Hyperemesis Support

[LucindaE]

I hope everyone suffering from the Horrors of Hyperemesis will find this thread useful as a source of support and information.
There's no TMI on here - can't be by definition - and nobody should feel ashamed of moaning as much as they feel the need to.
MOH's wonderful website is full of useful information on this illness:
sites.google.com/site/pregnancysicknesssos
Another invaluable website is:
www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk
If you need help in obtaining medication, phone them on:
024 7638 2020
Lastly, the NICE guidelines on treatment are useful:
cks.nice.org.uk/nauseavomiting-in-pregnancy
I would like to thank everyone who has given such invaluable support and advice on this and on previous threads.
It has been suggested that I add some practical tooth cleaning advice: a lot of sufferers find using a child's small toothbrush and strawberry toothpaste far less nauseating.
On my image of a pink castle: that is an image I use because when I was little, my family had a Snakes and Ladders board with an image on the last square of a pink castle in the clouds. As Hyperemesis is so like a grotesque version of Snakes and Ladders - eat a meal, go up a ladder, first thing in the morning bile run, down a snake - I have used the image of that pink castle on the last square of that Snakes and Ladders board as a metaphor for the happy end of Hyperemesis.
Remember when you are at your worst, 'This Too Shall Pass'. It really will.
So many women on this thread have thought they couldn't get through this, but they did.

Hi all, I'd like to join. I've been suffering with sickness from around 6 weeks which has been getting progressively worse as the days go on. I'm now 10 weeks.

I average vomiting at 3/4 times a day and I can't keep anything down. I've read the thread and it seems like some people are getting hospitalised for this volume? Yesterday I noticed my lips had turned white and completely started to peel away sheds and sheds of skin, I think it could be a sign of dehydration. I only peed once yesterday and it was just a trickle, despite drinking some water?

I've rang the doctor and hospital and they said it's normal and to just deal with it, but I'm so worried my health is becoming really detrimental? I've lost half a stone since week 6 🙁 feeling so exhausted of dealing with sickness and horrible sick taste in my mouth constantly

I’m struggling as well with my 1 year old as he still breastfeeds. Apparently ondansetron is totally safe to take while feeding but honestly feeding him is draining me and there’s nobody to look after him so if I’m there he wants feeding and it’s almost unbearable as I feel so nauseous

Beau2020 it sounds like you are being fobbed off. I would book an emergency GP appointment, ask them to check keytones. I'd be surprised if you weren't really dehydrated. LucindaE often posts the helpline number for sickness, give them a call, they will have a good understanding.

12 weeks today, I have a smoothie in the morning 70% of the time I keep it down. I usually just have crisps for lunch and sometimes the glucose tablets. Dinner I will have a plain jacket and some orange juice. I really miss veg but I can't get on with any of it.

@Beau2020 whatever GP you saw before, request to see someone else. Some GP's are really dismissive but I think it helps to take someone with you to the appointment and go with things printed off from the sickness support charity. In the beginning I was too weak to fight. I did buckle and booked to see an obstetrician privately, I know this is a huge expense but I was at my wits end. It set me back about £300 but the drugs he prescribed helped me hugely within 48 hours. He was in London if anyone wants details, he's so helpful & sympathetic in treating HG.

@HairsprayBabe I couldn't stomach any veg in the beginning but tried overcooked peas and was surprised how well they managed to go down. Least you're managing to get goodness in you. That's great! I just feel like I hate all food, it's such an effort to think of what to try and stomach from one day to the next.

@kissingthebear thanks for the advice about the room spray. I can wake up at different times really, last night I had 3 hours sleep then continuously woke up every hour or so after that feeling very drained today.

@HairsprayBabe Christ, you’re having a time of it aren’t you! My diet looks very similar to yours, I actually cannot remember the last vegetable I had

@Beau2020 my lips get like that aswell. As well as the advice from others, buy yourself some ketostix online and you can keep an eye on your ketones at home. Drs/hospitals do take them seriously. Don’t worry about trying different drs if you can’t find a sympathetic one.

