Sick All the Time
QUESTION
Dear Midwife,
I am in my 13th week of pregnancy and have been sick. So sick that I have lost 20lbs. My doctor gave me these lollipops that was supposed to help but they made it worse.
Is there anything that I can do?
ANSWER
I'm assuming you know you have only one baby :-). You don't say how tall you are and how much you weighed to start with, but I'm assuming that 20# is more than any of us want you to lose.
Step 1 is to *eliminate* (not reduce) all stress from your life. Do whatever you have to do to RELAX and quit worrying. Give yourself permission to do things you consider fun, even if work or the housework don't get done. My experience is that almost everyone who is sick past 12-13 weeks with one baby is pretty anxious, which is your enemy right now, so you will need a plan to create an attitude change if this applies to you. Not so easy, I know, but worth it!
Also, there are lots of things that folks do to reduce morning sickness, including sipping a water bottle all day, keeping saltines in the tummy (even when you wake up in the night), eating anything with ginger, papaya, and exercise. I'm assuming you've tried all these, though, which is why I mentioned them second.
-- Cynthia, CNM. PhD.
Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
