Surviving first trimester morning sickness

Getting through the first trimester!

So you just found out you are pregnant, how exciting? Unfortunately for me, it was not the most exciting time because I couldn’t enjoy it as I was spending my days either in bed or vomiting up my entire stomach contents. Just when you think you are done your body surprises you and you vomit up a whole lot of stuff you didn’t even know you had. How can something so small cause so much chaos?

I call it chaos because that’s what my first trimester was like for me - absolute chaos. My body felt like it was falling apart and I ended up in hospital numerous times suffering from severe hyperemesis gravidadum. Don’t let the whole “morning” sickness fool you because it’s an all day everyday sickness and certainly does not only occur in the morning. Unfortunately, I was throwing up at least 4-5 times a day and became severely dehydrated which is very dangerous in pregnancy so it was important for me to be in the hospital and on a drip to keep my fluids up and get my vitamin intake.

When you feel so nauseous you cannot think of eating but if you don’t eat you feel even more nauseous from not eating so it’s a catch 22 situation. But don’t worry I got through it and things got better but not without a whole lot of help !!

So these were the few things that seriously helped me through the first trimester and surviving morning sickness.

1 - ASIC tablets. If you are struggling with morning sickness it is very likely that your doctor will tell you to go and get ASIC tablets, you don’t need a prescription for these and obviously they are safe during pregnancy. I made sure I had a few bottles of these so I never ran out. It’s important to take them even when you are not feeling nauseous because if you miss even one of these then the nausea will hit back hard. If you vomit it up you can take another tablet straight away and just make sure Asic is always in your system for the entire first trimester.

2 - Emex Syrup: This is a thick spearmint flavoured syrup that relieves morning and motion sickness as well as general nausea and vomiting. Unlike the Asic tablets, this can be taken when needed and works within minutes.

3 - Lemons: I may have taken this one a little far but this definitely worked for me. Most people recommend drinking lemon water when nauseous but I would just sit and eat whole lemons because it was the only thing I could keep down and it only took a few minutes and I wouldn’t feel nauseous anymore. So definitely try to incorporate lemons in your diet.

4 - Crackers : This is probably not the most effective remedy as the concept of eating crackers comes from waking up and eating a small cracker first thing in the morning because the more food you have in your stomach the less chance you have of feeling waves of nausea throughout the day so always try to eat a small bland breakfast. I would always keep small crackers or biscuits with me on hand so I could nibble on them throughout the day before I started to feel nauseous.

5 - Ginger Ale and Ginger Biscuits: Ginger is your best friend during the first trimester, however how you consume ginger is your choice but I enjoyed drinking cold ginger ales and ate ginger biscuits every morning throughout my first few weeks of pregnancy to help curb the feeling of vomiting every second.

6 - Fresh fruit: My first trimester I wouldn’t go anywhere near meat and during my entire pregnancy I couldn’t stand the smell of chicken but I absolutely loved eating fresh fruit and it helped with nausea. Although not the most pleasant items to vomit back up I definitely felt that fresh fruit was the way to go !

7 - Salt and Vinegar chips - These were very helpful when I was rushing around and started feeling nauseous. I would sometimes vomit in the middle of a shopping center and then eat a packet of salt and vinegar chips and it helped with nausea and helped my tummy. Eating a few chips every few hours could also help prevent nausea.

8 - Ice cubes/chips: Sucking on ice cubes or ice chips whenever the onset of nausea hits was a life saviour. Although it doesn’t prevent or stop the vomiting it really does help with nausea and made me feel so much better after vomiting. Sometimes it’s important to just rest and vomit if you need to because you will feel better afterwards and the longer you fight it the longer and more severe the nausea gets. You can also suck on ice lollies or fruit lollies to help with the nausea.

9 - Rehydrate: I used to make liters of rehydrate with ice to help avoid dehydration during the hectic days of nonstop vomiting. I felt the ice made the rehydrate cold and helped with nausea and I would just slowly sip on the rehydrate throughout the day to keep myself hydrated and avoid nausea and vomiting.

10 - Zofran: If you are really struggling and suffering from hypermedia gravidadum then you should consider asking your doctor to prescribe Zofran. Zofran is used in the treatment of nausea and vomiting for chemotherapy patients and is extremely effective and works quickly. Unfortunately, this is a very expensive medication and should only be used if absolutely necessary and if prescribed by a physician.

These are the top 10 things that helped me combat the first trimester morning sickness. Unfortunately, I had severe morning sickness and had to keep a packet on me at all times as I never knew when I was going to vomit. I quickly realized that there is nothing that can stop morning sickness, nausea and vomiting but there are certain things that can help ease the morning sickness. Make sure you rest, stay hydrated and remember things will get better. I would always remind myself on the days I felt horrible that I was extremely lucky that I get to feel and experience morning sickness because I am growing a tiny little human inside of me and that is just a beautiful thought.