Fighting Pregnancy Nausea

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If any of you haven't read the last post, we are expecting our third baby at the end of February! This pregnancy hasn't been easy, to say the least. The nausea hit pretty hard at about 6 weeks, right in the middle of my trip to Ohio. It has left me laying on the couch for the last 6 weeks pretty much. It has been hard to adjust to not being able to do what I was used to doing around the house and for the kids. I am more used to it now, and am feeling a little bit better, which makes me feel a little bit more human. It's been a little easier to get out of the house, do normal things, and at least do some dishes and laundry. Needless to say, Tad has stepped it up a LOT to help me! And my brother and sister-in-law have come over and helped clean and watch the kids which has been such a blessing!!!!!
So I wanted to post about some things I have found to help the nausea a little bit, for anyone out there who may be struggling with it, or may in the future. I have found that the main problem is anytime I am hungry, I feel sick. That may sound like a simple fix, but I get hungry all the time. I feel like if I don't eat like a hungry man all day long, and keep my stomach super full, then I will feel sick. And if you've ever been pregnant, then you know the aversions to food don't make it easy to eat. I would walk into my kitchen and feel sick just looking at it. So that makes it a bit of a challenge.
I did try to buy a lot of frozen food so I wouldn't have to cook, but that proved a fail as I didn't enjoy most of the frozen food I got. Partly because of taste, and partly because of aversions I'm sure, but it made it harder to stay full. I then bit the bullet and just started cooking when I could so I would enjoy the food more and be able to stay full. That seemed to help a little.
So here are ten ways I have found (or heard of) that help to fight the nausea:

1. Keep a snack next to your bed. Eat a little something before you get out of bed in the morning.
   
2. Don't get up too fast. The motion can make the nausea worse.
   
3. Eat small amounts of food all throughout the day. Keep your stomach full if you can!
4. Gum and hard sour candy (lemon drops for me) have made such a difference!! If I am in the car especially, I have to have one of them. If I start to feel sick and don't feel like eating, if I have something in my mouth like that, it helps me not feel so sick.
5. Small, hearty, healthy snacks are great like bananas, apples (love them!), grapes, or a smoothie.
   
6. Laying down (I have heard laying on your left side is better.) Sometimes motion just makes me sick (the car, walking down aisles at the store) so laying down helps a lot.
7. Throwing up. This sounds like defeat, but sometimes if you are so sick, sometimes throwing up will relieve the nausea and allow you to feel better.
8. Prescription. Sometimes your doctor will prescribe either an oral prescription or a cream that you can put on your wrists. I got the cream though I'm not sure how well it actually works.
9. Motion sickness aids. I have heard that you can get a little bracelet that pushes on the pressure points in your wrists associated with nausea.
10. Acupuncture. I guess going along with the same idea as the pressure points, you can get acupuncture in your wrists to get rid of severe nausea.

The good thing is that for most women, the "morning sickness" that can last all day usually ends around the time that you enter your second trimester. So it's not forever. I am just about out of the first trimester so I hope it will be gone soon! You do just learn to deal with it, but when you have other kids, it makes it pretty tough to get things done and keep up with normal activities! You just have to keep your kids occupied in the house while you lay down, rest, and get back to normal!
Well, hopefully my next posts will be more positive as I start to feel better! And as I feel better, I will get more posts out! Thanks for being patient!