An Ode to Pregnancy Nausea

 

Just kidding. If there's anything to which I will ever not write a laudatory poem, it is pregnancy nausea. 

Hello, everyone!

It's been a while. As in,  how on earth do I log onto this website so that I can write a new post? Anyone? 

My life is crazy-crazy-busy right now, emphasis on the crazy. I don't even have time to shower or go online to buy new socks, let alone do anything crazy like write a blog post. 

But. 

I have a couple of posts that I've wanted to jot down before I completely forget the material. They will cover: (1) pregnancy nausea, this round, (2) how to prepare for childbirth, and (3) the birth story for our newest. 

So let's get going. 

Pregnancy Nausea, This Round

In early October, I found myself staring bemusedly at a positive pregnancy test. What, really? After so many years without a new baby in the house, I had wondered if our childbearing years were over. But nope, here we were again.

I had made it all the way to a positive test with no nausea (unusual!), so my first thought was a tentative hopefulness. Maybe it will be different this time. 

And for about a week, I was okay. The first feelings of queasiness hit the day after the test (so, 3w5d), and stayed manageable for almost a week. I was nauseated, but I could power through and keep going. 

Then, at about 4w4d, everything fell apart. I had to admit defeat. I started on the four doses per day Unisom protocol (which I should have started earlier, but had wanted to avoid if possible), but I was almost immediately in the mode of being in bed all day anyway, and having about six vomiting spells daily. (I know that's not a lot compared to you hardcore mamas, but I found it very discouraging.) In comparison, it was definitely worse than the last couple of pregnancies. 

The long-time reader may wonder why I didn't try keto again, as I have used it successfully in the past to mitigate pregnancy nausea. I can only answer that when one is done with keto, one is done with keto. I didn't even consider it. The fact that I am now dairy-free would also have been an impediment should I have tried it, as keto without massive amounts of dairy is difficult if not impossible. 

A couple of new experiences:

- Waking up in the middle of the night to throw up. Again, I know a lot of you deal with this, but it was a new one for me.

- Injuring my neck through forceful vomiting. Note to self: Make sure body is aligned symmetrically before throwing up!

- Discovering that repeated forceful vomiting is a great way to clear up a problematic blocked tear duct in my eye that's been giving me trouble! Who would have known? (Unfortunately, the problem came back as soon as the vomiting frequency slowed down. Crumbs.)

- Ordering Thanksgiving dinner through a prepared-meal service because I was too sick even to think about cooking. Conclusion: It's okay in an emergency, but I'd rather avoid it otherwise. 

I find it amusing how much of a dictator one's body is during times of strong pregnancy nausea. Thankfully, I was able to tolerate food throughout this pregnancy - and wow, my body was totally in control. I would find one food thing that worked, and my body would demand that and only that for the following week or two - until my stomach turned against it and moved on to the next thing. One's willpower is virtually powerless against the demands of the body! Some of my eat-it-for-two-weeks-straight foods included peanut butter banana protein smoothies, bean and rice burritos, and enormous sandwiches (which was when I gained most of my pregnancy weight!). 

Because I have spent so much of my life nauseated (about eight years, or one-fifth of my life), I have also spent a lot of time thinking about nausea. Have you ever noticed, for example, that nausea seems to center in several different parts of the body at once? To me, it centers simultaneously in the stomach, throat, and face. Also, I've noticed that nausea radiates outward to the extremities (such as down the arms and legs) in the same way that pain does. Fascinating, no? I'd love to hear your thoughts about the odd manifestations and behavior of nausea. 

For me, the lowest drop in nausea levels occurs in the early-twenties (say, weeks 21-25), before shooting back up again for the rest of the pregnancy. Once the baby was born, it took about a month to resolve fully. (This is much better than with our first-born, when my pregnancy nausea took between one and two years to fully resolve.)

This time around I was on medication for much longer, threw up for much longer into the pregnancy, and had a tougher time all around. I'm not sure if that was because I'm older, or because I didn't do as much preparation as I ought to have done, or for some other reason. 

And there you have it!

Readers, I'd love to hear about your adventures in pregnancy nausea over these past few years. Any success stories or tips to share? Please do!

Coming up next, I'll be talking about preparing for labor, childbirth and the postpartum. Stay tuned.