Morning Sickness

by sconway | More from this Blogger

07 Apr 2011 09:40 AM

We've been charting my cycles since the beginning of our marriage. First to postpone pregnancy, finally after two years to achieve pregnancy. Thanks to our charts and my basal body temperature, we knew we were pregnant without taking a home pregnancy test. Still we took the test anyway to confirm. The next day morning sickness hit me like a ton of bricks. We had made stir fry for dinner the night before. Just smelling the left overs made me want to vomit. The thought of eating red onions or edamame made me want to yak. The smell of sweet potatoes baking in the oven made me flee the house.

I thought I would be like my mom. My mom had nine children over the span of twenty years. She delivered all of us naturally and without any pain medication. She never complained about any discomforts. She was and is always very selfless.

My mother only experienced morning sickness with her first and last pregnancies. With the oldest she said she only had mild morning sickness, and with the youngest she had more "typical" symptoms in early pregnancy. If she was feeling fatigued or nauseated she just ate something and felt better. I'd eat something and feel the urge to run to the bathroom. Additionally, she always gave birth before her projected due dates. Either way my mom is a rock star and I was hoping that my morning sickness experience would be similar to hers.

Not so, the fatigue and nausea rushed in the moment I got out of bed. The only foods I could eat without the fear of wanting to hurl were toast and oranges. Of course I forced myself to eat an array of other foods; sometimes I kept it down, other times I did not. Every morning was the same routine: wake up, vomit (or at least dry heave), eat something, feel like puking again, go to work (I'm a high school teacher), vomit (or dry heave) some more, pull myself together to teach, go home, eat something, feel yucky, take a long nap, wake up, eat something else, go to bed, repeat.

My morning sickness lasted from week five to week fifteen. As quickly as it came on, it ended. Thank goodness! I got my appetite and energy back and was ready to enjoy being pregnant!

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Sarah is a wife, mother, educator, researcher, nutrition and fitness enthusiast, artist, culinary innovator, ethics advocate, and overall lover of learning.

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