12 Weeks 5 Days - Almost 13 Weeks

Today has been mostly good. I spent time with my sister and her family this morning and then tonight I had dinner with a great friend from high school and her wonderful family. I love seeing them when  I come to visit. We have such a good visit, there are just some people that no matter how much time goes by you still feel so close.

Today was my oldest son's 11th birthday. Seriously how did this happen he is such a big boy now. It seems like he should be a little squirt not this tall, gangly kid about to go into middle school. I love my kids so much, they make my life complete.

The nausea and vomiting is well under control at this point. Scary to say, but in a few more weeks if it stays this way I may actually call this pregnancy my best on ever. Dizzy spells aside, the lack of NVP is actually so nice that I can live with the dizzy I think.

I forgot to take my hormone last night. I felt soooo good today. :( I look forward to the day I do not have to take them anymore, but I guess I will keep taking them till I see the doctor just to be safe. Every time I think I will stop anyway I remember the heartbreak of the six miscarriages and just go ahead and take them. I am so tired on them it makes me less motivated to take them cause all I really want to do is sleep. I want to feel good and be out doing things.

Well I suppose that is about it, maybe this week I can get the last pregnancy written up and put it on the blog.

Thanks for reading...for those who do!

Busy Few Days - 10 Weeks 5 Days

The last few days have been crazy with all the work at school coming to a close. Classes end in two weeks and I will find out if I can proceed to the final class for doing the research for my thesis and if I will graduate. Nerves are deeply affected by the thought that it all comes down to these last classes.

The nausea has been tough. I have had a few break through moments but nothing too overwhelming like the last time when it took me out of commission. I have found that I am becoming OCD about taking my Zofran. I count to the minute when the next dose is and MAKE SURE it is taken on time. Even if I have to stay up a little later to get a dose I make sure it gets taken. I feel panic sometimes thinking I might miss a dose. Seriously how crazy is this, but considering the nightmare of the nausea and vomiting I go through I suppose this on some level makes sense.

The last few days I have been having killer reflux. Taking Pepcid has helped, usually it flares up at night right before bed. I try to eat a little something that reduces acid and wait to go to bed till the burning wanes a bit. I keep saying this pregnancy is so backwards. Normally I have reflux, swelling in my legs, and aches in my hips and legs at the end of my pregnancy. This time it is all happening up front, maybe this means the end will be symptom free, would that be too much to ask?

On a lighter note, I braved Chuckie Cheese with all THREE of my boys. I know insane, and it was crazy. I usually do not do things like this without my hubby and especially pregnant, but my sister called and wanted to go. The older boys were fine, they did their thing, the little one was the nut. He was all over the place, and even just keeping my eyes on him I would lose him in the maze of games. Lesson learned, somethings require Daddy to tag along to make sure that I don't leave wishing for death lol, okay not that extreme. I came home and put my boys to bed and I took a nap. I slept like I was in a coma.

Well off to finish my class work for this term. Hoping that all things end well and I keep my 4.0 to the end and graduate with this GPA.

Two days away from the 12 week mark. Look out world we are closing in on baby number 4. :)

Wordless Wednesday - 10 Weeks 0 Days

Three things that make my pregnancy worthwhile!

A little better tonight - 10 weeks tomorrow!

Today was a it better. I took my time getting things together and making sure I was on top of my medicine and trying to eat little snacks that have higher protein. I heard that this can help so I tried that today. I am going to talk about foods so if that triggers skip this post.

I have been craving things like cheese, potatos, and ranch. :) Today I ate a few cheese cubes as a snack. I have heard that just a few cubes of cheese or something salty like chips can adjust your stomach and for today it helped. I also suggested for dinner to go to a place that only served one "type" of food. We went to eat at an Italian place and it was fine. The smell issue was minimal and seemd to be pretty in control. I even felt good enough to go and find some materinty clothes after dinner.

So maybe if I focus and try to keep on top of things that will keep my nausea in check. Here is hoping!

