Not My Own: Morning Sickness Tips

Morning sickness. The. Worst. Thing. Ever. Okay... maybe not ever. But it is TERRIBLE. Especially when you have hyperemesis like I do where you can't stop throwing up. I was so sick we actually decided to stop at three children... but then reversed our decision!

I have been asked numerous times if I have any tips to help mamas suffering with "morning"/all day nausea. After five pregnancies with extreme morning sickness here are my tips:

1. Eat. Eat. Eat. Really Katie? Eat? That's what you got for me? This really is the best tip I have. I remember with my first pregnancy I had no idea that eating was the main answer to combating my nausea. Who wants to eat when they feel like throwing up? I threw up so much with my first pregnancy I lost 20 pounds in three months and threw up blood because I had thrown up so much. My doctor gave me these nasty suppositories that made me feel drugged and tired all day (which I am sure is also what it did to my baby) but he never advised me to simply eat as often as possible. The main key with eating is to eat BEFORE you get too nauseated. For me, this meant going to bed with three bananas and eating them through out the night whenever my nausea woke me up. If you don't have morning sickness that badly I recommend having a banana by your bed and eating it first thing in the morning while laying down with your eyes closed. Don't get out of bed till you feel the nausea has gone away. Eat whatever sounds good. Don't worry so much about what is the healthiest those first few months. Just eat whatever you crave and can keep down. Worry about eating healthy later when the nausea has subsided a bit. I did Trim Healthy Mama this last pregnancy toward the end and only gained 30 pounds total. Ginger, motion sickness bracelets, probiotics etc. did nothing for me.

2. Rest. If possible, lay around... a lot. The more you move the worse you will feel. Remember, this is not forever and you are growing a human being. Even if you do nothing else all day that is a huge accomplishment! ;) If you have other littles, like me, purpose for this time to be about reading lots of books with the kids and watching beneficial movies/documentaries. Rest.

3. Zofran. If your morning sickness is as bad as mine you may have to take medication to keep yourself from going to the ER for dehydration. I recommend zofran as a last resort. They say there are no side effects but I have a feeling in a few years they will tell us it causes growth of a third eye or something. Take it if you must, but first try to eat and rest.

4. Unisom at night. Along with zofran this would be last resort but in those beginning months you can. Take one at night with a vitamin b6. It really helped me with my middle of the night throwing up episodes.

5. Drink diet coke. Ha. But seriously, this worked wonders for me. If you are scared of the aspartame drink something carbonated and prefereably with caffeine. The combination of caffeine and carbonation is great! Scared of the caffeine? Fine. Drink carbonated something :)

6. Focus on eternity. This is essential with morning sickness. Just ponder for one second what you are doing. You have a little eternal soul growing inside of you. Hello. That's crazy and amazing. What a gift! In the midst of great trial and suffering God is accomplishing something miraculous in your womb! With each nauseating moment ponder what He is creating and give thanks. He is able to encourage you through nausea as you focus on your sickness being temporary and your sweet baby living forever. These were the verses that I meditated on day and night:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24) Remember, even when you feel like you are dying physically that God is bringing forth much beautiful fruit through it.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Cor. 4:16-18) Don't lose heart!!! Even though you feel like you are wasting away, God is creating life inwardly! Your sweet baby is being renewed and growing day by day. Your nausea is light in momentary in light of the eternal glory it is accomplishing which far outweighs all your suffering. Fix your eyes not on what you feel and see but on your sweet baby that you can't see which is eternal. The one "seen thing" you should fix your eyes on is your other children (if you have some). This helps me immensely because it reminds me of what my suffering will bring forth! I would gladly go through nine months of nausea all over again for any of my children.

Lastly: "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5) As much as we all hate suffering, God thinks highly of it and uses it for own good! The suffering is not what we rejoice in but it is what suffering produces, and in this case it produces a wonderful, one of a kind child!! As well as, endurance, character and hope.

Those nauseating days seem to never end but they will. Your baby however won't. They will live on forever!

Below are pictures of what 45 months of nausea produced for me. :)