It’s no secret that all of pregnancy isn’t a joy ride. Of course, you have the glorious parts of your 9-month journey, such as lustrous hair and nails, the natural glow, and the exciting moments of baby’s first kicks.
The beginning of pregnancy is often overshadowed by the unrelenting nausea, dubbed “morning sickness.”
Nausea, which is sometimes accompanied by vomiting shows up as early as 6 weeks and can strike at any point in the day, despite its name.
While you are bent over a toilet you may be considering how your baby is faring in all this, after all, it’s pretty traumatic.
Is your baby getting the nutrients he or she needs if you can’t keep anything down, or eat a decent meal?
The American Pregnancy Association reported that over 50 percent of women go through a morning sickness phase at some point of pregnancy.
So while it’s not uncommon to be in the “everything makes me sick” club, it doesn’t make you worry any less about how your baby is developing in their cozy uterine home.
Romper elicited insight from one of the best to help put your mind at ease:
“As it turns out, nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (AKA “morning sickness”) don’t affect your baby much. For one thing, at the gestational age when you’re feeling seasick, that baby is “really, really tiny,” according to Dr. Bradley Price, an OB-GYN from Austin, Texas. At six weeks, you’re talking about a fetus the size of a sweet pea, reported The Bump, and at 12 weeks, when most women are already feeling better, a baby’s still only about 2 inches long. As Price notes, a baby this size doesn’t need a whole lot of nutrients yet.”
One of the countless amazing functions of the pregnant body is that it naturally will make sure that your baby is provided for before it will spare nutrients to other less important bodily functions.
Dehydration is a top concern for most moms suffering from morning sickness. Some say it is too difficult to drink anything because of a strong aversion, some try to drink but vomit everything they put in their mouth.
Even in light cases where drinking is difficult, “ the pregnant body is incredibly efficient at continuing to direct blood flow to the uterus, despite mom’s possible dehydration”, according to Romper.
It’s awful feeling sick all day for anyone, and if you are a mom, or have to maintain a job at the same time, it can feel almost unbearable.
Morning sickness can become extreme in some cases, where medical intervention is necessary.
Romper shared just when that begins to be the case:
“However, when morning sickness is severe and you’re vomiting repeatedly, the loss of macronutrients like water, salt, and sugar can indeed make you very sick, and even land you in the hospital. But Price doesn’t let things get to that point. For persistent morning sickness, over-the-counter treatments like ginger and even the sleeping aid Unisom, especially when combined with vitamin B6, have been proven to help.”
Many moms are unaware that the type, and quality, of iron in their prenatal vitamins, can affect how you feel.
Iron salt, otherwise known as ferrous sulfate, is found in most over-the-counter prenatal vitamins. This type of iron is “poorly absorbed and can aggravate acid reflux and virtually guarantee constipation”, said Dr. Price.
Prescription prenatal vitamins are more likely to contain ferrous asparto glycinate, a form of iron that is less likely to make you sick, Price explained.
It may be hard to imagine while you are in misery, but there is a plus side to the whole morning sickness thing.
Dr. Price told Romper:
“A 2016 study published in Jama Internal Medicine associated nausea and vomiting in pregnancy with a decreased chance of miscarriage.”You can even think about that when you’re feeling nauseous — chances are very good that it’s going to be a keeper,” says Price.”
Feeling nauseous is a nice reminder that your baby is growing inside you. The strong aversion to many foods may also be your body’s way of protecting the baby in those vulnerable early months from food that could be harmful.
Doctors are not completely certain why mothers get morning sickness, but they believe it has something to do with the Hcg hormone, which rises rapidly in the early months of pregnancy.
Try to remind yourself during this trying time of pregnancy that soon your baby will be here, and the days and weeks of crackers and ginger ale will be a distant memory.
The countless mothers who have gone through it, and continue to have children attest to the end goal definitely justifying the tumultuous journey.
Please let us know in the comments section if you have a helpful tip on getting through the morning sickness phase with a little more ease, or if you have a story of going through this tough transition.