by REBEKAH, Modern Day Moms

Million Moms Challenge Blogger

Being pregnant wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for me. I was so excited in the beginning, but it wasn’t long before all the excitement faded and I began to dread the 9 months I had ahead of me. I actually hate to say that, but it’s the truth! When morning sickness really kicked in at around 7 weeks, I started to wonder how I was going to make it through each day. As the days passed, my morning sickness got worse. It wasn’t just isolated to any one time of the day. It was all day and all night. It even woke me up from sound sleep! It got to the point where I wasn’t able to keep anything down. Not even water. By the end of my 8th week of pregnancy, I had already lost roughly 15 lbs. I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed sometimes. To say I was tired would have been an understatement. I actually didn’t have the energy to get dressed! I wound up having to call in sick from work a lot because of it, and nearly all of my other responsibilities fell by the wayside.

When I spoke to my doctor the first time, he said feeling sick was normal and that it should pass. But, at the end of week 9, I couldn’t take it anymore. I scheduled an appointment to speak to my doctor again. Not only was I sick all day, I hadn’t eaten anything worth mentioning for weeks, and I couldn’t even keep down water. My energy levels were nil, and I spent most of my days in bed. The worst part was that I didn’t have that excited feeling about being pregnant! Here I was, preparing to welcome a new life into my family, and I wasn’t even excited about it! I just wanted to stop feeling sick all the time. I was beginning to get depressed. I remember, at one point, after trying nearly every home remedy and wives tale in the book, sitting on the couch crying and telling my boyfriend there was no way I was ever going to have children ever again! That’s all I could think about. Not wanting to be pregnant.

At the doctor’s appointment, the practitioner looked a little concerned. Let’s face it, I wasn’t looking too hot. She realized right away that I was dehydrated, and asked me some questions. She also noted that my weight had gone down by 23 pounds since my last pre pregnancy visit, which was only about two weeks before finding out I was pregnant! She brought me water (which I was afraid to drink) and she insisted I drink it. Right there in the office, it all came back out immediately. Embarrassing and awful! She left and the doctor came in. After talking with him for a bit, and reading my charts, he decided I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG). While I was not happy to have such a condition, I was happy that my doctor cared enough to realize that my morning sickness had gone out of the realm of “normal” and that someone believed I wasn’t making this all up! He was able to help me by offering an over the counter solution of a common and safe medication mixed with a common vitamin! He decided to pass on IV fluids (thankfully) for the day, and wait to see what happened in the morning. I just wanted to go home, get these medications and get them in my system! I couldn’t believe it, but I woke up the next morning feeling a little better. I went a full 12 hours with out vomiting! And I started to feel better over the next few days, slowly being able to eat more, and slowly getting some strength back.

Unfortunately, the HG did last for almost the entire duration of my pregnancy, and I did have to take the medication the whole time. I wasn’t thrilled with that, but it’s a lot better than the alternative! I tried to stop taking the meds right about 25 weeks, and had a miserable day. Then I tried again at about 30 weeks, same thing. So, I resigned to the meds for the rest of my pregnancy, and aside from a couple of bumps along the way, I delivered a beautiful healthy little girl at exactly 40 weeks! Yep, she was born exactly on her due date on April 4th, 2010 at 9:50 p.m. Here she is getting ready to come home -

Becoming pregnant changed my life, and I’d love to hear more about your best or most difficult pregnancy moments. By replying, you will be entered to win an exclusive Million Moms Challenge Gift Pack, which includes an all expenses paid trip to a conference on mothers hosted by the UN Foundation in DC (Jan/Feb 2012), an iPad2, a custom-made Million Moms Challenge pendant and $50 donation in your name to Global Giving. Contest and prize details here.

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Million Moms Challenge. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs September 19 to October 16, 2011. A random winner will be announced by October 18, 2011.

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