| « Madame Secretary | The Oprah Generation » |
Morning Sickness--The Mystery Illness
It's that time again in our home. I am about 6 or 7 weeks pregnant with baby #2. I spent a considerable amount of my first pregnancy leaning over a toilet bowl (or sink, whichever was available) vomitting. So much so, that I spent a day in the ER receiving fluids via IV, and lost 6 pounds during my first trimester.
Given my significant investment into morning sickness, I did some reading last time around. What I found is that no one really knows what causes morning sickness, and given the small amount of the population afflicted at any given time, there really isn't any motivation to find out or to find a cure! Thanks, Doc!!
Here's what nobody tells you about morning sickness:
At its worst, MS (morning sickness) is not just nausea in your stomach, but also in your head, a dull dizzying ache, that seems like it will never ever go away.
Unlike other times of nausea, throwing up generally does not make you feel better.
Medical advice to eat before you get out of bed sometimes helps to absorb acid, and sometimes just gives you something to puke up. Sexy!
Eating is also pretty much the last thing you want to do anyway.
Saltine crackers have a sweet and disgusting aftertaste.
MS is accompanied by exhaustion.
MS can of course occur at any time of the day when the acid accumulates in your stomach, but for me, it's usually worst in the morning.
MS is often followed by bizarre cravings to fill the ever growing pit in your stomach: pizza, french toast sticks, hash browns, and french fries are some of this body's favorites!
Last time around the magical cure for me was a drug called Zofran. Our friend Kevin pointed out that he had to take this when he was undergoing cancer treatments so that he could keep down some nutrition. This is an expensive solution, and what pregnant woman wants to take hardcore medication anyway?
So here I am, suffering an illness that no one can or cares to cure, hoping that it won't last as long as it did last time around (like 16 weeks!). I suppose the big cure is the birth of our next baby, which is scheduled for sometime around Christmas Eve!