To take or not to take...9 weeks 5 days

Sitting here trying to decide whether or not to take the rest of my medicines tonight. I am so nauseated and I am having the WORST freaking stomach pains. The idea of forcing anything down my throat at this time is just not a happy thought. I also need to eat a little something so that one of my medicines the hormone does not make me sick (note the irony, don't want to eat, must eat to take pill that can make me sick). I am tired and want to go to bed it is almost 1 am here in the East and I really need to decide soon. Maybe a quick shower and then a snack and then the meds. I tried drinking a bit of water (that will come back to haunt in the middle of the night), but it hasn't made that blah feeling in the back of my throat disappear. Maybe a peppermint tea...I just do not KNOW tonight. Blah

Ready to Disconnect...

I rarely talk about this side of my personality because it just is not my favorite. Like I said in a previous post, I despise drama, and for some reason it seems to be following me lately. I have a tendency when this happens to just totally disconnect from everyone but the kids. Sometimes it just makes it easier to not deal with all the mess and let everyone get settled before venturing back in to the fray again. At this point that would be next to impossible considering I am visiting my parents and I can exactly turn off the phone or Internet etc...

Last night and today were a total nightmare. The nausea./vomiting is getting worse and I was totally out of my Zofran. My husband had overnighted it yesterday but I was out and so I was totally riding those waves one after another all day today. I just wanted to lay down and not think. Lights, the computer, noises, whatever, it all made me ill and so I was trying to just lay down and not think about the nausea. I curled up on the couch with a blanket and pillow and a cool cloth for my head and neck. My kids were back in the room watching their movies and things were pretty quiet until my Dad got back from his morning chores.

He walked in and the first words were..."Do you need to go to a doctor?" Of course my reply was no, there really isn't anything a doctor here can do. I really need to be at home with my doctors and be able to have my medication adjusted as needed. Then there was my mother, "you know if you eat some crackers, or if you eat more vegetables, or if you do xyz...you will feel better." I wish that those things worked, oh how I really really wish that these things would work, and yet they just do not work. Once I got to where I could sit up and make adequate decisions I called my husband and said that we should change the return day to the 29th of July rather than the 19th of August. Just saying it made me want to cry and yet I know it is the best thing to do for both me and the kids. I feel like if I wait much longer the drive will become pure hell and we will end up making more stops to accommodate the hyperemesis. Then there is the whole what if I get so dehydrated that I need intervention. Too many unknowns and variables that are outside my control.

Then this time there has been more drama. Normally I can let it fly right off my back and just ignore the whole situation. This time it has really worn me down. It seems like every time I turn around someone disagrees with something in my parenting. Sometimes it feels like no matter how old I am or how many degrees I have I will always be an idiot to certain people. Total frustration with that attitude. Then there is the whole issue where I get questioned about the extent of my sickness and why can't I just brush it off and go and do whatever it is other people want me to go and do. So then I blame myself for not being able to do the things that others want and feel like maybe this is my fault. Maybe it is all in my head or maybe I am just exaggerating. Maybe if I just go out and do all the things other pregnant people do I would feel better. Maybe it is just in my head, maybe the reality is that I am just sensitive to nausea and vomiting from my previous experiences and so I am over reacting. Maybe...

I will have to tell my parents that I am leaving earlier. I do not really want to tell them they are going to be so disappointed. I am disappointed, the kids are going to be so sad. Once again I am the ruiner of plans and fun.

Just one of those really down days.

My Second HG Pregnancy

Since I have been up all night and I just decided to get up early and get a few things finished. First up, adding to my blog.

After we moved to Texas I started back to school to finish my degree. I had only been in school a couple terms when I found out I was pregnant with my second child. I was excited but nervous at the same time. I was mindful of all the complications the first time around and I was concerned how this would affect my oldest son, school, and life in general.

Pregnancy started out very well. I was mainly tired but didn't feel much different. We lived in this tiny condominium and so that became a concern right away. We knew that we would need a bigger place and that there would be other expenses coming too. I saw the doctor right away letting him know the issues I had the first pregnancy. He didn't put me on any medications right away and in fact did not even use the term "hyperemesis" even though I referred to it several times. I was doing well until around the 10th or 12th week, then the nausea and vomiting began hitting me hard.

