My Pregnancy Journey with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (Part 1)

On the afternoon of June 17th, 2011, my life forever changed. I saw 2 pink lines appear on the pregnancy test I had just taken. I was a huge mix of emotions, because this pregnancy had not at all been planned, but mostly I was excited for the journey ahead. Little did I know at the time just what that journey would involve and how incredibly sick I would become. 

                                       First positive pregnancy test. You can barely see the line, but it's there. :)

I had been feeling a little sick to my stomach since 2 weeks prior when I discovered that there was a good chance I may be pregnant. That feeling in my stomach was simply due to the extreme anxiety I was feeling about the situation. After all, the pregnancy was completely unplanned and, due to the nature of the "mistake" that caused it, was in fact, my "fault." I put these things in quotations because we believe that God does not make mistakes and that this was part of His plan for our family. However, this is something that was initially very hard for us to work through as a couple, and particularly so for my husband.

Because I had been feeling so anxious and therefore a little sick to my stomach for so long while waiting to find out, and then again after I had confirmed that I was in fact pregnant, it's very hard for me to pinpoint an exact day on which I began feeling nauseous due to being pregnant. It was like my "anxiety nausea" just led into the pregnancy nausea somehow. It got increasingly worse as the days went on and by the time I was 5 weeks pregnant I remember feeling unquestionably nauseous in a way that I knew was not just from anxiety. At 6 and a half weeks, I began to vomit. By this time, I had become so sick that I was staying in bed for the entire day. I didn't want to move or stand up to do anything because I would instantly have to vomit again. I was trying very hard to eat and to take my prenatal vitamins because I knew I needed to be able to keep the baby healthy and growing. But everything I was eating was coming up. EVERYTHING. And then some.

I tried all of the standard remedies for morning sickness, which is what I thought it was at the time- eating saltines, making sure I had at least a little bit of food in my stomach before getting out of bed in the morning, sea bands, ginger ale, the works. You name it, believe me, I tried it. I remember using every ounce of energy in me to drag myself out of the house and having my husband, Nathan, drive me to the pharmacy so we could talk with the pharmacist about any over the counter medications I could try to help with the unending nausea and vomiting that would also be safe for the baby. He was very kind and recommended Dramamine which is actually a medication for motion sickness. We bought it and I took it immediately. It may as well have been a sugar pill because it didn't do jack squat for me. I was so disappointed. By now I was also getting really scared. I was very concerned that if I was this sick myself, what in the world was going to happen to my baby? I called to make my first appointment with an OB because I knew I needed help. Surely they would have something for me that would make the endless nausea and vomiting stop. 

July 14th was my first visit with an OB since I had become pregnant. I was 7 and a half weeks along. This OB prescribed Phenergan, which is a standard anti-nausea medication. It did nothing. I went from scared to terrified. I was thinking that if even this prescription medication wasn't doing anything for me, what was I going to do?