Morning sickness - is this normal?

[CalFairy89]

I’m currently 9+5 with my first baby and have been suffering with all day nausea, vomiting once or twice a day and dizziness/headaches since about 5 weeks.

I know this is meant to be the ‘peak’ but is it normal that I feel too ill to get out of bed?! I can barely stomach food and I’m sipping water but I just feel so nauseous and ill like I’ve got a virus
or something. I’ve got aches and pains in my back etc which I’m guessing is stretching pains.

I just feel rotten and looking for those who can relate and tell me it will get better?! I’m like a shell of a woman who has lived in pyjamas for weeks.

Dr prescribed cyclizine which I’ve been taking on days when I feel particularly worse but feel bad taking it.

Sorry you're feeling this way OP. Unfortunately for some of us it's normal when pregnant. I'm currently 10 weeks and really feeling it too with sickness and all day nausea. I was like this too when I was pregnant with my son (now 2.5 yo) but it feels worse this time as my sense of smell is so heightened, everything sets me off 🤦🏼‍♀️

For me the first time around it eased off around 12 weeks and I stopped feeling and being sick completely at 14 weeks roughly.

Hang in there, your body is working overtime at the moment. Sip water when you can and try to eat little and often - really dry plain food like crackers, toast, salted crisps, etc. If you feel like you're not getting enough in and feel dehydrated, contact your midwife.

@Lottie917 sorry to hear you’re struggling too - can completely relate to any smells setting it off!

Managed to eat a bit more around the nausea this afternoon, will just take each day as it comes!

It has knocked me sideways and taken the excitement out of it as I feel so rough, which I then feel guilty about.

Fingers crossed it settles for us both soon.

I'm so sorry you're feeling so rough. I was the same with my first and after a week in bed I spoke to a midwife who was so lovely and told me I didn't have to live like this.

When I saw the doctor and got the cyclizine (and a lovely antisickness jab so I could keep the tablets down) he said to take the tablets three times a day as prescribed, religiously, for at least a week. That'll get on top of it and allow me to eat and drink and get my strength back. Once I'm back on my feet and eating normally, I can try missing one here and there if I feel able to manage symptoms. They also told me not to fear them or feel bad about it.

I took them a lot until it eased and I know a few who had those and a couple other antisickness tablets through their whole pregnancies! It's better for you to be well enough to eat and drink and be on your feet. Good luck, I promise it ends!

Thank you @Olivia199 - maybe the cyclizine works better consistently rather than sporadically as I’ve been doing.

Really positive to hear reassurance about taking it, like I said I felt bad/scared of taking it too much but as you say - better to be on my feet and able to eat and drink properly.

Did yours also settle toward the end of the first trimester?

@CalFairy89 - I found the build up effect of them much much better than the sporadic taking. Once I was eating and drinking I could regularly leave out the night time one but would wake earlier than my alarm to take the morning one. Meant I got to lay until it worked some. Then I could eat breakfast and mostly get through the day. By 11-12 weeks I'd stopped my IVF meds which probably helped but yes, things started to settle. Just one tablet here and there (normally if something set me off or if I didn't eat quickly enough and it turned to nausea and inevitably rejecting whatever I then DID eat.)

I got into a great routine of breakfast in the car on the way to work which starved off my vomming on the side of the motor way.

By 14 weeks I was eating like a horse and the tablets were long forgotten!

I felt so so bad too, but was reassured constantly by the doctor and midwife that it really was okay, that they wouldn't prescribe it if it wasn't and that it would be a positive for the little human I was growing.

I've just found out I'm pregnant with number 2 and the first sign of it being as bad this time and I'll be straight back on them without a single feeling of guilt!!

My dc are grown and l can still remember that awful sickness. First time l was so excited for about a week and after that l felt like someone had injected poison into my body. Every part of me felt sore and sick. I was miserable. Don't push yourself if at all possible. I had to stay out of work and found about two things l could eat. It is very tough.

I think cyclizine works better when you take it regularly. Don't feel bad, take the meds!

Don't feel bad take the meds! I've had 2 hyperemesis pregnancies and medicated both times and both times the medication allowed me to function. Unfortunately with my second I was sick 9-38 weeks first was 6-18 weeks. There are other meds other than cyclizine as well. Good luck x

Normal - yes

OK - no

Keep talking to the doctor and midwife - there are things that can be done, but also it is important you are monitored.

I ended up in hospital on a drip being rehydrated. But it all ended up fine, just be aware you might need further intervention.

Sorry you’re feeling so crap OP, I was the same and was basically bed bound from week 6-12, had sickness up to 20 weeks but it tailed off towards the end. I’m 26 weeks now and feeling back to normal. The nausea is awful, I wanted to curl up in a ball and die! Couldn’t keep anything down.
I eventually went to the docs when I was 9 weeks and got cyclizine, like you I was hesitant to take it but it did take the edge off and my baby is perfectly fine. Please don’t be a hero and just take the meds if you find they work for you.
perhaps try some bread and butter and fresh air - sending hugs

Thanks all for your kind comments. Always nice to know when people can relate! The doctor said as long as I’m keeping fluids in I should be okay at home, which I am. I’ve lost about half a stone over the past month, and I’m already on the slim side so was worried about that too! Will give the cyclizine a go properly.