Beau2020 Welcome. It sounds as if you are dehydrated. It is probably worth going to local A and E if your urine is so scanty. Failing that, can you get an emergency appointment with an out of hours GP over the weekend? You certainly need meds. There are various ones that they can try. Scanty, dark urine and dry skin are two of the signs of dehydration. Don't let it go on too long as prolonged dehydration is bad for you and the baby. As others say, it is worth phoning Pregnancy Sickness Support on 024 7638 2020. They will phone you back with good advice. You have already had great advice.Here is my usual spiel, which may be familiar, as you have read the thread. Things do get a lot better for most sufferers somewhere between weeks 15 and 21. Even the unlucky minority who suffer throughout almost never feel as bad later on as they do in the early stages. A good anti-acid can make a big difference. Some drinks and foods of a sort that have helped others: flat full sugar coke, ice lollies, the juice of tinned fruit, Lucozade, fizzy water, Elderflower water, Robinson's fruit drinks, fizzy orange, lemonade, Dr Pepper, Elderflower coridal and tonic water (eallison's tipple), 7Up, Iron Bru, soda water, ice cubes, chocolate milkshakes (maybe soya), cocoanut milk, orange squash and sips of orange juice if not too acid. Some foods of a sort: nibbles of chips and crisps, baked potatoes, cuppa soup, cheap ice cream, tinned fruit, slices of melon and mango, Scotch pancakes and biscuits. It might be worth investing in some kesostix if you don't have them already as while they are not the best test of dehydration, hospitals do take notice of their measurement of ketones. They are available from any chemists, as it might be a good idea to get them quickly, or online.
HairsprayBabe Oh dear, what a series of misfortunes. Can they safely immunise you against getting chickenpox from your husband's shingles? Did they give no reassurance?
sickandtiredofsick I am afraid that Ondansetron does give some people headaches. On the other hand, it might be a dehydration headache. How are the fluids going down? It is very draining for you to be b/f ing when suffering from Hyperemesis. Is there any chance you might be able to top up with bottles for some of the feeds?
kissingthe bear Whatsnext11 and boulevardofbrokendreams Good advice, as ever.

I think as well it could be lack of caffeine as before hg hit I was a big coffee and tea drinker

Yes we’ve started today giving him some bottles as I just can’t do it it’s also he’s heavy and lies on me which makes me feel sicker

Heya. I’ve been following this thread for a while - flying under the radar and just having a good ol squiz ever now and then or whenever I had a new problem and just wanted that reassurance that I wasn’t alone in my experiences. I’m not really one to put myself out there, kinda tend to shy away from people, especially asking for help. But I’m almost at the end of my pregnancy now - 36 + 3 and as my c-section day is drawing ever nearer I felt it high time that I reached out and expressed my absolute gratitude to all you lovely woman (and men!) for all the aid and reassurance you’ve given me for the duration of the past 8mnths. So I raise a glass, to each one of you and say thank you! You are all beautiful woman and didn’t deserve this illness. You have been unlucky enough to have to endure a lot of pain, and excessive stress in time when life should have been brimming with joy and excitement, but you are strong and you will make it through. I know you will all bring gorgeous babies into this world, little humans you will be utterly devoted too and go above and beyond to ensure their lives are incredible and filled with opportunities. This has probably been one of the hardest experiences you have ever or will ever have to face. Speaking for myself, there were days I doubted I could do it, when all seemed dire and I just wished it all could disappear, that I could disappear. Those moments I felt so lost but I’d wrap my arms around my tiny bump, I’d hold on tight and I’d have faith the sun would again and happiness would come. I wasn’t in this for me anymore, I was doing this for my bubba. So ladies, hold onto hope, hold on to tomorrow and believe in yourself that you will be an astounding mother. -much love and best wishes xx

Hi all, sorry to just sort of barge in here and I hope you are all as well as you can be. I was on this thread throughout 2019 and had my baby (DC3) at the end of August. I remember former thread ‘residents’ popping in from the other side and thought I would do the same.

Two things prompted me. Firstly, I went for a routine blood test at the hospital and walking in early in the morning was like a sudden flashback to the times I wandered in there feeling terrible and just trying to make it through whatever appointment I had. Secondly, I was rummaging in my drawer looking for something when I stumbled on a bottle of cyclizine, must have been my last one pre-birth. Really took me back.