I was so ill that I would turn the television on and just let my little one watch as much as he wanted. I would lay on the couch and pray that it would go away. I was so miserable. I was also potty training him, he was two at the time and it was a challenge, he did not like the big potty so we had to use the small one on the floor. This presented problems for my nausea issues. I can remember him telling my husband at night "Mommy coughed all day in the bathroom." I am allergic to Phenergan, so this made prescribing any medication difficult. I would get up at night and go to school. I can remember one class in particular that I would get really sick as soon as I walked into the room. This was a larger class and possibly it was the combination of smells that got to me. I still to this day see the professor and feel ill. So sorry to say that, but he doesn't really know.

I didn't want to call the doctor and make additional appointments. At the time my husband was working where he was not really allowed to take any time off and so any time at the doctor or if I had to go to the ER for any reason became a serious issue. We also had a very small income and this made having any type of childcare for my 2 year old impossible. I felt alone and sad. I was away from my family and now this was making it really difficult for me to  cope. I heard things from other people like, "gee, you are so dramatic about this morning sickness thing..." or "can't you just eat some crackers and get over it." I started blaming myself for being so sick which only compounded my stress. Around 13 or 14 weeks I was in the kitchen cooking lunch for my baby and passed out from dehydration and lack of nutrition. I had the biggest knot on my head and felt dizzy when I sat up. I woke up to the sound of my baby screaming and I was dazed so it took me a few minutes to realize I was on the floor and he was upset.

I called my husband he took me to the ER, I was admitted immediately. I was put on IV fluids and given Zofran through my IVs. My doctor decided this was a blood sugar issue and if I ate more protein and snacked on sugary foods this would "cure" the bouts of sickness. I didn't care at that point. I felt so much better getting the IV and Zofran that they could have told me I needed to drink mud smoothies and I wouldn't have cared. I stayed in the hospital for a short time and asked to be released early. The doctor was not happy about it, but we had no alternative child care and no way to afford it, my husband HAD to get back to work. This was not something that was even an option. There were some dynamics there that I still don't like to talk about simply because it was so painful at the time. Again I blamed myself for being sick.

The nausea and vomiting ended at around my sixth month. I then had other issues like pre-term contractions which resulted in another hospital stay and more drama. Then I had high blood pressure and protein in my urine  in my final months. I was finally induced on my birthday and my second son, Liam was born. He was the same weight and length as my first baby. He was a sweet little boy and I adored him immediately. After the easy birth I thought I might like to have one more child and told my husband someday we would need to have maybe one more baby.

My second HG baby - Liam

The honeymoon is over... 9 wks 1 day

Sadly, the wonderful honeymoon stage of the pregnancy has ended. The nausea and vomiting is now breaking through the medicine. I guess I will be going home early :(. Nothing good to say so I will say nothing else. Sad.

My new best friend! I drink this at night and it helps with the reflux.

Here comes the train, wish I could get off the tracks... 9 Weeks

Well it finally really hit the nausea and vomiting. So far it only seems to be at certain times a day but it is finally hitting and it is nasty. I would really love to say I am wrong but after three other pregnancies I have a feeling this is the slide. So far it is really bad in the evenings. I had the worst of it last night. I had to wait an hour and a half to go to bed. Every time I tried to lay down it was immediate nausea.

I was beginning to hope I would have a normal pregnancy.

So today I am switching diets to the easier to handle mostly liquid and small meals. I am trying to incorporate as many high energy foods as possible to help with the tiredness. We will see if this helps. I think the hubby has decided it is time for me to return home sooner rather than later. He really worries and wants me to come home so that I am close to the doctor.

I am really taking it very easy here, I do cook dinners at night. This is a challenge considering smells tend to set me off but it is not to terrible. I don't think I will be able to continue my visit much longer which makes me very sad. I will not get to come back home until after the baby comes and that will be March or later.

