20 Tips for Dealing with Morning, Noon, and Night Sickness
My friend Natalie recently emailed me asking for support and encouragement, because she is feeling the nauseating effects of morning, noon, and night sickness. She knew that I could empathize with her pain because I had terrible morning sickness the first 19 weeks of my pregnancy. Feeling nauseated and vomiting all day long is one of the most horrible feelings in the world! For all you moms out there that never got any morning sickness, count your blessings! For those of us that are experiencing the joys of vomiting every day or who have – here are some tips to help get you through that horrible phase of pregnancy.
Time is the only thing that will truly make you feel better. Every week I thought that that would be the week that I got better. I was well past my first trimester, yet I was still feeling horrible. Eventually the week came that I didn’t feel nauseated anymore. Wahoo! Just getting through the days was the only remedy that made me feel great again.
Don’t feel bad if you aren’t excited about your new baby. Both Natalie and I have felt guilty for not being excited about the upcoming new addition to the family. I think it is okay if you aren’t. You’ll have time to be excited later in the pregnancy.
Find an activity to help you keep your mind off how you are feeling. I watched a ton of movies while I was sick. Lying still on the couch and getting my mind off how I was feeling really helped.
Eat anything that you can keep down. Don’t worry about how many carbs or calories it has. If you can keep it down, then eat it. You can watch your diet later in your pregnancy. For a while I would only eat frozen waffles for dinner or malt-o-meal. Baked potatoes with cheese became a favorite. I could only keep down anything with an enormous amount of carbs.
Eat something before you reach the danger zone! The danger zone is when you are too nauseated to eat anything. It really helps to keep some cracker sandwiches on you. I would even carry a canister of Pringles with me everywhere I went. Sometimes my husband would have to pull in to a gas station to get me something. I would tell him, “I’m hitting the danger zone” and he knew what it meant. He quickly helped to remedy the situation because he knew he would be cleaning up the toilet again if he didn’t get me food fast!
Even if it sounds good and you aren’t sure you’ll keep it down – don’t eat it! I did this so many times. I thought I could keep down that Pad Thai or chili cheese hot dog, but it didn’t happen. Be careful on the foods you aren’t so sure about.
Leave the office when everyone is heating up their stinky lunches! Don’t feel bad if you can’t sit at your desk or work when someone around you is eating their smelly lunch at their desk. Go outside or somewhere else and enjoy the break.
Ask for help. This should go without saying, but many times we are afraid to ask our husbands, family, or friends. Usually people want to help, but they don’t know how. Give them some direction (babysitting, dishes, laundry, errands, etc.) and let them do it. Be thankful, but don’t feel guilty for asking. If they can’t, then at least you asked.
Nap and go to bed early! You don’t feel too nauseated when you are sleeping.
Wear comfortable pants. I thought getting maternity pants at 8 weeks pregnant was a little too soon, but I was so glad I did it. I felt so much better not having a button dig into my stomach. Elastic pants rock!
Do what you have to, then take care of yourself. Take a close look at what you have to do and what you don’t have to. Not everything has to be done right now or today. Stuff can wait. Take care of your kids and then beyond that take care of you.
Don’t worry about everyone else. It’s okay to disappear from your social calendar for a month or two. Frankly, I don’t remember much of October or November of 2006. I was out of commission. My poor life group would hear me upstairs vomiting in the bathroom. It was particularly embarrassing when it was quiet during prayer time. Luckily it moved them to pray for me!
Go into work late, if you can. I was very lucky that I had enough sick leave to allow me to take an hour of sick leave every morning. Getting through the worst of morning sickness at home was nice, so I could make it through the rest of the day.
Don’t worry about the house! You’ll get a chance to catch up later. Luckily, my husband picked up a lot of slack for me. Take the opportunities to work on the house when you are well. If you aren’t, then you just can’t do it. It’s okay. If you feel really bad about the house, call a maid. Sometimes that $80 to get your house scrubbed is worth it.
Communicate to your husband that you are still interested in him, just not now. I didn’t want my husband to touch me at all! During my morning sickness he was serving me constantly but he never felt loved in return, because physical touch is his love language. Even though I said thank you a million times, ‘words of affirmation’ isn’t his love language. I would bet that a lot of men feel loved with physical touch. So give him a hug or a nice hand squeeze when you can, so he feels appreciated.
Try every remedy, even if you hate ginger. Ginger-anything is a common remedy for morning sickness. I know people who it worked for and others that it didn’t. Preggy Pops actually did help me. They are pretty expensive, so I switched to Starbursts that had the same effect.
Line your bedside trashcan with a small plastic bag and tape it to the side. This is my husband’s trick. He keeps scotch tape next to the trashcan and tapes down the plastic bag to the side. Then the bag doesn’t fall in with the velocity of your up-chuck hitting the bag.
Do yourself and your husband a favor and make it to toilet. I really had to make a concentrated effort to run to the toilet when I felt it was coming. I can’t say that I made it every time.
Call your friends and have them commiserate with you. This really helped me. I remember calling McKenna and she told me the story about how her husband would find her curled up on the living room floor when he came home from work. Just having her agree with me that having morning sickness is the worst feeling in the world made me feel better.