FWIW, HG is like a distant memory and I have these moments where I think, “Oh yeah, that happened, that was rubbish!”. I have a bit of a lingering fear of getting nauseous or sick, not that it’s happened at all, but I’m generally past it all. The sickness went about 4 hours after birth, but I think it took that time because of the drugs I was on in labour (induction). I had the syntocinon drip which can make anyone sick, they did also give me IV anti sickness meds (can’t remember what) and saline, but I was sick a couple of times after the birth. However, even that wasn’t that bad. I didn’t have the awful nausea, I just couldn’t keep anything down for a few hours (no tea and toast for me! I did have some tea but spewed it up pretty quickly!). However by about the 5 hour point I was fine, and by 6 hours after birth I was eating dinner like nothing had ever happened.

I was very lucky in that my work have a generous policy for sick leave in pregnancy, so I didn’t financially have to work (thankfully). I honestly don’t know how anyone does it and frankly I think it’s awful that sick pregnant women find themselves forced to work due to financial constraints. I ended up not working for my entire pregnancy - I was never well enough to go back, and even at my best I might pop to a local shop gently or join the school pick up but I never went much further than that.

It is probably quite horrible for many of you now, but hopefully you get some glimmers of relief - from about 23 weeks I was still ill but it wasn’t like the first half, where I barely left my bed. I could even venture into the kitchen, the living room, at one point I even cooked! After that halfway point things were much more bearable and manageable, for me, even if I still had to take it easy. Doing too much - which was basically doing anything - made it significantly worse.

Also, you all do absolutely deserve to be looked after. I know a lot of women feel guilty. Please don’t, please try not to. This is a serious, and rare/uncommon, illness. It isn’t ‘just’ pregnancy, it just happens to be an illness that only affects pregnant women. If you have a DP that now has to shoulder a lot, that’s fine. That’s life. I felt really guilty at first, but with time realised that I had been there for my DCs, and my DH through his own illness, and this was just one of those things we had to get through and it was ok for me to not be able to do anything and that I needed looking after. And it would have been very tiring for DH. But, that’s life, that’s a partnership, and this is our baby, so if I’m going to be in literal pain with the nausea and the vomiting then yes, he had to deal with everything else! He never once complained and completely appreciated my struggle, I recognise I do have a lovely DH. I really hope you can all have good support, as I know not everyone has understanding family or partners.

So having said all of that. DC3 is now 4.5mo and is a ridiculously gorgeous, happy baby who we are all so in love with. Our older DCs dote on her and I am glad we have her. It might have been a tough old slog, but we got there, and it is lovely.

I don’t want to minimise anyone’s experiences or be insensitive and it can be so hard, I just wanted to share my story from the ‘other side’ like so many other lovely women did when I was in the midst of suffering and just wishing my way to the end of pregnancy.

Wishing you all the very best

Thank you all so much for your kind replies. I have only just managed to read it and your responses made me cry! How nice it is to feel heard and understood.

Thursday was a really difficult day for me. I had to start my first day at a new project which required me to travel to Cardiff. I had to do a lecture for a full day in front of 50 people and I just kept telling myself please, please whatever you do don't be sick.

I had terrible visions of teaching people and then suddenly just projectile vomiting over someone. I woke up super early so I could get my breakfast out the way to vomit but I wasn't sick. I had a cereal bar which I snacked on throughout the whole day. I took regular toilet breaks to try and be sick but nothing. I then drove home and felt nauseas, then BAM I was sick everywhere the minute I walked through the door in my home.

I can't believe i actually held it in for a whole day!! I think I was so focussed on not being sick that it actually worked lol. Same again next Thursday 😞

@LadyLass and @beforeIhit30 what a lovely reminder of why we going through this! Best of luck for the future for the both of you.

@Beau2020 I had that a LOT during my first pregnancy - the fear of throwing up in front of confused little children terrified me so much that I could nearly always hold it in until I got to a safe place (usually the car on the drive home)

beforeihit30 Lovely to hear from you with your wonderful message of hope. I am so glad all of you are thriving, and baby is delightful, and that it seems a distant nightmare. Thank you so much for coming back on to encourage sufferers with such a lovely message.
LadyLass Thank you so much for coming on with encouragement and your great message encouragement, particularly as you are shy. I am so glad you have found the thread helpful. I am so glad you are close to meeting baby.

Beau2020 That was very brave of you, and very strong minded. Some sufferers are very good at keeping from vomiting at awkward times. I am sorry to say I wasn't always one of them! [ blush]Still, do see if there is any way to get effective meds to make it easier!
sickandtiredofsick You may be right about caffeine withdrawal. I hope it is that. I am so glad that you are topping for some feeds.
boulevardofbrokendreams I am in awe of how some sufferers can do that, as above!
Apologies to anyone rudely ignored or cross posted with.

