The Next Bump in the Road

Yesterday I encountered my latest pregnancy challenge: the dreaded morning sickness.  I woke up nauseated and it got worse as the day went on.  The nausea itself wasn't that bad, but I had no appetite, which caused a massive blood-sugar crash that lasted the whole day.  It was like having the flu: I was shaking, dizzy, freezing cold, weak, and my muscles ached.  But no matter how bad it was, I couldn't get myself to eat more than a few bites of food.  Food was revolting.  I didn't actually vomit, but it was pretty close.

It's so strange.  I had a couple of moments of mild nausea in the past two weeks, but nothing serious.  In all of my six previous pregnancies, I've never suffered more than those mild, rare moments of sickness.  Yesterday, though, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  What changed?

I did try some ginger tea which helps a lot with the nausea, but it doesn't help me want to eat, which is the real problem (I've actually lost a pound in the past month).  Also, this tea has a couple of other herbs in it which are on the "forbidden during pregnancy" list.  I'm drinking a cup right now, but I can't drink it all day long.  There are other products with ginger, but my nurse-friend says you really need higher amounts of ginger than you're going to get in most crackers and things.  So I'll probably check out Trader Joe's where they seem to have super-strong ginger products, or even make my own tea from fresh ginger.  But I'm not sure how I'm going to find the energy to get to the market at all, let alone cook anything.  And that's another problem.  I think there might be a few palatable foods out there, but I can't imagine going to the market feeling like I did yesterday.  I'm sure I'd pass out.

Today, I have managed to eat a bit more.  I also slept until 11am and then took a quick nap after lunch, which I think helped a lot.  Maybe the tea also helped, or maybe I'm just having a better day.  But I'm not cold, which was the worst part about yesterday.  I'd have these episodes where the coldness would start out from my core and just spread throughout my body, ending up in my toes, fingers, and nose. And when it got there it wouldn't leave.  I kept running my hands under hot water (I was too weak to take a shower) and when I was home, I got under a blanket with a heating pad on my feet.  When I went to bed last night, it took a full hour with the heating pad for me to stop feeling cold.

Today is supposed to be my last day of estrogen and progesterone (8 weeks pregnant today - woohoo!), and stopping the hormones might help.  However, since I've been so uptight about miscarriage, my RE suggested that I keep going with them, not because it would lower any risk, but because if I did lose the pregnancy, at least I wouldn't blame it on stopping the hormones, and therefore, on myself.  Then my OB said I should keep taking them until eleven weeks.  I think his information is just a bit out of date.  But still, I was going to keep going with the hormones until I ran out, which will probably be in a week or two.  Now, I don't know.  Maybe I should stop them sooner.  I guess I'll give it a few more days and see how it goes.