Tuesday, June 3, 2008

My husband thinks I should change my blog name...

He thinks is should be, "Morning Sickness Found."

I am not so optimistic.

I just can't call what I've got morning sickness yet until I... you know.... throw up.

You see, growing up my family took a lot of car trips. Since we eventually reached 8 kids (but started the trips when there were just 6 of us kids), flying was OUT of the question! So they'd pile us in the van, start a video, and drive for 18 hours. Yes, we had a VHS player in there, probably a huge salvation to my parents sanity. Instead of listening to hundreds of "When will we be there?" they just heard, "Can we start another movie?" Smart, huh? Dad still knows all the songs in the old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory simply from hearing it so much. We adored these vacations and trips. Often Dad just didn't want to go on a weeklong business trip without us, so he'd just bring everyone. He always made it fun. I don't remember any stress, and as we got older we helped with the packing and eventually took over entirely. But back then, it was just fun, fun, fun. I love that my Mom was so game she never said, "I can't/won't do this."

Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, more than a few of us would proclaim, "I'm sick!" or "I feel like I'm going to throw up." from the back seats (especially when we graduated to a 15-passenger van, the back gets very bumpy). However, only one of my sisters ever actually had to get a trash bag or the car stopped so she could, um, take care of that. Dad's reply to us all (except her) eventually became "Promises, promises". Mom would always try to make us feel better (crackers, gingerale, moving up to the front). But innately I knew it was just motion sickness and I shouldn't make a big deal, because nothing would come of it anyway.

Now that I'm older, I still get motion sick in cars and boats (not in 4-seater airplanes, amazingly). But nothing ever comes of it. So I don't feel it's worth mentioning.

That's how I feel about my current "morning sickness." I feel horrible a lot of mornings. The shower is always too hot, and all I can do is sit (or not take it yet like this morning). All day, the thought or sight or smell of food makes me sick feeling. I fight nausea in waves. You'll hear me breathing heavily as I try to control the urge. I literally haven't been able make myself eat a solid except cereal for some days (until evening - and if you put something in front of me, already prepared, I can eat that). Cold always sounds good, hot not so much. I hung out at the toilet yesterday hoping something would come up. Only by gagging enough did it, but it wasn't true gut-wrenching sickness.

I know I have symptoms, but I just can't call it that until I guess I have valid proof. Yeah I feel bad and have lots and lots of food aversions, but this isn't to me what I can call morning sickness.

One more interesting side affect? Mouth ulcers!

9 comments:

JJ said...

Mouth ulcers?! Oh thats not fair...
I have terrrrrible motion sickness-I hate it! Sorry the AM sickness is sort of in limbo right now--I know its TMI, but I always feel better after it comes up!
Hope you feel better soon!

Katie said...

I also had mouth ulcers from all of the fertility treatments, including prednisone. My gums were also really sore and bled a lot. Here are some things that you can do to help them out:

1) Warm water/salt rinse.
2) Add a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to the rinse, if your OB approves - mine did.
3) My dentist gave me a medicated mouth wash (also ran it by the OB) that worked pretty well, but it was expensive and I think that the homemade rinse worked better). But if your gums get sore, too, there is a brush on treatment that really did help.

Anyway, within about ten day of starting the homemade rinse, they went away. Since I am still taking the prednisone, I think it was the rinse.

And about the morning sickness, try vitamin B6 supplements (25 mg), ginger tea, and caffeine rootbeer. Those are some random things that helped me feel a bit better. I am sorry you are sick, but it's a good sign that all is well.

Jules said...

Stumbled across your blog and I just wanted to say I FEEL YOUR PAIN! Each time I was pregnant (3 times in total - I lost our first at 16 weeks and then went on to have 2 girls after that), I was soooo sick. At first I wasn't literally sick but then it hit me - around the 7/8 week mark and then Diclectin became my friend. With my first two pregnancies I actually ended up in the hospital because I was so dehydrated. I remember sitting in the doctor's office, crying because the only thing I could keep down was Cadbury Creme eggs and McDonald's chicken nuggets. My doctor looked at me and told me it was more important to get SOMETHING in me and not to worry because the baby would get the nutrients she needed from me no matter what I ate. Both girls were born healthy (Rachel was 7lbs 3oz at birth and Natalie was 9lbs 13oz) with no sugar issues.

Hang in there...it will be totally worth it when you hold that baby. And trust me, you will forget about feeling crappy. I just hope it only lasts for a few weeks for you and not your whole pregnancy like I had to deal with.

Julie

andrea_jennine said...

That sounds like pretty genuine morning sickness to me. But what do I know?!

Yetty said...

Sounds awful. I'd rather feel nauses than actually have something come up (I think)but hopefully I'll get to test that theory soon. Hang in there. Ask your doc about herbal teas. They usually make me feel better when I'm nauseous and minty sweets too

docgrumbles said...

I am in a similar boat. I feel "icky" constantly, but I have only actually thrown up once. I stand over the toilet, retching but without anything actually coming up. My husband calls it morning sickness, but I keep saying, "No, not really..."

Maybe it is because the movies have painted it to be so dramatic and always going all the way to real vomiting?

Confessions of a momaholic said...

sounds like your search is over lol! i can write a book on morning sickness, so if you ever need any pointers if it does get worse...let me know. the sickness is a great sign that the pregnancy is going well. when i was sooo sick, so many people told me "the sicker the better" but at the time i just wanted to punch them!

Adriane said...

Yeah, that is morning sickness. It's horrible. Hopefully it goes away - for most it does. I just had a horrible taste in my mouth, which made me feel nauseous, for the first 16 weeks. Hang in there!!

The Beauty Junkie said...

Girl that IS morning sickness! I an 17 weeks and still puke. But even the nausea is no joke. Granola and cereal will be your friend.