Pregnancy Morning Sickness

So, what is Morning sickness? During your pregnancy, about 8 to 9 weeks along, you will start feeling sick and nauseous. This is called Morning Sickness. In most cases, this refers to severe headaches and vomiting and feeling uneasy. There is no real way to cure morning sickness but the effect of the morning sickness can be brought down by a level or two.

Morning sickness or nausea is more common in the first trimester and can be quite regular during that period. This can be difficult for a mother if they are in a workspace where they might have to go the bathroom at regular intervals and not be able to explain to their coworkers why they are going. Let us at Blue Shelf help you go through this phase!

Here’s a brief summary of how can you tackle Morning Sickness –

• Importance of Medicine
• Staying Mentally Strong
• Less travelling
• Support Groups
• Adequate Sleep
• Listening to Relaxing Music
• Natural ways to prevent Morning Sickness

One of the more severe cases that affect a few mothers is called Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) or simply severe morning sickness. Severe morning sickness can last up to the 21st week. It makes you vomit up to 4 times a day and also prevents the intake of fluids or foods in your system. It is a rare situation that is ten times more severe than normal morning sickness and affects up to 1 or 2% of pregnant mothers.

What causes Severe Morning Sickness?

There are several facts about severe morning sickness that is known but nobody knows how or what causes Severe Morning Sickness.

One of the major problems with HG is that it prevents you from taking in food or fluids. Due to this reason, mothers cannot eat food for almost a week or two and they also end up losing the pre-pregnancy weight that they had. This leads to them becoming physically very weak. Several mothers also resort to abortion since the pain and the stress gets too much or they have the baby and choose to never have a baby again. The agonizing pain and loss of weight will make them mentally tired and depressed.

How to manage Morning Sickness?

In terms of normal morning sickness or nausea, there are several ways to manage morning sickness. Even though no one knows what causes it or how there are a few Dos and Donts that you can follow to lessen the stress and pain. Take a look below –

Dos –

• Importance of Medicine — During your nausea, your vitamins and medicines are extremely important. In case of morning sickness go for Vitamin B and Unisom.
• Adequate Sleep — If you are feeling pain in your body, try to get some rest. Stay in bed and sleep as much as possible. When you sleep you are more relaxed.
• Eating Foods — Sometimes it is okay during your pregnancy to eat what you want to eat. It is important to have a healthy balanced diet but when you eat what you want to eat eg. puffs or chips or chocolates, the food helps lessen the pain.
• Staying in touch with your Doctor — You must stay in touch with your OB in this period and get all possible medication options. Some of the medicines that do help are Reglin, Zofran and Diclegis.
• Staying mentally strong — You can do this! Feeling nauseous will definitely bring you down and make you stressed but mentally you have to be strong and prepare accordingly to face the pain. Make yourself some nice maternity tea from Blue Shelf to help you relax.
• Music — Music is the solution to everything. At times when you are feeling stressed and are in a lot of pain, try listening to some relaxing music that could make you feel better. Listening to some mantras will also help.
• Natural ways to prevent Morning Sickness — If you’re spending the day at home, keep fresh lemons (sliced or cut) in different spots at home. This is so when you do feel nauseous, you will have the lemon somewhere right next to you and licking the lemon will help bring the pain down. The same goes for sucking a piece of ginger. Ginger prevents vomiting and also helps indigestion.
• Support Groups — For support, get in touch with a support group on social media that have several mothers going through the same process. This way, when you feel stressed, you can get in touch with more people going through the same process and talk about it. You don’t feel alone this way.

Don’ts

• Do not starve yourself — in most cases, it is advised that you dont eat a lot when you’re feeling nauseous but make sure you have something light to snack on.
• Going to restaurants or anywhere outside is a big risk. There could be anything happening outside that could trigger you to vomit. Go out only if you’re feeling completely healthy that day.
• Too much water in your system can cause a lot of problems. Mothers often feel very sick when they take in too much water during this period.
• Prenatal vitamins are advised only if they make you feel better. There is no rule to have them daily.
• Do not overstuff yourself with food. Eat only when you are craving food.
• Prevent yourself from watching or seeing something that could make you vomit. This could be watching literally anything on TV or reading something that does not sit right with you.
• Do not force yourself to do anything. This is the time when you have to be resting and not work at all.

Common Questions About Morning Sickness –

• Will my baby be healthy if I dont Have Morning Sickness?

Yes! No rule says that if you dont have morning sickness, you will not have a healthy pregnancy. The main reason behind nausea or vomiting to occur is an increase in pregnancy hormones, some mental stress and gastrointestinal issues. If you don’t have morning sickness then you are one of the lucky mothers!

• What Should I Do when my morning sickness suddenly disappears?

Morning Sickness usually lasts up to 20 weeks and gets over after the first trimester. When the nausea is over, some mothers become worried thinking that their baby might have been affected by something. If this is the case, then do contact your doctor, in most cases, it is the trimester getting over so it is not any problem for you or your child.

• How should I manage my Morning Sickness if I am at work?

There might be times when you will feel like vomiting constantly while at work or somewhere else outside of the home. In these cases, it is important to have a few foods with you that can help ease nausea. This can include keeping a piece of ginger with you or a few food items that you crave to help ease the pain. Keep something that you can take with you anywhere.

Above are some of the dos and donts towards managing morning sickness that can help you tackle the situation anywhere and anytime. More importantly, try your best not to stress out and in a matter of time, you will be feeling better.