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Pregnancy

Coping with hyperemesis

4 replies

Jo15 · 11/01/2005 11:02

Dear All

This is the first time I have used a message board but am hoping that I can get some much needed tips. I have a 22 month old daughter and am hoping to try for a second baby. However, first time round I have terrible hyperemesis and was hospitalised for 3 weeks with dehydration. I was on medication for the sickness throughout the pregnancy and felt very rough.

What terrifies me now is going through all that again with a toddler to look after. I just don?t know if I am strong enough to cope. When I have looked at hyperemesis websites I just get more depressed because the stories I have read talk of mums aborting pregnancies because they cannot cope with the nausea. Last time round I got through it because I only had to think of me and could laze around and not do anything. I have little family close by so know that I will have to cope for a lot of the time on my own. I would be very grateful if anybody can offer any advice and stories of how they coped in a similar situation. Look forward to hearing from you?

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expatkat · 11/01/2005 11:21

Jo, I haven't been through this so can't say for sure, but one close friend of mine had hyperemesis through one pregnancy, but hardly any nausea at all through her other two. She said the lesson she learned was that every pregnancy is different. But I don't want to falsely reassure you, because I don't know the facts on this, just my friend's experience.

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misdee · 11/01/2005 11:26

Hi Jo.

i had severe mornoing sicknes swith all my pregnancies. This one (3rd) i was hospitalised for a week when i was 16 weeks gone. The first two pregnancies i just got on with it, mainly as my gp wouldnt take me seriously when i said how sick i was being. I was vomiting 3-4times a day. Not everyone is sick with pregnancy, and i really wish i was one of those lucky few who bloom, but io just end up feeling rotton. Its very wearing, but i keep reminding myself i will have a lovely baby at the end of it all.

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helsy · 11/01/2005 17:14

Jo15, I fully understand the feeling of not being able to cope with a pregnancy and hyperemesis. I've had it twice, and in my darkest moments I felt I would do anything that would stop the constant sickness.

My understanding, unfortunately, is that if you've had it once the chances are you'll have it again and possibly worse.

I had it with dd1 (now 5) for about 24 weeks, and like you I was in hospital for a week on a drip. I kept working, had about a month off, lost two stone. I was on my own (no dp at the time) and had no other children which in a way was better as I only had to worry about myself so I just ate what I could when I could and drank lots even if I couldn't keep it down for long. No natural remedies seemed to work and I had Stemetil - an anti sickness drug, which worked.

Second time round was very different. Dd2 is now 7 months. I started with hyperemesis at 6 weeks and it continued until the day I had her! I was in hospital four times for over a month altogether on a drip every time because I was seriously dehydrated, lost 3 stone and had a horrible time.
I had about three types of sickness medicine, none of which did much though injections seemed to work better than suppositories or tablets for me.
It is harder with another child, and we don't have family nearby either.

I couldn't go in the kitchen at all without throwing up, so dh and dd1 survived on cold food and ready meals.

If friends and neighbours offered help, we took it.

I kept dd1 in nursery even when I was off sick ( for four months).

This time I discovered that drinking tea with fresh ginger before lifting my head off the pillow in the morning helped a little. How i would have coped without dh I don't know. His employers were very good - it's worth telling them if your dp ends up looking after you for a while.
Once I started feeling a bit better at about 7 months I spent as much time as I could with dd1 and spoilt her rotten, and she had a great present from the baby to say thank you for looking after mummy. It was horrible having to say go away mummy's not well, and being in bed all the time, but we all got through it - you always know it's going to end, just like labour pains, that's the thing, and to compensate I had a lovely calm baby who slept through the night for about three months (not that she does now) and rarely cries! Basically you just do whatever it takes to get through it. For two weeks I lived on hot chocolate, and for a week on chips and dips! HTH, contact me if you want to know anything else.

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Jo15 · 12/01/2005 09:31

Thank you for your help. It has been great hearing from people who have been through the same experience. I don't know anybody else who had a pregnancy like mine so it is comforting to know other people have been through it more than once and lived to tell the tale!!

Thanks again. I am definitely going to take up the tip of tea with ginger - that was the one thing I didn't try last time.