Hi Ladies, hope you're all ok and don't mind me jumping in. i've been reading through this thread after someone mentioned the word 'hyperemesis' to me (i'd never heard of it before).
This is my first pregnancy and it's so very hard to know what's normal or not. I started getting nausea around week 5 or 6 but wasn't actually being sick at that time however It's got progressively worse and I'm currently on day 3 where I've spent the majority of time in bed - i'm sleeping so much, maybe 15 hours + a day!
I'm constantly nauseous and get dizzy whenever I sit or stand up so the only real relief I get is when I lie horizontal.
I'm currently throwing up about 3 times a day but it's just water and yellow bile as I'm not eating anything so nothing to bring up.
In between this, I'm also having 2 or 3 very dark coloured loose watery stools each day (sorry TMI).
I'm managing 1 or 2 sips of water at a time but then have to lie still for half an hour or so to let the nausea pass and hope it stays down (it's working most of the time). I know I'm not getting anywhere near enough fluids like this but it's better than nothing! I'm sure i'm dehydrated though as I've had a splitting headache for days and I'm only urinating once a day and it's really dark.
Food wise, I've only had a couple of fizzy sweets and some dry salted crackers. Anything else....toast, fruit, crisps etc has made me throw up at the very thought of it.
My sense of smell is unbelievable too. I'm gagging and wretching at everything...poor OH can't even breathe near me without me wretching in his face 🙈

I'm 8+5 and trying to figure out what's normal or what might be something more sinister. I'm finding this absolutely debilitating....please tell me it gets better?

Hyperemesis is hard to define - on the whole, it’s vomiting repeatedly but some people are diagnosed in predominantly nausea when it’s debilitating and leaves you unable to function or eat.

That said, I don’t think the diagnosis is important in your case right now. You get debilitating pregnancy sickness that isn’t HG but warrants as much medical care! You are clearly very dehydrated from your description. Please get yourself to the doctors or early pregnancy unit ASAP and tell them everything. They need to check you over but it sounds to me like you need some fluids. Dehydration is dangerous. Please do not struggle on thinking it’s normal. It’s not normal to not be able to eat or drink. If you need to, go to A&E and get some fluids from them. I did that on one occasion this pregnancy as it was the weekend & I hadn’t eaten or drunk in 48 hours. I knew I had to go ASAP after practically collapsing trying to move from bed to sofa.

Once you’ve sorted the critical aspect, ask your GP for some anti-sickness meds. There are lots available. Again, you don’t have to have HG to qualify. You clearly need something to help you be able to eat & drink. If your GP isn’t supportive, ask for a second opinion or go to your EPU. Have a look at the charity Pregnancy Sickness Support. You can print off information on anti-sickness to take to your GP if you need backup! There’s also a helpline to ring if you really need some support or advice.

Sending love @sel2223 , it sounds like you are really struggling

@Bol87 thank you so much for your helpful reply!
I'm currently away in Turkey but fly back on Tuesday night then have midwife appointment at local hospital first thing Wednesday morning.
I really, really want to avoid going to hospital here if I can as the excess on my insurance is high plus i'm worried they won't let me fly home!
Any tips for getting through the next 48 hours? I've sent OH for ice pops and full fat coke. I'm also trying to up my water sips. I know dehydration is my main concern....I've still got an awful headache and not urinated once yet today! My skin is also really dry and my lips cracked and sore

I can see the most beautiful blue sky outside but been bedridden for 3 days so unable to enjoy it. Feeling so low right now.

Is it really bad to leave dehydration untreated for a few days? Or is it ok to try and sort it yourself first?

sel2223 Welcome. You have already had great advice from Bol87. Unfortuantely, while I am not medically qualified, I do know that it is bad to get very dehydrated for too long, and medics treat a pregnant woman unable to retain fluids for more than 24 hours as a medical emergency. From the sound of it you are very dehydrated. I do think you must go to a doctor's or the emergency department of a hospital. It is a nuisance if you can't claim it back on your insurance, but the health of you and your baby is the main thing and you will be in such a state by Tuesday if this goes on that you won't be able to walk to the plane anyway.

@sel2223 colder fluids seem to sit best, so keep up with icy cold water/coke. I can’t even imagine being on holiday and suffering. Thinking of you.