Call your doctor’s office for medication when you need it. Many times a nurse can call in a prescription for you. My prescription made me sleepy, but it did help some. One weekend I couldn’t keep anything down for two days. That was the lowest point for me. They prescribed me suppositories, which thankfully did the trick. Getting medication helps. Don’t be afraid to call your nurse or doctor.
Morning sickness is absolutely horrible, but the reward is entirely worth it! It always bewildered me that I was sick for a good reason. Now I am dreading the next round (whenever that is). I know the next time we try I am planning on being out of commission for at least a month and having friends lined up to watch Ace.
How about you? Did you experience morning sickness? What helped you?
- Extra Resources
Mommyzab’s Must Haves for Morning (all-day) Sickness
20 Home Remedies for Morning Sickness
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There really are few things in this world than morning sickness! Honestly, with my son it was the WORSE! I didn’t throw up except for one time, but that made it worse for me. With my daughter, I had a few minutes of relief after vomiting, even though I vomited every day. My husband would find me curled up on the living room floor when he’d come home and Darah spent A LOT of time in front of Baby Einstein during those long weeks. My advice to you mamas-to-be is that it will end! It will probably end around 12-14 weeks, but even if you have it longer, you won’t have it when your baby is in your arms….it will end…I promise ! YUCK!!
PS: My doctor was so stinking stingy on meds for me with Connor…I called and he wouldn’t give them to me. It was horrible trying to “sell my sickness” to the nurse. Did anyone else feel like that? Next time, I’m not going to be so patient, though!
Great article!
I feel so blessed to have your support in my life because I know you DO understand!!
I am starting to feel a lot better. I know one other thing that has helped me is getting outside. Because I have been so sick, I start to get really discouraged…really easily. If you can get outside and have a day out at the park, it helps a lot!! It lifted my spirits!
I always call morning sickness “inconvenient sickness” because I don’t know many people who only get it in the morning. What a joke! It is inconvenient to your life though!
Protein is what was always a big help to me. I ate a lot of cottage cheese in those early stages of pregnancy. I had various amounts of inconvenient sickness with all three. I can’t remember with who–I think it was when I was pregnant with Isaac the IC finally went away in week 22 or 23. I threw up a lot but found that eating small amounts of protein throughout the day helped me avoid “the danger zone”. Jon would have to do those fast stops for me too–sometimes to throw up in a parking lot somewhere or to stop and get a bean burrito from Taco Bell. I think I had IC the least amount of time during Graham’s pregnancy but I had that nauseated feeling all day. With the other two I would only feel sick right before I had to throw up or waited too long to eat something. With every pregnancy I always said that I would never go through all that again but holding those babies was worth every minute of sickness!
Those are great tips!
Feeling very thankful I didn’t have the vomits!
I had rolling nausea and occasional dizziness during my first trimester, but I found the stretching ligament pain to be far worse than nausea. I hear that’s only just beginning…
McKenna – That isn’t fun when you have to sell your sickness. I didn’t have that problem. I called and they were like “Which one do you want?”
Natalie – That is a great tip on getting fresh air! so true.
Amelia – Ha! Inconvenience Sickness. It sure is! I totally ate bean burritos from Taco Schmell all the time! I loved anything with refried beans!! You are right, holding those babies makes it all worth it. I am hoping it will be easier for me next time, because I know what I have to look forward to.
Melissa – Oh! Our bodies do incredible things when we are pregnant. You are so lucky not have severe morning sickness. I am really happy for you!
It’s amazing how much getting extra sleep with #2 helped me. Because I wasn’t working, I would go to bed at nine, wake up at seven, and have a rest in the afternoon when my son took his nap. My life, although more stressful in some ways b/c I was overseas, didn’t have the same time-crunch pressures that I always had in the US when I was pregnant w/ my little girl. So, that made a difference for me too.
Sorry, i meant “when I was pregnant with my little boy.”
Hi…
This is my first pregnancy and the thing I’m most worried about with this is that I feel sick all day, and I don’t feel like eating at all! I’m not vomiting that much, but how am I supposed to eat healthy for the baby when any thought of food makes me want to barf? And then I get these really weird, unhealthy cravings for greasy, fatty foods and that’s the only thing I can eat… I feel like I’m not being healthy for the baby…
Emily, if you’re in your first trimester, just eat what you can. Eating unhealthy foods is better than not eating, IMO. Hopefully you’ll be like most people and start feeling good around weeks 12-14 and then you can focus on eating healthy for your baby.
@Emily – Oh! I so relate. First off feeling nauseated is the worst feeling in the world! I agree with McKenna if you are in your first trimester then I would just eat what you can and don’t feel guilty about it! I felt bad that I couldn’t take my pre-natal vitamins. I ate mostly refried beans and waffles at the beginning of my pregnancy and then I got Gestational Diabetes and watched my diet. I ended up only gaining around 25 pounds. Whenever you feel better you can eat better! I hope you feel better soon!
Thank you for your kind words! It makes me feel a lot better. I think I read from one of your responses earlier about Eggo waffles and it sounded soooo good I made my husband go out and buy me some and now I’ve been eating those every morning for breakfast! Thanks for the advice…
[...] in honor of my morning sickness. Here is a link to my post with 20 Tips for Dealing with Morning, Noon, and Night Sickness. I have certainly been eating whatever I can keep down (hooray for Eggos and bean and cheese [...]