Hubby has also decided I should not attempt homeschooling this year. I really want to do the homeschool option with the way schools are turning into the clearing house for budgeting in government. Our district is extending school days and then making class sizes larger to consolidate the payroll. As a teacher this rubs me all kinds of wrong. This goes against all the research and evidence of how classrooms should look for optimal student performance.

Maybe if I get home and spend less time getting sick he will still let me do homeschooling. I highly doubt it because he has that determined edge in his voice but we will see if I can convince him to change his mind.

Where am I today...

• 9 weeks and 0 days pregnant
• I am having much more frequent nausea and vomiting and hating it
• My worst nausea seems to occur at night time right before bed
• I have many decisions to make to try and get ready for the next few months

On a side note has anyone tried these...I am thinking of trying them. Any of you silent readers know much about them or have tried them please let me know.

1st Doctor Day for Me and Peanut

Today was the first OB appointment. They got me in earlier than the standard 8 weeks for several reasons. First they got me in because I have had so many miscarriages (six in total). So this is my tenth total pregnancy. Most of the miscarriages occurred during the period we were trying to get pregnant with Aidan. We finally got pregnant and stayed pregnant when we stopped pregnant, talk about irony. The other reason they wanted to see me was that I was going to see my parents for a while and they wanted to get care established. The last reason was for the HG, they need to establish care and get a plan going so they can call in medicine.

The appointment went so well! I am so happy with the doctor, staff, and their care. They were open to everything I had to say. They listened and genuinely cared that I had so many problems from other pregnancies. I am so glad I went in today. I struggled last night with the fear and anxiety. I worried for hours before I fell asleep that this would be like last time and that the doctor would not want to dig in with me and work on a real plan. Thankfully, she really that was not the case and the visit was amazing. They are worried about me going out of town (sharp change from previous doctor, he couldn't care less), they would prefer me close if something goes wrong. They told me to call if there is any issue at any time and of course to go straight to the ER if there is something that requires immediate intervention (I am  praying this does not happen).

They called in my nausea meds, just Zofran for now but will step up as necessary. Told me to go ahead with the over the counter remedies and maintain whatever necessary to make sure that peanut and I are healthy. Now we are about to take naps, all the boys are down since we got up so early. After that we are doing the packing and getting things in the car so we can leave EARLY in the morning. The boys are so excited, they have been packing "travel bags" full of more toys than necessary but we will solve that later.

Where am I today:

• First amazing OB appointment with my new OB...so excited...
• All my meds are ready to go if and when they become necessary...
• After being sick yesterday, no more physical sickness today but nasty nasty reflux, probably more related to the gastroparesis than HG at least I hope. I have kept it in control with gum and extra water...
• Getting ready to visit my parents and cannot wait to see them, have not been home since November...
• Less anxiety and worry than before and feeling more confident about my care.

Not My Best Day...7 Weeks 0 Days :)

Today was a tough one, and sadly I fear that I am going to see more of them. I really hope that I don't!

This morning I woke up to find that things were left a mess last night and by mess I mean a stinky smelly nightmare. The kitchen needed cleaning and I debated, clean it or have to deal with all the residual smells from the undone dishes for the day. I decided it would just be best to clean it, other wise I knew I wouldn't even go in there for food the rest of the day. So clean it was the final decision. I immediately realized this was not a good decision, get up close with that drama was my undoing. I won't give the dirty details but I will say only one side of the sink contained dishes, no other explanation necessary. Cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the sink, took the trash to the door, cleaned the floor by the door after dealing with the trash :( and then went to sit on the couch and try to regain some sanity.

I had a panic attack once I got to the living room and just curled up on the couch. I don't know if it was the residual memories from other pregnancies, getting sick this morning, frustration with the events...but it set off a crazy reaction in my brain. This last a good twenty minutes or so, luckily the kids slept late so I could get back in control before they saw me. I hate getting sick, I hate getting sick when I am pregnant, and I fear it like people fear heights or snakes.

