Anyone avoid hyperemesis in a subsequent pregnancy?

[SomeSunnySunday]

I'm getting a bit worried about not feeling ill enough!

With DC1 I had constant nausea up until 12 weeks (can't remember when it started, maybe 6 weeks), but was only sick a little - maybe once / twice a day during the worst couple of weeks.

With DC2 I had hyperemesis from 5 to 25 weeks, was hospitalised at various points, took antiemetics and just felt generally horrible 24 hours a day.

I am now in the early stages with (we hope) DC3 (6 weeks ish), but don't feel too bad. Very tired, waves of nausea that last an hour or two, but it definitely comes and goes, and in between I feel fine. I've only actually been sick twice.

I've also had a couple of early MCs (barely felt sick at all with these pregnancies) so I'm on the nervous side. I can't believe I actually want to feel worse - well, I'm sure I don't, but I had resigned myself to another awful pregnancy, and the "normal" level of morning sickness that I'm experiencing doesn't seem enough to put my mind at ease.

Just me?

sunnyday statistically HG recurs 80% of the time. So you really don't want to bet on it, but 1 in 5 women with healthy pregs will NOT have the HG again.

There is some correlation between feeling sick and having a healthy preg but it's really not cut and dried. Plenty of people without nausea have healthy pregs and, well, sadly vice versa. You said you have waves of nausea (more than in the MCs?) and are sick once or twice so it sounds like you have maybe just enough sickness but not so much that life becomes an HG misery ...?

Just a note, you are only 6 weeks and at very high risk for another HG preg.

All the research and recommendations show that taking appropriate meds early, before the worst of the HG nausea hits, allows the meds to work more effectively and staves off the worst of the HG. It is probably worth making a doctor's appointment to talk it over with him or her and to plan ahead and maybe get the meds now (have you got a supportive doc?). The highest risk of it starting is in the next two weeks, so now is the time.

The meds, specially the first line meds they'd probably give you eg cyclizine + B6, have been used for several decades and are considered completely safe. Anythign that helps avoid the life-sapping misery of HG is worthwhile.

Good luck =)

Thanks Meerka, that is really helpful. I do feel horribly nauseous (and far worse than I did with the MCs) - for the last few days I've felt pretty grim all morning, and then again in the evening. It's the spell of feeling OK in between that's throwing me! I think if I hadn't experienced HG I'd think I felt dreadful, but I know that how I feel now is nothing at all like how I felt with HG. I have absolutely no problem keeping fluids down, and have a healthy appetite between the bouts of nausea.

It's all further complicated by the fact that we are not in the UK just now (and this pregnancy, although very welcome, was not planned), but in a dodgy part of Africa where healthcare is not to be relied on. I wouldn't take any antiemetics I was prescribed here, as I wouldn't trust them to be what they said they were IYSWIM. Oh how I wish I had a friendly NHS midwife to ask! We are still technically UK resident (and entitled to NHS care) so I am planning a trip home soon (I just don't want to jinx things by going too early), and will stock up on ketone testing strips - DH and I have decided that at the first hint of HG in this pregnancy the children and I will get on a flight back to England and move in with my parents.

some I had hyperemesis in a previous pregnancy. This time I had quite mild nausea and sickness (in comparison) from 8 to 14 weeks. I'm now 22 weeks and everything seems to be going good.

Thanks nearly, I really hope that I have the same experience. HG is so bloody awful in any situation, but would be a nightmare to deal with here - it's just a little disconcerting to feel this well (as in, able to function through the nausea).

I had hyperemesis with DC1 throughout the pregnancy, but this time the sickness was less (around 4 times p/day) and stopped around week 20. It's been a totally different experience and with a still wriggly baby at 39+2, has not signified a less healthy pregnancy.

I hope you've dodged it this time

I had HG with dc1 entire pregnancy, hospital admissions etc... Just bad morning sickness til about 20 weeks with dc2 and only mild nausea at the beginning with dc3! Can't tell you how relieved I was as first pregnancy was so hard! I understand the worry though and wish you well :)

Thanks all, I really do think I need a kick up the bottom for complaining about not being ill enough! Hope it lasts. Good to know that it's possible to avoid HG and still have a healthy pregnancy.

I had hg with DS from week 7 until week 20, vomiting up to 10x per day. I'm now 7 weeks with dc 2 and have been having nausea for the last week, but no sickness and mainly the nausea strikes when I'm hungry/driving. This gives me some hope for an hg free pregnancy as last time the hg struck very suddenly and severely, rather than beginning with the type of nausea I'm experiencing now. I'm the only person I've met who is desperately hoping for 'just' normal morning sickness!

I had hg with dc1 from 7 weeks to 42, hospital admissions the lot.

I had literally nothing with dc2 just sick a few times in the first few weeks and that was that

ouch, not being able to get good meds must be a bit of a worry. Good idea to plan ahead of time for what-if you have to get back to the UK for proper care (how on earth do people who live there all the time cope with HG ).

it sounds like you might be lucky though =) fingers crossed for you!

Meerka, sadly I think locals with hyperemesis might do really badly here. There is some decent(ish) healthcare, but at a price so its not available to he majority of the population, and even then I wouldn't trust them to stick to pregnancy-safe antiemetics. Maternal and infant mortality rates are high. We are so lucky to have the NHS .

Was so keen to be able to update this thread with good news, but it appears that I just jumped the gun a bit. After a week of increasing nausea with sporadic chucking up, the vomiting has started in earnest today, and I haven't kept any food down at all (been just about ok with fluids). Now deluding myself that because it has started a bit later this time, at 7+ weeks, this is a good sign that it may also finish earlier than last time....