Since this blog is going to focus on my life since I became pregnant, I am going to post some entries from my personal blog that I wrote during my pregnancy. This post will focus on the notorious MORNING SICKNESS!
Morning sickness sucks, y'all. That's really all there is to it. Actually, there's a lot more to it, but that's a quite succinct way of saying how it feels. Here's an example: One morning, I was making the bed and found that First Mate had drooled on his pillow overnight. After looking at the drool, I had to run to the bathroom (which is thankfully attached to our master bedroom) and vomit. So, you know, things like just *seeing* drool can make you throw up when you are incubating a tiny human.
Neither my mom nor the friends I talked to about it during my first trimester had actually experienced morning sickness (I found another friend who had it, but I didn't actually talk to her about it until my second trimester). Thus, I found myself desperately seeking someone who would understand. I ended up joining Babycenter.com just to find some people who could commiserate. It was a great place to find people with whom to commiserate, but it was not really a place to discuss the feelings I was having about pregnancy (more on that in later posts). I recommend it if you're looking for people who are in the same stage of pregnancy as you and will be able to understand and share their own experiences of what's happening at the moment. It's perhaps not the best place to try and talk about your feelings, unless they're the expected ones of joy and elation.
If you stumbled upon this blog looking for your own assurance that you're not alone, take heart. I can't tell you that morning sickness always ends right on the nose of the second trimester. Mine lasted until about halfway through my second trimester, and my digestive system was pretty much wonky throughout the entire pregnancy. And though I knew in my head that my stomach was supposed to return to normal when the pregnancy ended, I couldn't shake a fear that I would never feel normal again. Now that I've delivered my baby, I can tell you for certain that it does in fact return to normal! In fact, pretty much as soon as she was delivered, my stomach felt basically normal again, aside from the postpartum body feels. It took a day or two for the indigestion to return to its normal level (which is generally higher for me than the average person), but it did return. I was able to eat things I hadn't been able to eat without paying the consequences basically the day after I delivered. And now, 5 months postpartum, I am once again having trouble keeping the weight off. ;)
It does end, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You can and will make it through.
For more exciting thoughts about morning sickness, below are three entries I wrote during my pregnancy.
Captain’s Log stardate 080114
Here’s a little idea of what my experience of “morning sickness” has been like these last two days:
Dear Kristi,
To celebrate the exciting news of the new life growing down below me, I have decided to fast for the foreseeable future. In fact, the mere thought of food will be near to anathema for us. I will make you feel like shit simply for sitting there and thinking about eating or drinking anything, even water. You can try to put something in me, and it may work. However, you will continue to feel like crap and wonder if you will ever feel like eating again. This will be in addition to the lovely persistent indigestion/heartburn I use to remind you of my presence. Your intestines and I have also decided that chronic gas will be a good way to celebrate. Be thankful that I haven’t yet rejected the stuff you manage to put in me, but don’t expect that to last – I like to keep you on your toes.
No love,
Your stomach
Captain’s Log stardate 081414
Things I took for granted before morning sickness:
Being able to take a shower without getting incredibly nauseated/throwing up
Being able to take an actual swallow of any drink
Feeling like a human being
Being able to listen to pop music without getting nauseated
Being able to eat enough that I had to worry about gaining weight
Riding in a car without throwing up
Captain's Log stardate 101914
"Morning" sickness is a bit of a misnomer because, while it *is* sometimes worse in the morning, more often than not, I found it lasted all day and peaked at various times throughout the day. And the bit where I say I'm looking forward to being able to listen to pop music again really applied to any kind of music with a beat. For about 6 weeks, I only listened to soft, relaxing classical music or new agey sounding stuff (good thing I like both of those). I could also add to the "riding in a car without throwing up" bit "riding a plane without throwing up." I've never had air sickness until I flew while pregnant.
I am thankful that the horrible feeling-sick-and-vomiting-every-day part has leveled off, but I was hopeful that I would feel completely normal by now. At this point, I can at least eat, and I don't feel nauseated every day. However, my tummy often (almost always) has this sort of sour milk feeling that's not quite indigestion but not quite food sitting well. I'm still having some days when I feel nauseated, too, especially if I forget to pack a snack when I go out somewhere. Seriously, as one of my pregnant coworkers said, "Pregnancy is for the birds."
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