I am trying not to dwell on the sickness that comes with having something grow inside of me by not being negative, posting about how many times I puke a day, or how I miss making dinner for Stefen when he comes home. But I am going to make a post about it, just this once. Hopefully something out of it will help someone else when they are staring deep into the toilet bowl more often than their husband’s eyes…

Let me start by saying, I didn’t become sick until I was almost 7 weeks along. I already knew I was pregnant, I didn’t find out because I was sick all of a sudden like some people do. Actually, the very day before I got sick Stefen & I were sitting in his office and I was telling him how I just didn’t feel pregnant at all. I knew I was, but that positive sign was the only thing convincing me of it so far. I told him, “I don’t want to be sick, but I am a little worried that everyone I knew who’s pregnant is really sick and I don’t even feel like there’s a baby in there”. Well, because of that conversation, Stefen still tells me that I “asked to be sick”, and the next morning “I got what I asked for”…

1. I’ve tried everything anyone has recommended; crackers, lemon water, ginger everything, etc. For some reason those things don’t work for me.  Is there anything that has helped? Extra peppermint gum. I am saying Extra because that is the first brand I bought and when I ran out of it I bought a different brand and I didn’t like it. There are times when I can’t eat right away and if I chew the gum it holds me over. I tried this because I was looking up essential oils (because I’m such a hippie, blah blah blah) that are good for morning sickness, and peppermint was one of them. I tried the oil, putting a drop under my tongue, and it did help, but chewing gum lasts a lot longer than a drop of oil.
2. I started taking some great prenatal pills that I got at the health food store before I was pregnant. They don’t smell or taste like anything, but they are horse pills. I was taking them no problem until I started getting sick and then I would just gag when I tried to take them. So I recently bought some prenatal gummies at Target and am taking those until I can stomach (literally) the other ones.
3. I have to eat constantly. When I eat constantly, I’m not nearly as sick as when I don’t. I don’t know if this is the same for everyone, but I’d encourage everyone who is having morning sickness to try and eat before you give up on food and just puke all day. It’s still a struggle though because I either A: feel sick and have no appetite but force myself to eat every hour or so and don’t get too sick or puke, or B: give up on eating because nothing sounds good and I’m going to be sick anyway so I’ll just puke up nothingness. I have tried both, and the days that I get tired of food and decide I’m not eating anymore, I am my sickest. So instead I just go to the store every day or every other day, walk down almost every aisle, and buy whatever looks good in that moment. I go every couple days because whatever I buy I am most likely sick of by the next day or two. Here is a list of all the things I have tried in the past few weeks, not counting actual dinners that we’ve had or family has made for us, this is mostly what I eat during the day..

4. Family. Although this shouldn’t be the last thing on my list. I hope everyone has family who supports them and helps them as much as mine. If you don’t you probably just shouldn’t get pregnant. Ok, don’t write off having a baby if you don’t because I’m sure you can do it. But let me just say, I don’t know how people do it! If I didn’t have Stefen I’d probably be, well I definitely wouldn’t be pregnant right now, but I would also have gone many nights without eating or clean dishes to eat on, I’d be in much worse pain (being able to ask for a massage and get it instantly is a wonderful thing that I do not take for granted!), and would probably actually be crying right now, which I don’t do often. And then not only do I have him, but brothers & sisters and parents who have brought us groceries, dinners, cleaned our house, let me sleep in by watching Andrew (who I normally watch a couple days a week) and keeping him all day! And don’t be fooled by my whole “I don’t want to complain about being sick because it’s annoying”. Stefen has had to hear me complain almost every day.

So, peppermint, lots of continuous eating, and family. These are the things that are making this sickness a little less horrible.

The timer just went off for my veggies, so I gotta go eat..