Rachel Knows... Hyperemesis Gravidarum and My Birthday!

As I sit here on my third birthday in a row where I've been sicker than a dog, I can't help but start to dread or fear my birthday a little each year. I mean what are the odds of being very sick for three birthdays in a row. This year my sickness is totally worth it, because I'll have a child at the end of it, but it doesn't make it any less hard being sick. The first of the three years, I had the flu that turned into bronchitis. The second year I had the flu that turned into bronchitis that turned into a month long allergic reaction to Amoxicillin. This year I'm pregnant and I have Hyperemesis Gravidarum. What in the world is that? HG is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s). That explanation is from the HER Foundation, the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation. I'm very glad that I found that website for many reasons. It has a lot of helpful information that I printed out for myself, my parents and my husband. It really helped them understand what was going on with me and it gave them some good information on how to help me without wearing themselves out over it. I also visited their Facebook page which helped me tremendously because I realized just how horrible this disease could be. Ever since I visited the Facebook page I've been thanking the Lord that I was "lucky" enough to have only had the nausea so far. There are some women who have been vomiting up to fifty times a day and had to have feeding tubes inserted. Some women throw up so much that their lives are in danger and they have to terminate the pregnancy or she and the baby wouldn't survive. I've been vomiting, just not much at all thank goodness. I don't think there is much more in the world I dislike more than vomiting. Not to say the nauseous and some vomiting version aren't without consequences. I've had to go to the Emergency Room twice in the thirteen weeks that I've been pregnant. I have had such debilitating nausea that I haven't been able to eat hardly anything at all. Most women are gaining small amounts of weight by their 13th week, but I have lost twenty two pounds. I've gotten dehydrated twice which is what merited the Emergency Room visits. The second time I went to the E.R. my blood pressure and blood sugar were so low I was in a semi-conscious state. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. I was also found to be dehydrated again. I'm not sure if I weren't on two different medicines for the nausea and vomiting and if I subconsciously didn't have the ability to keep myself from vomiting that I wouldn't be vomiting several times a day and in a much worse condition. I know that as sick as I feel sometimes that I could "blow" at any minute, but I am pretty sure I keep myself from it because I just hate to vomit! This isn't normal morning sickness and it isn't something that is just in women's heads. The uncertain part about the disease is that it could be over by the twentieth week of pregnancy or it could last throughout the entire thing. I try to just live one day at a time and not think about that because it is quite depressing to think that I might feel like this for 40 weeks. The other depressing part of the disease is that that chances of a woman having this during all of her pregnancies is great. The chance of it being worse during the next pregnancy is also great. I just don't think my body can handle the vomiting version of this disease. I also know that I would be heartbroken if I had to end a pregnancy and that it would haunt me the rest of my life. I'm so torn though because I have always wanted at least two children. I just feel sad for children that don't have siblings. This is just a rough thing and I am just going to really have to think about it for a long time and speak to my husband about it so we can decide what we want to do. Anyway, the point of this blog is to help people learn a little about Hyperemesis Gravidarum and to let you know why my posts have been so few and far between. I just wanted to say that I'm not just having normal morning sickness and being a huge baby about it. I have this brutal, draining disease that is rough as hell to go through. I love my blog, but taking pictures and swatching just makes me far too sick to do much. I have my good days and bad days, so maybe in the future I'll start having more good days than bad days and I can get back to blogging.


I think I'm going to order this shirt after the baby is born: