Morning Sickness

For a long time, I looked forward to being pregnant. I couldn't wait to have that big round belly, or to feel a little person moving inside me. But I was also worried about morning sickness (which, by the way, is now called NVP -- Nausea and Vomiting during Pregnancy, since doctors now realize it's not over in the morning!). I hate to throw up (no kidding - I have anxiety about vomit) and once I became a teacher, I couldn't imagine doing my job feeling nauseous.

Have you ever heard that saying "what I fear, I create"? I thought about that saying a lot in my first 20 weeks. . .

I was nauseous all day, almost everyday, from the end of January until late April. It was not good. I hope that you continue to feel really good.  But if you don't, I know how you feel.  If you need them, here are some things that helped me.  Otherwise, these are just reminders for me for the next time around:

-I kept food (usually dry cereal or almonds) next to my bed so I could eat in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning before I moved.

-Gingerale became my new best friend.

-Hunger was my enemy. When I got hungry, I felt sick, so I snacked constantly.

-I chewed gum a lot of the time, especially after lunch.  I had to do it surreptitiously so my students wouldn't call me out on it, but it made a big difference.

-I ate whatever sounded good at the time. Since most food sounded terrible, I ate what appealed to me. Did that mean I ate balanced meals everyday? No. But I did my best to take my vitamins and not worry too much. And look - Jack came out fine, even though I might not have had my daily recommended vegetable intake everyday.

-Food aversions are real. If you haven't experienced them, they sound made up, but there were times I knew there was no way I could eat a particular food, end of story. Sometimes it would happen even with food I asked for only minutes before. Don't feel guilty.

I spent a lot of the first 20 weeks feeling sad that I was not loving being pregnant. I wanted so badly to love it. I felt better when I started feeling Jack move since that helped remind me what all this sickness was for. And you know what? As soon as the nausea passed, I loved being pregnant every bit as much as I hoped.  And next time, if I felt the same way, I wouldn't hesitate to try the drugs, because morning sickness sucks.