Coping With Morning Sickness

I'm an emetophobic, which is someone who has an intense fear of vomiting. People are amazed at how I went through 2 pregnancies and births without vomiting. As you can imagine, I researched a lot into morning sickness, and how to avoid it. I did feel sick on the odd occasion during both my pregancies, mostly my 2nd (as I couldn't relax and look after myself as I had a 9 month old to run after).

Morning sickness effects around half to two thirds of expecting mothers during the 1st trimester (the first 12 weeks usually) to some degree. They may just feel nauseous, or they may actually vomit. There are an unlucky few that may experience morning sickness all throughout their pregnancy (I don't envy them). Some mum's (1 in 1000) may also suffer from a severe type of morning sickness called Hyperemesis Gravidarium (this usually requires hospitalisation as the mum cannot keep anything down, loses a lot of weight and becomes dehydrated). It is called 'morning sickness' because it usually occurs in the morning, after a long night sleep with no food in a long time, but it can occur at any time of the day.

What causes morning sickness - The cause of morning sickness is still not well known. Some people say the high levels of pregnancy hormones can irritate the stomach directly. Also remember that making a baby is a huge change for your body, so this could also be the cause.

Here are some of my tips which helped me avoid morning sickness:

• Always have something in your tummy. I kept muesli bars on my bedside table so I could have something to eat in bed before getting up. I kept food on me at all times so I never got hungry.
• I drank plenty of water, and cut out soft drinks.
• Ginger. This was a miracle for me. Luckily, I love ginger so I could happily munch away on some crystallized ginger or ginger beer. If you don't like ginger however, you can get ginger tablets from chemists and health food stores.
• Avoid foods that make you feel nauseous (sounds obvious)
• Eat a healthy diet. Try not to eat fried and fatty foods as this can aggravate morning sickness.
• I found coffee made me feel ill (and I worked at Starbucks). Try to limit caffeinated drinks as caffeine can irritate the stomach.
• Don't wear clothes that are too tight, especially around your abdomen.
• Eat 'bland' food. I found I couldn't stomach spicy meals (and I normally love spicy food). Not really a time to be carb conscious, as bread, crackers, pasta and other grains are excellent.
• Take time out to relax as often as you can, and try to get decent sleep!

I hope this helps some mum's to be out there! If anyone else has any tips for morning sickness, please comment!