My husband sums up my pregnancies in a pretty accurate way.  The first trimester: Oh my god, what were we thinking?  The second trimester:  This is SO EASY.  Let’s have another baby!!  The third trimester:  GET THIS THING OUT OF ME.

He isn’t too far off, even though he’s probably teasing me a bit. My first trimester with Chloe was horrible. I was sick all the time and had a hard time keeping anything down. I lost about 10lbs the first three months, and my nausea stuck around until I was close to 16 weeks along.  I was surprised and horrified to find out that it returned in the third trimester.

I keep hearing that no two pregnancies are alike so I was hoping that maybe things would be different this time around.  I got my first wave of nausea on 9DPO and it was so powerful that I couldn’t enjoy Christmas dinner.  It was manageable for weeks, though, and mostly nonexistent. I was surprised at how much I was eating and how much I craved.  My nausea came back in full force at 8 weeks, though, and has been kicking my butt ever since.  I’ve thrown up a few times, but I’m mainly suffering from nausea.  I feel like I have the stomach flu 24/7 and as a WAHM, I’m surprised at how draining this actually is.  I feel like I’m in survival mode instead of enjoying my pregnancy. These are some of my symptoms and ways I’ve been treating them.

Staying Full and Hydrated

Having a full stomach makes me feel a little bit better, but I admit it’s hard to force myself to eat when nothing sounds appetizing and my stomach is churning.  It’s a vicious cycle, though: if I don’t eat I feel awful, but I feel awful so I don’t want to eat.  I’ve found that if I eat something small every 2 hours I feel so much better than if I eat a whole meal at once.  It’s hard for me to say what I eat each day since it varies so much due to my cravings and aversions.  There are days I can’t stomach the sight of pizza, and other days where it’s all I want to eat. I drink a LOT of water throughout the day, too.

ADVERTISEMENT

Snacks

When the nausea is really bad, I snack on graham crackers. I keep some in my purse if we’re going out. I haven’t found any other snack that really calms my stomach.  I’ve tried other crackers, but the taste and texture don’t agree with me.  Saltines are great, too, but we never have those on hand (and I always forget to buy them at the store!).

Keeping Hydrated

I like water and normally drink a lot, but I drink even more when I’m pregnant.  I easily drink 10 16oz bottles of water a day.  It helps if I sip them slowly instead of drinking them quickly.  I’ve found that if I drink anything too fast, it makes my stomach feel unsettled.  Ginger ale helps a lot, too, and I sip that when I’m feeling nauseated.  As long as I drink something slowly, I feel okay. I never leave the house without a water bottle in my bag!

Smells

I had a strong aversion to smells when I was pregnant with Chloe so I don’t know why it surprised me so much when it happened this time, too.   My husband doesn’t want me to lift anything heavy so he’s been doing all of the laundry lately. I made the mistake of switching loads today and decided to throw another load in the washing machine. We use All Free & Clear and the smell of it sent me gagging.  I have also had a really hard time changing Chloe’s dirty diapers (she still won’t poo on the potty!) and have thrown up from the smell before.

Aside from having aversions to smells, I can also smell everything.  It drives me crazy when I’m in the grocery store or at a restaurant!  I don’t have a remedy for this other than to avoid obvious triggers.

Morning Sickness & OTC/Prescription Remedies

I had some nausea here and there during the earlier weeks, but it was very manageable. I didn’t start throwing up until I was closer to 8 weeks and once I started, I was desperate to try anything to make it stop.  Morning sickness leaves me feeling like I have a bad hangover.  It makes me want to lay in bed all day and be lazy.  That isn’t really an option for me, so I did try many different remedies to help me cope.

Sea bands

My RE recommended wearing a sea band to me at one of my appointments. She said that a lot of her patients swear by them and as long as I never take it off, it should work.  I did find one at Target for under $10 so I figured I’d give it a try. It doesn’t give me immediate relief but I have found that after I’m wearing it for awhile, I really do feel better.  I take it off when I shower and heaven forbid I forget to put it back on — I’m almost always dry heaving and wishing I’d remembered to slip it back on after my shower!  It doesn’t always curb my morning sickness, but has done a pretty great job at keeping it at bay.

Medicine

The first over the counter medicine I tried was Emetrol.  It’s thick and syrupy and tastes awful, so I gagged when taking it. It did take the edge off my nausea, though, but it was expensive and the bottle was small. It could have been an expensive OTC medicine to continue taking for as long as I needed it.

My OB prescribed Zofran at my 9 week appointment and it absolutely helped curb my nausea and vomiting… but it left me with horrible constipation, even after one pill. Horrible thought-I-was-going-to-die constipation.  Enter glycerine suppositories (isn’t pregnancy glamorous?!) and Colace, increased water and fiber intake and a whole lotta praying.  I didn’t have any relief until I stopped taking Zofran, which meant I had to suffer through nausea again, but I decided it was well worth the alternative.

B-Natal pops helped me a lot in my first pregnancy, but didn’t do anything for me this time around.  The only thing that has truly helped kick morning sickness to the curb was a combination of never taking off my sea band (even in the second trimeste), making sure my belly is full, and drinking ginger ale.

What helped you survive the first trimester?