The rest of the day was spent doing school work and reflecting trying to get a handle on my issues. My first OB appointment is tomorrow. I have a LONG list of things to talk to them about and get started with so that treatment is more proactive rather than reactive. I refuse to get into this pregnancy and be on the phone begging for help, I want a plan in place before I hit that kind of desperation.

The other thing I was thinking about today was the amount of time I had planned to spend in Georgia. My fear is that things will ramp up while I am there and I will have little or no recourse being away from my doctor and the antepartum unit of our hospital. I really want to stay for a good long visit. My parents really want us to stay for a long visit, I just do not know if I will be able to physically stay that long. There are so many "what ifs" that it seems like it is not wise to stay for too long and tempt the HG fate. I suppose this will be added to the list for discussion with my OB. So many unanswered questions and so much planning and changing of plans to make sure that my health does not put me back in the hospital. My biggest fear is how that would affect our youngest. He has never been away from me and I think it would be too much for him. Oh wow, too much worry!

So finally I just got quiet after the kids went down for naps. I am now reflecting on some verses.

• Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6 & 7 NLT
• The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18 NLT
• We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.  2 Corinthians 4:8 & 9 NLT

*Disclaimer: this does not say  that things will be perfect or that my mindset is going to be perfect. Just that these verses give me comfort. *

So where am I today:

• I am 7 weeks and 0 days pregnant...
• I am building my list of discussion topics for the doctor tomorrow and trying to be proactive to control the HG...
• I am finishing my Masters thesis and taking life one minute at a time rather than trying to tackle the whole day...small steps...
• I am giving myself permission to be human and have human moments of anxiety so that I don't beat myself up for it later...
• I am resting on the hope that today's sickness is not necessarily an indicator of sickness for the rest of the pregnancy...

My First Pregnancy - First HG Experience

My first pregnancy, just like this new pregnancy was a huge surprise. I was totally shocked. We had only been married for four months. I remember the moment so clearly. We were watching movies at home alone on New Year’s Eve. We were watching the movie “9 Months.” There is a scene in the movie where she is describing all of her first trimester symptoms and all of a sudden it was like she was reading a checklist of my physical symptoms. My mind started screaming “NO FREAKING WAY” while at the same time I knew in my heart that it was so true. I went right to the store and got 5 different pregnancy tests. First, positive, “well that can’t be right.” Second, positive, “no freaking way am I pregnant.” Third, fourth, fifth…you get the picture.

Shortly into my first trimester the horrible nausea and vomiting started. I was sick day and night; I would wake up and run straight for the bathroom to be sick. This was the cause of one of the biggest arguments that we had in the beginning of our marriages. My husband would leave his huge shoes right at the end of the bed and every night on my run for the porcelain I would break a toe on the freaking shoes. After about half a million times of asking him to put them in the darn closet, on my return trip to get back in the bed I placed the big heavy shoes right on his sleeping face. Voila, no more shoes in the middle of the floor. J Some problems are best solved with an object lesson.

I can remember driving down the road or being on the highway and having to stop on the side of the road to be sick. Super humiliating to be at your weakest human moment on the side of I-75, not my best moment, would love to see that as a picture on a greeting card sometime.  I went to the hospital for hydration on more than one occasion this is the period that I learned I am a hard stick for starting IVs.  My veins roll and hide and the nurse stuck me about six times before I told her she had one more chance and then I was going to put that needle …well you get the picture.

Food smell, the smell of cooking food, raw food, and well any food made me totally out of my mind sick. My husband didn’t know how to cook, and he learned to cook out of necessity.  I would lie on the couch, blankets over my head to block the smell and yell directions to him in the kitchen. That is actually one of the funniest memories I have of this period. My sweet OB and Midwife were concerned I was rapidly losing weight, by my fifth month I was wearing two sizes smaller than when I got pregnant. I had no belly at all and they were concerned. I am allergic to phenergan so they put me on some other medicine, no Zofran at that time. I cannot remember the name but I totally remember the effects. The medicine made me paranoid and my skin felt like it was falling off my body. I can remember sitting on the stairs in our apartment rocking back and forth saying I just wanted to die. Without the medicine I was sick, with the medicine I was a total nut case. Neither seemed like a good option. Finally I just stopped the medicine. Oh the advice I got for ways to “help.” Crackers, ginger, ginger ale, sprite, get out of bed slowly, eat crackers in bed and get out of bed slowly, eat small meals, and on and on and on. In my head I was thinking, “I can’t even keep water down, and if I get out of bed any slower a sloth will be faster than I am.” Sweet well meaning souls, when someone has HG, there are few if any “traditional” remedies that help this nightmare.

