Pregnancy with HG
When you first find out you’re pregnant and you’re staring at the two pink lines you feel a mix of emotions. For me I was so excited to be lucky enough to carry this little fetus in me protecting it from the outside world. I was prepared for my belly to grow bigger, my boobs to get larger, for my stomach to get stretch marks and for some odd pregnancy cravings. What I was not expecting was to be so nauseated that I wouldn’t be able to eat anything for nine entire months.
Welcome to a pregnancy with HG or hyperemesis gravidarum. According to the National Institute of Health, “Hyperemesis gravidarum refers to intractable vomiting during pregnancy, leading to weight loss and volume depletion, resulting in ketonuria and/or ketonemia. There is no consensus on specific diagnostic criteria, but it generally refers to the severe end of the spectrum regarding nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. This activity highlights the role of the interprofessional team in the prevention and management of hyperemesis gravidarum.”
Once we confirmed the heartbeat at seven weeks I was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t nauseous yet and was just so excited to be growing a baby in me. I didn’t start to feel nauseous until nine weeks when I would dry heave and sometimes throw up bile in the morning, but then go on to eat a normal breakfast of fruit, eggs, and sausage and go to work.
By ten weeks I would throw up in the morning twice, barely be able to stomach a saltine cracker. Eat a light lunch of fruit and throw up on my drive home from work. I would then try to drink a smoothie and end up throwing that up before falling asleep. At my twelve week appointment I relayed this message to my OB who told me this was normal and should subside by 16 weeks. She said if things get worse to come back and they could give me medicine and fluids if I were to become dehydrated.
Later that week I woke up and couldn’t stop vomiting. It was nonstop. I threw up bile, then more bile, then I was dry heaving. Once I thought it stopped I drank some water and quickly threw that up. I tried to eat a banana but threw it up. I had to call in sick to work and go to the same day evaluation clinic at my OBGYN’s office.
I was told I was dehydrated and down about 10 pounds from my pre pregnancy weight. When I conceived my daughter I weighed 142 lbs. They weighed me at 12 weeks pregnant at 133lbs. I was told to take unisom at night and vitamin B12 during the day to help with my nausea. I did as they instructed but my nausea and vomiting didn’t stop. For four weeks I battled myself on if I was doing the right thing for my body and my growing baby.
I had to work from home three out of five workdays and the days I would go into work I would have to dry heave in the bathroom three to four times in an eight hour shift. I was barely eating, barely drinking and simply trying to survive. By 16 weeks I had already been to the same day emergency clinic four times since the start of my pregnancy to get offered IV fluids and stronger anti-nausea medication.
I was a mess. So sick and tired from vomiting everyday, worried about my growing baby in my belly, confused why I was having such a hard time with nausea and worried about the coming months. At 18 weeks I was offered Zofran to take in conjunction with unisom to help stop my vomiting. That helped so much. I would take Zofran right after my morning throw up. Be able to eat some breakfast then manage to make it till 4 p.m. before having the urge to throw up again. Meaning, I could eat a nutritious lunch and keep my prenatal vitamins down. Then when I would get home from work I would try and stomach a light dinner and take a unisom by 6 p.m. and be asleep by 8 p.m. before my middle of the night throw up session.
This was my life for the rest of my pregnancy until delivering my daughter. It was tough to do anything. I was constantly fatigued and felt alone. Most pregnant women feel better in the middle of their second trimester but that wasn’t the case for me. I felt sick every single day. I still managed to eat the best I could, take daily walks, do some prenatal yoga stretches and get rest. However, doing that little bit would take the life out of me. It left me winded, dizzy and feeling so fatigued.
I’m now a year postpartum and looking back on my pregnancy it saddens me. All of the unknown feelings, the uncertainty, the resentment that others couldn’t possibly understand what I was going through drove me crazy. I eventually would love to grow my family and give my daughter a sibling but with that comes the fact of me preparing for another pregnancy battle with HG. I am happy I have the knowledge and experience so I won’t go in so blind but still worried how I will be able to survive a pregnancy on top of taking care of my daughter. I know I am not alone with these thoughts and have connected to other women who battled HG during their pregnancies who say the same thing I am writing.
If you have battled HG just know you are a warrior! I hope one day research can catch up and we can find a permanent solution to being extremely sick the entirety of a pregnancy. Thank you for reading!
-Kindly Kaile