Waves to everyone else. Thank you all so much for your kind words and wishes. I’m focusing mostly on ignoring the pregnancy (hard when I’m bed-ridden and nauseous constantly). I have my amnio on this coming Friday, and had a disastrous meeting with the OB last week. They can’t do anything for me in my current city, and everything has to be arranged for one 3hrs away. Which is infuriating when I have 2 little ones and HG.

Hope everyone is coping the best they can.

@sel2223 I was definitely dehydrated without medical treatment in my first trimester, simply because I didn't know any better and my GP had dismissed my initial concerns. I'm 25 weeks now and as far as is possible to tell everything is fine with the baby. However if I could turn back time I would have taken myself to hospital and insisted upon help. Despite receiving lots of reassurance since, I have experienced high levels of anxiety and regret that I didn't find a solution quicker X

Hi, just wanted to drop in and say hi and thank you. Since I posted a few weeks back, I took a turn for the worse; I got flu over Xmas too and my body just couldn't cope with that and the hyperemesis... I've ended up tearing 2 holes in my abdomen muscle (around where my appendix scar is and just below my belly button/above my c-section scar) from nearly 30wks of violent vomiting topped off with heavy coughing fits from the flu...
finally the doctors listened to my begging though - but it took me collapsing at a consultant's appointment and throwing up all over him and the midwife!
The care I got was horrific and a totally different thread - so bad that I'm going on Wednesday to transfer care to the hospital I had my son at 4yrs ago, even though it's double the distance away. Doesn't really matter though because now I have these tears, I won't be able to go through normal labour and push a baby out without creating more damage, so I have to have a planned section anyway. And probably closer to 37wks rather than the usual 39wks - the holes aren't able to heal while my bump is going to be growing over the next 10wks as it is, so as long as I hit 37wks now, they are happy. If my tummy is holding out and not causing further tears, and I'm not showing signs of going into labour, then we will push for maybe 38wks and then reassess. But we'll see...
My GP finally put me on metoclopramide last week, and the sickness has stopped! I can only eat small amounts, because I have no room in my bump (I have lost over a stone since falling pregnant so I am literally all bump - and it's still a very tidy one, but so tight and uncomfortable that there is no room for anything extra!), but I can finally eat... I am almost ravenous!
Thank you for this group - although it may have seemed like I posted and ran, I was checking back on here everyday and it was giving me the support I needed to get through my darkest days, when I was having my darkest thoughts. Some of those thoughts I am so desperately sad I ever had and so grateful that I'm out of that headspace now.
I don't think I would have got the help I needed if it wasn't for advice given both to me and the other women suffering on here, so thank you so much.
Much love and gratitude to you all - and best wishes for all that you are all going through xxxxx

@beforeIhit30

Thankyou for your story! It is a breath of fresh air to hear some positivity and not just 'it was the worst time of my life, end of story'

I’m struggling today. Headache horrific and feeling so sick I actually look the most awful grey/white colour and I’m dizzy

Have another appt Friday at epu I’m struggling to look after ds and have nobody to help me I’d cry but my head hurts too much. I’m only about 7+2 I don’t know how I’m going to do this I feel horrific

Melleebacca What you are going through is incredibly tough. I have been thinking of you (as I am sure has everyone else) and will be thinking of you on Friday.
WatchingFriendsOnRepeat That sounds horrific, getting those tears. I heard of pulled muscles with Hyperemesis but that tearing holes is gruesome. I hope you will be able to sue them for negligence. I am so glad that this thread has helped and so glad you are on a medication that helps.
PastnowFuture In advising sufferers, one errs on the side of caution, but you mustn't torture yourself about any damage that might have happened as a result of dehydration as I am sure that all sufferers on here have been more dehydrated than they should have been at some point. Rather, it's not a good idea for sufferers to delay treatment if they can possibly get some - and it frankly isn't always possible to get it early when medics can be so dismissive.
sickandtiredofsick A comb ination o f a violent headache and sickness and looking after a toddler is dreadful. I know that from my migraines, though not from looking after a toddler with Hyperemesis. I really feel for you. I hope LO goes to sleep early, or has watched a fair bit of television or films or whatever. It is very hard early on. Things will almost certainly get a lot better.
BeautyandtheBump I so agree about beforeIhit30's post.
Waves to sel2223. There has been an amazing storm raging outside, with hailstones crashing against the windows,but it's calmed down a lot now.

