My Experience Having Hyperemesis Gravidarum Three Times
Tara Carpenter, NC, PES.
I had severe morning sickness, a.k.a. hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), with all my pregnancies; each one worse than before. 12 weeks with my first, 15 weeks with my second, and the full 40 weeks with my third. Labor was easy compared to weeks and months in a nauseas torturous state; unable to lift my head, read a book, or drink more than a teaspoon of water.
My first pregnancy was while building a home in Virginia where we lived in a community and kept goats that we milked to make chevre cheese to sell at the farmer’s market. We got pregnant and 3 weeks after conception I was unable to get out of bed. From that day until 12 weeks pregnant I threw up what tasted like battery acid every few minutes round the clock and useless to help do much else. I did not know what was going on. This was my 1st pregnancy. I thought I had morning sickness. I did not ask for help. Now I know morning sickness this severe only affects 0.5-2.0% of pregnant moms. More about hyperemesis gravidarum here.
My second pregnancy was a surprise. I wasn’t prepared mentally or physically. I was terrified to get sick again. I hadn’t researched how to avoid HG. I was a single mom working 60+ hour weeks with no time to be in bed nauseous. That’s exactly what happened …. for 15 weeks. I lost that baby only one day after she kicked for the first time and the morning of waking up feeling 100% better. That is how HG happens, you wake up one day and it is just gone.
I likely miscarried due to a undercooked hamburger I had eaten later that day and my body was too weak to fight of the subsequent infection that heated my womb and the baby too. One moment her heart was beating and a minute later there was none; her brain hemmorrhaged from my high fever. I lost consciousness and needed blood transfusions to correct what turned out to be a Group B Strep infection. She was a girl, which dispelled my hope I would only get sick with boys.
Miscarriage is common with HG because mom is malnourished, dehydrated, with depleted immune system. That’s what happened with my baby girl. The day I stopped feeling sick I rejoiced to eat everything under the sun! To feel the normalcy of being pregnant feeling baby flutter inside. After weeks of suffering with nausea I was excited to wear my pregnancy clothes and wake up the next day to start life in a more upbeat way. If you’ve had HG, you know the achievement to get through each day. The hard work, day in and day out, for 15 weeks only to lose my baby. I lost myself for a bit after and struggled with what felt to be unfair.
The third time I got pregnant, I knew I’d get sick and didn’t care. I had recently miscarried my baby girl and wanted to be filled with a child inside growing and alive. My father had died unexpectedly four months prior and the sadness I felt was unbearable for him and my baby girl. I should have spent time building up my immune system and putting on weight to anticipate losing 20-30 pounds. Yet, I did not take that time to care for myself and dove into pregnancy. I was sick with HG the 40 full weeks.
Never Again can I let myself be pregnant again. Being pregnant destroyed my health and stole chunks from my life and weakened my bones (esp. teeth) and gums from the endless vomiting. My experience enduring HG were the hardest times I have encountered. My heart goes out to any woman with this right now.
Offer your support to women with severe, endless morning sickness. If you know a woman in the throes of severe morning sickness – HELP HER. By doing so, you can stop a condition which, left to itself, can require hospitalization. Dehydration and malnourishment can occur after only 1-2 days of persistent vomiting. Watch and notify doctor. There can be underlying physical causes for severe vomiting during pregnancy, but don’t think for a minute that her vomiting is psychically based. Make her a tray of ice cubes using Pellegrino sparkling water and lemon rind.
Place a lemon, lime, or orange in her hand to smell and keep close by. Peppermint is also great. Be inventive. During my third pregnancy my mother-in-law sent a pile of colorful, food magazines to pilfer through and see what jumped out. I could look through 10 of them and find one food, say strawberries, that was it. I had to be able to envisualize and taste the food before I could accept that food into my body. I never experienced this since and yet that was my experience.
The best suggestion I have, no matter what form of morning sickness you have, is implement a preventative lifestyle or diet changes months, years, before you conceive. When I was pregnant there was no internet or online group chats. I suffered alone in a dark bedroom or more than not, on the bathroom floor. Now there are Facebook groups and forums of women sharing what helps and commiserating together about feeling awful day after day after day. You can do this. If you can’t, seek out support.
My bright lights at the end of the tunnel of HG.
Severe Morning Sickness…what to eat when you can’t
Morning Sickness x’s 100… hyperemesis gravidarum
Morning Sickness: 10 foods for grey
May all bellies be happy!
2 replies on “My Experience Having Hyperemesis Gravidarum Three Times”
Morning sickness was so bad in my both pregnancies that it was killing me. I was puking and all the time was nauseating. No to morning sickness tea was the only remedy which worked with my second pregnancy and eased my sickness immediately.
Tear jerking along with the bits of humor, Tara. I remember your first pregnancy when you would ask me to please stop cooking and the way you walked like a zombie to the bathroom. In bed all day. I’d never seen anyone so sick. You’re right. Anyone with HG needs someone to help them. It is no fun. I also remember all the happiness surrounding the birth of a healthy baby boy.