Hyperemesis & Second Baby

[MrsRosaline]

Hi there

My husband and I have decided to have a second baby. I struggled very badly with hyperemesis in my first pregnancy.

I'd really like to hear from anyone who has experienced hyperemesis whilst also caring for a toddler and how that all worked. We have no family nearby and I'm worried that I won't be able to do it.

I would be so grateful for any advice or experiences. Thanks!

I really don’t want to put you off.
I’m 7 weeks pregnant with my second, my HG is even worse this time.
Until Saturday I hadn’t kept food down in 3 weeks. All I did was sleep and get sick. I’m now a different medication I’m not getting sick but makes me super tired. I haven’t been able to do a thing for DD 19 months in any of this time. We are fortunately at my parents because on top of everything else we are moving house.
I don’t want to put you off, this is my desperately wanted baby after my second miscarriage. But there is know way I could do it without my parents a DH.

Hopefully I can give you some optimism - I had HG first time round, lost 15% body weight in the first trimester and was in a terrible state. I was wary of getting pregnant again, so spoke to my GP preemptively about medication and not having to mess about with first line drugs this time.

However... I’m currently 7+4 with my second, and feel absolutely fine. Have had no nausea, absolutely no sickness and barely any other symptoms so far. I was so weirded out I ended up getting an early scan, and saw a heartbeat on Monday.

Fingers crossed for you

I had dreadful hg with my first, I was literally being sick until 34 weeks when dd was born. I did get hg with my second, but fewer hospital admissions and I was able to enjoy my second pregnancy. Caring for the first one was hard while carrying the second, but not impossible.

I was confined to bed for six weeks in my first pregnancy with what I now know was HG. Before I got to that point I was vomiting daily at work (not ideal when you are dealing with the public).This was back in the Dark Ages, so no meds and precious little support. Four years later I was pregnant again and apart from one incidence of feeling a little queasy when I caught a whiff of a hotel breakfast, I had no nausea at all and absolutely no vomiting.

I had hyperemesis with my first and was told by everyone that it would likely be worse with my second.
I honestly was considering finding a surrogate to carry my second child as my first pregnancy had been that awful.

When I found out I was pregnant again, I was honestly devastated and had therapy to cope. In the entire pregnancy with my second, I was sick 5 times. God knows why the hyperemesis didn't return but it didn't.
Hopefully you'll have a good outcome too 😊 good luck x

I had HG with my 2nd and DD was 3 years old. To be honest it was really difficult and I relied a lot on my mum for support (ex was useless). I don’t think I would’ve got through it without her.

That being said I’m now 31 weeks pregnant with no 3 and while I had quite bad morning sickness for about a month it was def not HG and very manageable so it’s not a given that you’ll have it again!

Not hyperemesis but with my first baby I had terrible terrible indigestion and had to be on strong medication to manage it. I felt very ill a lot of the time. Then with the second baby, I didn't have it at all!

I'm currently 10 weeks pregnant as well as having a 4 year old and in a similar situation of having no parents/family to support. First pregnancy I was fine, just nauseous all the time, this time round I've had severe morning sickness (although not as bad as HG) and have been more or less bed/bathroom bound for weeks. The medication which works for me also makes me completely spaced out and unable to work or drive so it's a bit of a balancing act. My poor DH is run ragged working, keeping house and looking after the 4 year old. It's not great, not going to lie, but it is doable if you can get on top of the meds early.

My HG started earlier the second time but wasn’t as severe. It was harder though. DC1 was 14 months when I got pregnant again. Thankfully he was in childcare but to be honest it took a big strain on my mental health, I felt so I’ll i considered aborting despite it being a planned pregnancy and I suffered PND for 2 years after due to the difficult pregnancy. But I don’t regret anything now. I had little support as DH was working out the home, my parents both worked full time so on my days off in the week I was alone, sick and looking after toddler. When I was off sick and he was in childcare that was easier.
My bf had no HG the second time around though, in fact no nausea at all in her second pregnancy.

I had severe sickness with DD1 and HG with DD2. In the majority of cases sickness and HG worsen with each pregnancy, but you can make it easier. I knew the signs second time around and was signed off work the moment I started being sick at 5 weeks, and also started meds before things got worse. I was off work for weeks but that gave me time to rest while DD was in nursery (19 months). It was incredibly hard and I wouldn't do it again. We had no help and my DH found it hard to pick up the slack. I was sick until 36 weeks when DD2 arrived but was able to parent by 20 weeks. Looking back now I have no regrets and you muddle through, but just have to accept that things will be tough for a while.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. It seems like there's a really mixed bag here, and it's total chance/luck. Some of this has been reassuring to read, so thank you.

I am on medication for extreme sickness now with my 2nd, didn't have any with my first. I managed as I have an extremely supportive partner who took over most of the toddler minding in the first few weeks. Being brutally honest I would have considered termination if I didn't have support (and this was a planned and longed for pregnancy). It was completely debilitating and I couldn't look after my toddler by myself, no way. I was not prepared for how hard it would be, as I said I had nothing but ordinary nausea with baby 1. Hopefully it will be easier this time OP but in your shoes I'd be down the GP with the first whiff of a BFP to discuss meds if you start to suffer again

I had HG, I had two step children living with me at the time aged 7 & 5 and a husband who left at 5am for work. The plus side to my situation was that the two children were old enough (mostly) to dress themselves and help me a bit. I don't really know how I did it tbh.

I've not had any more children, I couldn't do it again.

Having said that, my mum had HG with me but not my younger sister so it's not guaranteed you'll have it again, I just couldn't have taken the risk!