Around my sixth month all the nausea stopped. I started to gain weight and actually looked like I was pregnant. Things were great till I went into pre-term labor, then preeclampsia. I guess you can see I don’t do anything half way. At the end of the pregnancy I had a beautiful healthy baby and I was content with that, he had colic for the first four months, but after the nightmare I lived through I figured that was par for the course. I told my husband, no freaking way am I EVER getting pregnant again. Enjoy this kid cause you don’t get another. Hilarious now, not so hilarious then, but the journey was so difficult. In the end I made it through and was able to say I survived. I was never actually diagnosed with HG. I had the most caring OB and midwife and so I don’t think it was carelessness but more a lack of information at the time. They made every effort to help me and make me comfortable, but there was even less information then and that was just in 2000.

My First Baby - He is almost 11

The things you forget...(prepare for brutal honesty :))

Got up early again this morning. Not really by choice, our dog decided to bark at the sky and not hush for 15 minutes. For such a little dog she is really loud. By the time she was finished I was wide awake so I just went ahead and got out of bed, better than laying there trying to force myself to go back to sleep.

So the title of my post, I am amazed at what you forget even though it has only been three years since the last time I went through my first trimester. I forgot that what you enjoy eating right now may not be so enjoyable 10 or 15 minutes later. (Mental image: after eating running to the bathroom to wash my mouth out to get rid of the taste to kill the nausea.) I forgot that the extra saliva you have during the pregnancy can be a constant source of disgust and leave you wondering if you are going to be ill. Of course, from what I hear from other HG survivors this is common. There is an unnatural and crazy fear of being physically sick to your stomach. I would rather walk on broken glass than be sick to my stomach.

I forgot how tired you are at this stage in your pregnancy. Seriously I fall asleep at 6 or 7 o'clock every night. No matter how much I sleep I still feel exhausted at about that time, I will make a note for the doctor on Thursday. Maybe she can offer some suggestions. However, since this is pregnancy number four I pretty much can guess what she is going to say.

I totally forgot that my body would ache like I had the flu. Last week I complained to my husband about this thinking it was some other crazy illness springing up. My body aches in the joints, I feel like I am freezing cold and then the next day it is gone. Just another part of pregnancy insanity.

I also forgot how much love you feel for someone you have not even met yet. I have these moments of totally loving the little one, but then the fear sets in and I turn it off. I know that sounds strange, but anyone who has had miscarriages or suffered through HG understands this statement. There is a good amount of self preservation that you learn over time. Loving that little being can turn into something else if things go haywire. Praying is where I am at right now, and trying hard no to freak out and analyze every twinge or ache in my abdomen. I am trying not to run to the bathroom every 15 minutes to make sure I am not spotting. I am trying NOT to let this pregnancy turn me into a totally nut job before I get out of the first trimester.

Last night in bed (before I fell in to what I am loving calling my "pregnancy coma") I started to giggle. We just bought a bigger car. We had two cars that only held our three boys and us up until the first of this month. At the beginning of the month we started "looking" and decided we would wait until the end of the month to actually buy. We were out on one of or looking trips and happened to see the exact vehicle I had researched and fell in love with and it just happened to be a new model that only had 10,000 miles and it just happened to be priced below "Blue Book" value. We sat down with the salesman and he set us up, the paperwork was all done in a day and we went home with the car. At the time I was thinking this is great this will be plenty of room for the kids, little did I know that we would really need the extra room.  Sometimes our plans get altered for a reason!