Thank you xxx

I'm not sure about suing because no one actually died... but the trauma is something that will stick with me forever. Once this pregnancy is over I may look into a law suit but tbh I think I will just be glad it is over and want to get on with my life with my children. However I do worry about the care continuing like that for other people and another woman not being so lucky, with it ending in a worse situation than I did.

I actually started a thread ( When is it going to end???? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/3785771-when-is-it-going-to-end ) to rant on and get a hand hold just after the new year, which will explain in more detail what happened, but it doesn't even cover half of it. It doesn't include the bullying and almost sadistic nature of the midwives on the ward I was admitted to. I lost control of my bowels and bladder twice, because I was straining so hard being sick, coughing AND choking on my own mucus and vomit and I was on the floor collapsed. They wouldn't help me up off the floor because they said it was against hospital policy, in case they hurt their backs (I'm not a big person at all!), they wouldn't get me a change of clothes and I hobbled to the bathroom in my soiled and wet underwear pushing a "portable" drip with broken wheels to try and clean myself up and there were families and men walking around the corridor because they had put me on the postnatal ward. I was surrounded by people and no one would even hold the door open for me. Again I collapsed on the floor and soiled myself again. I was just shouted at that this wasn't the kind of ward I can "behave" like that until I crawled away. No one would help me. Eventually I ripped my own cannula out, (i had it in for hours but the drip wasn't working and I had no fluids for 14hrs in total - considering I was there because of dehydration, it was horrific) took my notes and maternity book from the midwives office without them saying a word to me, just staring at me and shrugging their shoulders and left. I could hear them loudly saying "whatever, if she wants to leave, we can do with the bed anyway!" And saying "what does she expect, this is the post natal ward, not the antenatal one - we shouldn't have to look after people like her in her state!" Oh and the one who had to buzz to let me out, said over the buzzer "you'd better not be driving yourself" and that was it.
I did drive myself - I had no choice. My mum had my son, it was 11:45pm on NYE... I just needed to get home. Cried the whole way but felt like I'd just been released from capture or prison! Got a Diet Coke from the drive through Mac Donald's at midnight and took myself to bed with a bottle of water (after I had as good a wash as I could manage).
My mum came in when she saw my car when they got home from the meal they were all at (they live next door, if I was well enough it had been a planned night out including me so I did tell my parents they still had to go and at least let my son enjoy some part of Xmas/NY) with my son and friends and one of her friends is actually a very senior private nurse and used to be a midwife. She stayed with me for nearly 2 days, on and off, making me sip water, testing my ketones, blood pressure, making me eat a cracker here, a grape there, a bit of plain rice... I don't remember her being there, but she definitely saved me.
The whole experience feels like a horror movie/torture movie and I still can't get across just how bad it was. I do know I have a responsibility to at least put in a massive complaint - I also have big ties to newspapers and magazines so I'm tempted, if I have the mental and emotional strength and no more issues here on, to go to the press if I'm not heard. We'll see though. If they properly apologise and make changes to ensure it doesn't happen again then I have to give them that chance. But I would never forgive myself if a mother and/or child suffer because I didn't speak up.

My GP actually said "well it was NYE, so they would've been short staffed or agency staff" - right... so that's why I nearly died??????? That's ok then...

Got my appt on Wednesday to change hospitals and I can't wait. Now the sickness has gone and the anxiety over the birth and feeling like I have no choice about where I have the baby is being taken care of, I can finally enjoy this pregnancy. All 7/10 weeks left of it anyway!!!!

Thing is, once HG is over - it really is over, isn't it?! It's like night and day!!!!

What I'm saying, ladies, is that you can get through this. Just make yourself heard, don't stand for less than you and your baby deserve. Once it's over, it will all seem like a distant dream.

I do feel like I've gone through the ultimate fight to have this baby - emotionally, physically, everything. Not just the HG but also the flu and my relationship break down... this baby and my son got me through it and now I feel stronger than ever, more empowered than I've ever felt and the bond the 3 of us (bump, son and myself) have is something you can only imagine! I won't go so far as to say I'm glad it happened, but I will say I can see the glass half empty and the positives that come out of it rather than staying in the dark and feeling suicidal, like I did just over a week ago!

Like I said - night and day. Just hold out for the day and you will get there xxxxxxxx