Have you heard of hyperemesis gravidarum and wondered what it is like? Or perhaps you think it’s just morning sickness? This is so WRONG!
I had hyperemesis twice, for each of my pregnancies, and it was AWFUL. Here is my blog diary entry that I wrote on another blog about my hyperemesis gravidarum experience when I was pregnant with my second child in 2014.
Blog diary entry 31st December 2014:
I haven’t blogged in months and this is why. It’s because I have very exciting news – I’m pregnant with my second child, a beautiful baby boy due in March!
The only problem is my hyperemesis gravidarum is back in full swing. I secretly hoped I wouldn’t get it with my second pregnancy, but sadly it’s worse than ever.
Hyperemesis gravidarum stopped me from working and blogging!
I had to take a big break from my blog and work as I sadly suffer from hyperemesis gravidarum.
This is extreme pregnancy sickness, not the standard morning sickness most people seem to think the condition refers to.
I was sick several times per hour from around week seven of the pregnancy, regardless of whether I ate or drank.
This condition is so severe it means the usual remedies for morning sickness do not work, such as travel bands, ginger, peppermint, etc.
You name it and I bet you I tried it all during my first pregnancy when I suffered the same!
What hyperemesis gravidarum is really like
Imagine how rotten you feel after food poisoning for a couple of days.
Then imagine that going on for weeks.
Day in, day out.
Retching up every last bit inside you. Even when there’s nothing left.
This time around it was far worse.
Not only do I have this to contend with, but I also got hyper salivation which is as disgusting as it sounds. My mouth fills with excess saliva constantly and it’s like there’s a ball in my throat so I can’t swallow it so I have to spit it out. It’s disgusting and makes me feel vile. I literally have to have a cup or pot with me at all times! It’s gross.
Throw in some pregnancy anaemia and I’m starting to wonder if my body is actually just allergic to pregnancy!
Anyway, I became so sick this time around with the hyperemesis gravidarum that I could barely stand up without almost blacking out. This was before the pregnancy anaemia hit and was just because I’d been throwing up nonstop for weeks and had nothing left inside me.
No one gets it.
No one.
I had one friend telling me to try ginger biscuits.
Another friend texted when at a nearby park to see if I wanted to take Bella for a playdate.
Seriously.
I COULDN’T MAKE IT FROM MY LIVING ROOM TO THE KITCHEN WITHOUT NEARLY PASSING OUT AND THROWING UP.
I was so weak. I’d thrown up so much and couldn’t keep anything down… for weeks…
Only Ben my husband saw the extent of the sickness and got it. Or tried to get it as he had no idea how it made me feel.
It made me feel awful, yes physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
I couldn’t do anything as normal. I couldn’t even walk around my house as normal. A few days of this and you feel rotten and weak, but a few weeks and it really starts to get to you.
I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so low, lonely and depressed. I hit a really low point.
I felt like death and just wanted it to end. Of course, I wanted my baby more than anything. We had planned for another baby and so I was happy when we found out, but feeling so rotten and like I was dying made me wish I wasn’t pregnant at one point. I knew that wasn’t true though and kept telling myself that. I wanted another baby. We planned this baby. It’s just the hyperemesis gravidarum making me feel this way.
I just needed the sickness to end.
‘This too shall pass’.
One of my favourite sayings, but hard to believe it when all you can do is lie on a sofa watching the minutes tick by, throwing up, retching and feeling sick constantly until you’re just a shell.
In the first four weeks of the hyperemesis gravidarum kicking in, I lost over one stone in weight. I went from over 9 stone to just 8 stone and became terribly weak. At 5’7 I looked skeletal.
Most people put on weight when they get pregnant. I just kept losing weight.
I finally gave in and went to the doctors who immediately admitted me to the hospital, popping me on a fast-flowing drip!
Wow. Drips are amazing! I literally felt better within one hour!
I was kept in for 24 hours and filled with the dripping goodness, after which I felt like a different person. The woman beside me in the hospital could not believe the difference!
Why didn’t I go to the doctor’s sooner with hyperemesis gravidarum?
You may wonder why I waited so long to go to the doctor.
During my first pregnancy, I was nonstop back and forth to the doctors who constantly sent me home with another set of tablets that did not work. I was never dehydrated enough to go to the hospital so had to just suffer the sickness. I feared this would just happen again this second pregnancy, so didn’t want to waste my time or my very little energy!
However, by the time I could barely stand up without passing out, I knew things were much worse this time.
I had dangerous levels of ketones this time and so I was kept in the hospital until these disappeared.
The sickness continued once I left the hospital, but nowhere near as bad. Stronger sickness tablets were fed through the drip while I was in the hospital and they worked most of the time. I was given some to take home and took them for a while longer… but I have stopped them now as I really hated taking them.
They were really strong and usually given to people having cancer treatment. I can’t imagine they are good for a baby in the womb!
Now, I’m only sick around once a day. Yay!
Nausea has gone and I don’t constantly feel sick so I can kind of get on with things as normal… well until the tiredness of the pregnancy hits me around 5 pm! The joys of pregnancy! Pregnancy is not made for me!
I’m 30 weeks pregnant this week and I just don’t think the sickness will stop this time. The sickness from hyperemesis gravidarum ended by 22 weeks with my first, yet it shows no sign of stopping my second pregnancy.
Hopefully, I’ll catch a break soon. And for anyone who thinks hyperemesis gravidarum is just morning sickness, oh how wrong you are.