life is beginning! You start thinking about all the changes you have to make, when to tell family and friends, work arrangements, baby names, registry… so many things!
The excitement and stress is enough to make you sick! Literally!
Morning sickness is something that affects something like 70% of pregnant women. For me, it started within days of finding out I was pregnant. For most mamas, symptoms start in the first month of pregnancy and typically taper off once you hit the second trimester (week 14) although some mamas have it longer.
It can manifest as a mild feeling of nausea, a loss of appetite, mild or severe heartburn or a full-scale inability to keep anything down.
And despite its name, the "sickness" isn't limited to just the morning hours. For me, it hit at all times of the day, morning, afternoon, evening, even the middle of the night.
The exact cause of morning sickness hasn't yet been pinned down by the science people. We do know, however, that your body goes through some pretty drastic changes during the first trimester, including:
Your body's blood volume increases dramatically right from the start of pregnancy and continues to increase as you progress through each trimester. You might have 50% more blood coursing through your veins by the time you give birth!
This means your heart rate has to increase to get the blood to your placenta as well as the rest of your body.
And THIS causes your blood vessels to expand. With bigger blood vessels and more blood being re-routed to the placenta and baby, your blood pressure can go down.
All this blood production as well as other shifts make you have to take in more oxygen and you might find yourself huffing and puffing more as you go about your day.
HCG (the hormone that your pregnancy test detected, indicating you are pregnant) is skyrocketing during the first few weeks, triggering all sorts of other changes in your body to help it support the growth of the baby.
One of the changes that HCG triggers is the production of estrogen (a hormone that helps the development of your baby's organs) and progesterone (a hormone that thickens your uterine lining, helping the fertilized egg grow into a healthy embryo, then fetus). These hormones change your bone density, prepare your boobs for milk production, make you spectacularly emotional, make your digestive system go wonky, among many other changes.
Your body produces a cocktail of other hormones to support the growing baby and prepare you for delivery that all have their own roles and side effects.
Your body grows a whole new organ (the placenta), which is pretty magical and incredible.
All the while, you are creating a beautiful, perfect little baby in your womb.
Taking all of this into account, it's no wonder you're feeling a little sick to your stomach! There's more going on here than any amusement park roller coaster I've ever seen!
"Okay," you say, "I get that it's normal to feel this way, but that doesn't make it any less unpleasant. Isn't there something I can do to make it go away?"
Unfortunately, there's no solid "cure" since it isn't really a sickness (despite its name). It seems to be just a side effect of your body doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
That said, there are some ways to ease the discomfort. I'm going to share with you all of the tips and tricks that worked for me:
Noting Triggers
Pay attention to your body and see if you notice any patterns of when your morning sickness symptoms worsen.
With my first pregnancy, heat was the worst trigger. This time around, so far, being in the car seems to be what makes me gag the most.
It might be certain smells, tastes, activities or positions. Pay attention and listen to your body.
Frequent, light snacks
Even if I didn't feel particularly hungry, eating a little snack sometimes eased the nausea. Something like crackers, or a piece of toast with butter, or other small but carb-heavy snack.
Avoid eating too much at meal times. I found that, even when I was starving, if I ate a huge meal I would almost immediately feel sick.
If you do happen to eat too much though, I recommend taking digestive enzymes right away. They seem to help.
Hydration
Is it just me or is "drink more water" the advice you get for just about every physical problem?
As I mentioned above, your body is creating more blood than usual, so giving it the raw material to work with is vital.
Make sure you include electrolytes so that your body is able to properly utilize the water you take in.
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 plays an important role in helping our bodies process certain proteins and studies have shown that this vitamin can help reduce nausea associated with morning sickness. I take it with my other prenatal vitamins and it does seem to give some relief.
Nux Vomica (a homeopathic remedy)
I'm a big fan of Boiron homeopathic remedies. In my experience, they are effective at taking the edge off of discomforts (and sometimes completely get rid of them).
During the stronger waves of nausea, Nux Vomica (which sounds like some Sci Fi villain conglomerate but is actually just tiny, pleasant-tasting tablets that you dissolve under your tongue) has really helped me. They're very inexpensive and I always keep a tube in my purse and on my nightstand.
Cooling down
For me, heat is one of the worst triggers of morning sickness.
It took me a while to figure it out as I was thinking that nausea triggers were more likely to be certain foods or smells.
Not to mention, pre-pregnancy, I usually preferred to be on the warmer side. Now, it seems, my body wants to be slightly colder than is comfortable. I don't love this, but it's better than feeling like I'm going to puke all day.
My husband got me one of those gel ice packs that can wrap around your neck, which gives some instant relief if I'm overheating.
My best friend got me a fan that you can wear around your neck - it might look a little silly but it's great for cooling down while cooking or doing dishes.
Hard candies
I have no clue if there's any science behind this, but for some reason sucking on hard candies or mints gives relief from morning sickness.
Preggie Pops are a popular brand, but there are organic options available, too, if you prefer. I really like Torie and Howard candies. The flavors are unique and very pleasant.
The only problem I've run into with this is that with both pregnancies, I use the candies for a couple of weeks (during which they definitely help) but then I seem to lose my sweet tooth and sugary things make me want to gag. I imagine that's not the case for everyone, but that's been my experience so I figured I'd share.
Motion Sickness Bracelets
I'm not particularly educated on acupressure, but supposedly there's a pressure point in your wrist that, when pressed, gives relief from nausea.
Motion Sickness Bracelets are inexpensive, there are no side effects, and they seem to help take the edge off the sick feeling.
The only downside is that they are not particularly discreet, and during your first trimester, you may not want to wear them out in public so as not to get questions that you don't want to answer yet.
I wear mine around the house and when I'm driving, though, and they do help.
I hope this list was helpful to you!
Just know that most likely, in a few weeks, this discomfort will pass.
You're building a whole human in your belly! That's a lot of work. Stay strong, mama. You got this.