An HG personal share from my friend and fellow mommy Angela.

My husband and I married in October of 1996 and were pregnant within a month. We were excited about our 'honeymoon baby'.  I remember telling my mother-in-law that I hadn't had any morning sickness, but that I hoped to have some so I would feel pregnant. She said, "Don't wish for that! It's horrible!", but I went ahead and wished for it anyway. In all of the pregnancy books that I had read, it said that the window for morning sickness to begin was from 2 to 8 weeks. I had not one shred of nausea until the day after 8 weeks. I was positive I had skipped the window, and I was going to get away without any. Well, all my wishing came true, and the day after 8 weeks, I started vomiting, and Vomiting, AND VOMITING!!!

On Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandmother's house in the Colorado Mountains like we always used to. The way I had been keeping the sickness at bay was by drinking a lot of water. She had hard, well water. It made me sick to drink it. By New Year's Eve 1996, we were in the Hospital Emergency Room (watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV, and me holding an basin to vomit in if I needed) because I had vomited 12 times in 4 hours. I was severely dehydrated, and had 3 bags of IV fluids pumped into me. Then they sent me home with the admonition that I needed to keep on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, and dry toast) and to come back if I threw up more than 5 times in one day.

The next day, I was back. This time I was admitted. They gave me IV fluids, and anti-nausea drugs (Phenergan seemed to work for a while at least). I was put on the pediatrics floor because they handle the hospital overflow, and also because of hospital construction that was going on causing a room shortage. I was across the hall from several sick babies. One poor baby in particular cried and screamed all night. I remember thinking,

"What the HELL am I doing? First all of this sickness, and then I'll have a baby who will scream all night, and I'll get no sleep, and I probably won't be a good mother anyway." Funny how constant nausea and malnutrition, combined with pregnancy hormones can make you irrational.

The next morning, my doctor came to see me. My blood work apparently was not good. My hormones were VERY HIGH. She said that she thought I might either 1: be having multiples (more than twins for sure from the hormone count) or 2: be having a molar pregnancy (a pregnancy where the embryo dies very early and the placenta continues growing until it looks like a bunch of grapes and puts out a lot of extra hormones). In the case of a molar pregnancy, they would have to do a D&C. I was crying because I felt so awful and just wanted to have this pregnancy over with. I was secretly hoping that it was a molar pregnancy so they could suck out the offending growth, and I would feel better tomorrow. I am VERY pro-life and against abortion, so the fact that I was hoping my baby was dead (and even toying with the idea of an abortion if it wasn't dead) tells you something about how awful I felt.

She sent me for an ultrasound. First I was supposed to drink as much water as I could, so they could do the ultrasound. I kept throwing up the water, and so finally they took me down anyway. I was in a wheelchair, holding my box of tissues (because I was crying so much), hooked up to my IV, holding my basin to vomit in. I'm sure I was a site. The ultrasound technician could not find anything with the outside probe because my bladder wasn't full. So, she had to do an internal ultrasound. She never told me anything or showed me anything, and I could not see the screen.  When the technician was done, she helped me back into my wheelchair and called the pediatrics floor for someone to come pick me up. I started crying, and I didn't know why. She wasn't the most kind or caring, so I sat alone with my Kleenex and vomit basin and cried.

My doctor came up to see me that afternoon and told me that I had a normal, uterine, single pregnancy, and the embryo was 10 weeks along by the measurements (which was 2 weeks behind the previous dating, which meant when I started getting morning sickness, I was really only 6 weeks along). She said "Congratulations!! I bet you're relieved now." and I started crying. She asked me what was wrong, and I said to her,

"I don't feel like I'm pregnant. I feel like I have a deadly disease and everyone's keeping it from me."

"Well, that's silly, Angela. You're just having some complications. That's all. We'll get it under control. You saw the baby on the ultrasound, so you KNOW you're pregnant."

"No, I didn't", I said. "I couldn't see the screen". I said lamely in between sobs.

"Well, you should have asked to look," she scolded me. At that point I pretty much shut up. No one understood how I felt anyway. This hyperemesis gravidarum makes you feel very alienated and completely alone. Like no one has any idea of how you feel.

The next day, with a prescription for phenergan suppositories in hand, I was discharged from the hospital. Hubby took me home, and as soon as we got there, I started vomiting again. I do believe stress can be a factor in HG, though I didn't want to hear that at the time. Home was a stressful place for me. By January 8th, I was vomiting and dehydrated again. The phenergan suppositories weren't helping, so I called the doctor. Once again, she told me to go to the ER and she would deal with me at the hospital. They admitted me (once again to the pediatrics floor) and started an IV. Within 8 hours, the vomiting had stopped. They kept me in the hospital for 3 days to make sure. While I was there, I was very lonely. I cried most of the time. The Nursing Assistant kept bugging me to take a shower. I didn't have the energy. She suggested the bathtub. I sat in the tub, and didn't even have the energy to wash my hair. I had to pull the call light for the C.N.A. to help me.

My mother stayed home from work the next day and came to the hospital to be with me. She read to me about what the baby looked like and was doing now, and she brought my father's huge kimono robe that he got in Japan. She helped me get dressed in it and pushed my IV pole up and down the hallway so I could see the fish tank and get a little exercise. I felt kind of like I was stuck in never-never land. There were all kinds of childish decorations on the walls, and even in the fish tank. I have to say that was probably the kindest thing she had ever done for me since I was a young child.

