just found out I am pregnant, I had hyperemesis in my first pregnancy. Any tips, advice etc?

[StillStuck]

Just found out I am pregnant again (4 +5 I think). I had hyperemessis for about 7 weeks (from week 6 to week 13) in my first pregnancy. I'm worried about it happening again and how I will cope with a toddler. I meant to go and speak to a gp before I got pregnant but things happened rather faster than I expected (it took 19 months last time, one bottle of wine too many this time )

I have booked a dr's appointment for as soon as possible to get in the system quickly, but wondered if anyone had any tips/ advice etc (or, even better, could tell me that they didn't get it in a subsequent pregnancy!). I learnt a lot about coping with it at the time, but it will be so different with a toddler (although at least he has nursery 2.5 days a week, and if I get desperate I could increase this a bit).

Once I was in the middle of hyperemesis last time I couldn't bear to read the support threads about it as even reading the word made me be sick (in fact, even moving slightly made me sick), so thought I better ask for advice in advance!

My 3 top tips are;

Keep hydrated (really, really hard I know - I'm telling you now as you will hate me for saying it in a few weeks)

Cut out all refined sugar, however much you think it will help.

Take vitamin B supplement.

Good luck, and congratulations!

thanks Lynette , I didn't know about the sugar thing or the vit B. I probably lived on sugar last time, will definitely try and see what happens if I avoid! does the vit B supplement need to be a special pregnancy one or is any supplement ok?

I did do the water thing though, it took an ridiculous amount of effort but I used to try and get a miniscule amount in my mouth every 10 minutes or so, little enough to trick my body into not realising I had ingested anything (otherwise it just came back up)

I know, I lived off chocolate bars in my first pregnancy, and only figured out cutting it out all together was the way forward third time round.

Personally, I took normal vit B, and actually took a double dose(because I found it really helped), but I'm not advising anyone else to do the same. Maybe ask your midwife.

I hated drinking water but found that drinking orange juice was a lot easier and it cut out that awful taste in your mouth.

I found drinking through a straw much better too.

This time round was a lot better for me as I actually knew I could ask for anti sick medication. I didn't know last time and ended up in hospital on a drip 7 times.
There was no way I could do that this time as I had dd to look after so insisted on the tablets and even though I still was sick a few times a day (still am at 33 weeks) its just so much better.

Good Luck!

thanks, have stocked up on Vitamin B!

spoke to my GP today and he just said I will have to wait and see what happens....

the good thing is that DS has me running around so much that I don't have time to worry about it in the day. the bad side is he is never going to stay still for more than about 3 minutes, however ill I am. and we have no family nearby!

seeking, I'm glad you found the tablets helped its encouraging to hear things are better this time for you. I couldn't keep them down a lot of the time last time round, so had to have injections on several occasions, but they would make a difference for a few hours at least.

am going to try and eat as healthily as I can, while I can, as what little food I ingested during those weeks last time was certainly not healthy

fingers crossed its not as bad this time!

ohhh, that's my other question - how do I know when / if I need to go to hospital for a drip?

I never went last time but sometimes I think I probably should have done. I think DH encourages me to soldier on too much sometimes (hence why hardly any of my labour was in hospital as from his descriptions to the midwifes they assumed I was still in the early stages!)

Get medicated as soon as possible. I'm just emerging from hg in my second preg, and while I have still been signed off work for a while, have avoided hospital through a combination of preemptive meds, rest rest rest, fluids and isotonics and careful diet. I've not lost as much weight this time and am starting to feel much better now at 16wk.

But seriously. Meds. Now. Tell your doctor you want Pre emptive meds as you had hg last time. There is lots of evidence that this really makes a huge difference - try the Hyperemesis support thread on here - Lucinda and the girls are so knowledgable and supportive and there are some great links. Meds might help you avoid hospital - how would you manage an admittance with a toddler? Don't let your gp fob you off - see a different one and ime don't ask - tell. I just said to mine I'm pregnant, had hg last time, been advised to start cyclisine before 8wks to avoid hospital and he wrote me a scrip. You do have to be quite confident about getting what you need (Mine asked me if I'd tried ginger biscuits. I asked hi if he'd tried vomiting 30 times a day, and if he had, did he think a higher biscuit would be a suitable alternative to a medicine? He was pretty helpful after that!)

Good luck. Manager carefully it CAN be better second time - I'm certainly not as bad. Will your DH look after you?

thanks Belle, that sounds like a good plan. I think first sign of nausea and I will ask for pre-emptive meds then. I took them last time but struggled to even keep them down.

I can't believe yours suggested ginger biscuits!! I am not a remotely violent person but I nearly punched a colleague at work when I finally returned last time and she suggested I should have maybe tried ginger!

DH was pretty good at looking after me last time, and he's very good with DS, but I suspect he is a bit nervous about this too (he's away, so I can't ask)

will head over to the support thread

With my first I was sick up to and including the day he was born.

With number 2 it kicked in at 4+5 and I was distraught - I didn't know how I was going to cope - luckily I still had a stash of drugs from the first time. I should've got myself hospitalised at least once but I hunkered down in bed and was about an hour away from going... (I won't call the doc unless something is hanging off )

Anyway - it passed! I actually had a fairly "normal" pregnancy in that sense - I had a few days here and there but by 12 weeks it was pretty much gone! :) So I hope you too have the same luck this time!