So with that being said I am not going to panic about our current living situation. I am not going to panic about the HG and worry that things are not going to work out. I am not going to go crazy thinking about all the details. Instead I am going to remember that before I knew I needed a plan, God was making my plan. I am going to remember that even when I feel out of control, there is always someone who knows more about the future than me and I can rest and be still in that knowledge.

So where am I today:

• I am 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant...
• I am dealing with normal nausea (well for pregnancy) and not currently having HG symptoms
• I am putting my heart at rest and letting God lead (cause really at this point, there is nothing else for me to do)
• I am working on my plan for when/if I fall down the HG hole
• I am trying to remember that I am NOT going to be a nut job and panic over everything...please not the word trying
• Lastly I am trying to let other people who love me support me and not take to heart the things other people who are less supportive have said...

End of the Day - Still 6 Weeks

So I wanted to post another note tonight. We finally told everyone that we were pregnant again and everyone was happy about the new peanut. My boys are excited, the middle said he wants to name the baby Rex. Wonder how that would work out if the baby turns out to be a girl. I doubt that will happen as we have three boys but it could happen right.

Today turned out to be a nasty pregnancy day for reasons other than HG. Nasty migraine all day and still no relief, hurting so bad that my hair hurts. Really sensitive to smells today too. Nice thing was I asked my husband to clean the carpet in part of the house that had an odd smell (you other HG girls know what I mean) and he jumped right up and went to clean. Seriously this is totally out of character for him, he is a wait till the last minute kind of chore person so that was a nice bonus. Another bonus, a friend who works in an OB office says they are training someone new on the ultrasound machine and that they would love for me to come in and get one for free. Seriously how cool is that, loving it and excited about the free peanut picks.

Waiting on the other shoe to drop as far as the HG. Hoping by some miracle I am able to pass it by, but preparing in case it does show up in the future. Tomorrow I will start planning for the upcoming vacation, and then after that it is planning for the next few months. Did I mention that besides the three buddies I have now...and the one one the way, I am working on my Masters thesis. Nothing like adding fuel to the fire, so now I am preparing for the day that I may not be able to meet deadlines by trying to figure out how to speed up my research that is already on a tight deadline. Oh well, time to get crazy busy and plan plan plan.

Four = More Fun - Starting 6 Weeks and Counting

So I am writing the blog to talk about my experiences with hyperemesis during pregnancy. I just found out (and totally shocked) that I am expecting my fourth child in February. The previous three pregnancies all had hyperemesis issues and each pregnancy got worse with the last pregnancy being the absolute worst of all of the pregnancies. The hyperemesis is one reason we had been planning not to get pregnant again and were actually talking adoption at some point in the future. So the positive pregnancy test was highly surprising to say the least.

The reason I am writing the blog is so that anyone who doesn't understand the progression of this journey can get an idea what this is like for someone you know or even for yourself. I have heard everything from, "you are faking" to "boy you are so dramatic" when they talk about the sickness that occurs during pregnancy.

So what is hyperemesis. The full name for the condition is hyperemesis gravidarum. I call it morning sickness on steroids. This is not just morning sickness it is 24 hour sickness that can extend through entire pregnancies. This can make you so sick that you need to be hospitalized, fed through feeding tubes, and pumped full of meds just to keep your body from shutting down during the pregnancy. For women who experience this condition it is something close to a nightmare because it is totally physically draining and can threaten the health and life of both the mother and the child. In the next posts I will talk about the experiences with my other pregnancies and also with my current pregnancy.

As of today:

• I am 6 weeks pregnant.
• I have had mild nausea but so far nothing outside the norm...
• I am praying that this pregnancy will be different from all my others....
• I still have most of my family to inform of my pregnancy and not sure I am ready for this...
• Started the new blog and hope it is informative for anyone who wants to learn...

For more scientific explanations of this condition check out the link to the Hyperemesis Education & Research website, they offer great advice and forums for this subject!

www.helpher.org