My doctor decided that it was the IV fluid that was helping so much. When you are sick and you get dehydrated, the nausea gets worse. It is a terrible cycle.  After finding a medication that worked (Reglan®, metaclopramide), she sent me home with orders for a home-nurse to visit me and a home-IV. That evening, the home health care people dropped off 3 huge boxes of IV bags and other paraphernalia, and the next day a home nurse showed me how to change my IV bags and regulate the fluid intake. We lived in a tri-level. Our bedroom was in the basement, and the living room and kitchen on the main level. Doing the stairs when you are weak from malnutrition and carrying an IV pole is NOT fun! It had been over 2 weeks since I had eaten anything substantial. After a week of IV's and nurse's visits, I wanted to take the IV out. I was feeling much better, and wanted to go shopping. The nurse said I had to take my IV bag with me, if I wanted to go. Well, I went over the nurse's head and called the doctor and said I felt great, and could we please take my IV out. She said if I really felt good, we could take it out, and the nurse would continue visiting 2 times a week in case I needed a new IV put in. She would also be on call if I vomited more than 5 times a day, I could call her to put in an IV, and stay home instead of going to the hospital. That was the beginning of my "recovery". Every day after that, I vomited 5 times on the button, and sometimes less. I think my brain was on my side enough to at least keep me from getting stuck with a needle again. I continued to lose weight, but didn't need any more IV fluids.

Between the beginning of pregnancy and the 5 month mark, I lost 60 lbs.  From 5 months on, I think I only vomited less than 10 times all together. I also started working at a sit down job for a place that made electronics. I plugged wires together, and put connectors on them, etc. I sat the whole time, and that made it better as far as energy wise (I was still so low on energy from all the time I had spent starving and losing weight. I was still nauseous all day, just not vomiting, but not eating much either).

By the time my daughter was born 8 days after her due date, I had gained back 20 lbs. So I finished my pregnancy 40 lbs lighter than I started it.

Around 3 hours after Hannah was born, I suddenly thought that I wanted to eat. I was hungry. Food sounded good for the first time in months. The nurse went to the employee lunchroom and bought me a chicken salad sandwich. It was the best sandwich of my life. The 24 hour nausea was gone as quickly as it had come on.

One word of wisdom from my experience. The Reglan increased my prolactin during pregnancy, and then when my doctor took me off of it at 36 weeks, my prolactin fell. I didn't realize this at the time. I had a hard time breastfeeding my daughter and took a long time to get things working well. Please remember doctors aren't God. They make mistakes too. Discuss any medication changes and possible side effects with them thoroughly instead of just assuming they know what they are doing. My doctor didn't think about the prolactin issue at all, but maybe she would have if I had been more thorough in my questions.

Between my daughter's birth and my pregnancy with my son, I did a lot of research on HG, as well as pregnancy and birth and put together a 'morning sickness remedies' list. My second and third pregnancies (which were boys), I was nauseated 24/7 for several months and vomited some with my second. But we never reached full blown HG. Here are the things I found. They may or may not help you. Some helped me and some didn't, but it is worth having a big list of things to try!

-Drinking or eating something high in protein every time I got nauseated, or after I vomited. Also right before bed, and having hubby bring you an instant breakfast before he leaves for work.... drink it before you sit up.... this was a life saver for me. I would drink it before  I was even fully awake (with a bendy straw), and by the time I had to get up  to pee, I was feeling better.

-Wearing Sea Bands (motion sickness wrist bands)

-Taking B-Complex pills especially B-6 (this helped me immensely with both of my pregnancies after my daughter)

-Raspberry leaf tea (with sugar or honey.. whichever you prefer), though don't drink more than 2 cups or glasses a day before the beginning of the 2nd trimester. Some women get uterine contractions if they drink too much... the contractions haven't been proven to hurt anything, but in first trimester, you don't want to take chances.

-Ginger.... eaten, taken in pills, or dissolved in your bath water. I found the best to be fresh ginger grated into a cup, adding hot water, and then straining out the particles. It leaves a ginger flavor and the ginger juice without the stringy stuff.

-Hot tamales candy. It apparently short circuits the brain so that all you can feel is the hot-hot-hot in your mouth, not the sickies in your tummy... it worked well with my first son.

-digestive enzymes from the health food store... in pills or gum

-mint scents or tastes.... maybe doublemint gum to chew when you feel nauseous. Or a really minty toothpaste to brush your teeth with when you feel nauseous or right after vomiting.

If you are reading this blog because you have HG right now, please know you are not alone. Even though it feels like it will last forever, it really is a small portion of your life. My daughter is now almost 15 and is taller than I am and has been a very healthy person her entire life.  I have a 2 1/2 year old son and a 2 month old son, and both of them are amazing. I would go through HG again for any one of them. You will love your child more than your own life, and this pregnancy is worth it. All of it.

Angela Woerner


(I want to thank Angela for taking the time to share her story about dealing with HG. It can be very hard to handle and besides what I have found and researched. Angela shared somethings that has helped her and I have as well in the previous blogs. Again thank you Angela for sharing your story and things that have helped you with your more recent pregnancies.)