Last week, I wrote a post for Mommyish. The work was a long time coming. Having been through two HG (Hyperemesis Gravidarum) pregnancies (the worst part of this pregnancy is behind me), I was finally ready to start talking about it to the internet world. During my first pregnancy, I stayed pretty quiet about the condition when I realized quickly that next to no one understood it, even doctors who treated it so rarely. But after finding a support group, learning about the struggles of others, most of which are far more difficult than my own, I felt like I owed it to these ladies to raise a bit of awareness for those who don’t have an outlet to do the same.
I had absolutely no idea how many “likes” and shares the post would generate, but within 24 hours it had over 2,000 likes. Within a week, it had 5,000 and growing. I read every single one of the seventy comments and was brought to tears by several, most of which were thanking me for writing something they deeply felt or sharing about their hospital stays or how cruelly they’d been treated during their own pregnancies. The popularity of the post is not a tribute to my writing. What it tells me is how many women are actually struggling beyond belief. The condition is terribly misunderstood and often under-diagnosed. Because of this, what felt like just a tiny bit of venting about something I had experienced twice, reached a lot more people than I had ever anticipated. I’m so grateful for how many more might now share a tiny bit of awareness of just how real HG really is. But we still have a long way to go.
To my TougHGirls- keep talking, sharing, writing, though you will no doubt be criticized for it. It’s the only way to make it better for women in the future. It won’t make the miscarriages, the health problems, the surgeries, the abortions go away. But it might bring us closer to a cure. I know the day that happens, I will be overwhelmed with joy. And probably get pregnant again, stat. 😉
Here is the Mommyish post that went live last week.
10 Worst Things To Say to a Woman With Hyperemesis GravidarumÂ
Most women experience some form of pregnancy sickness. But for some, severe pregnancy sickness, otherwise known as hyperemesis gravidarum, may be the most challenging thing they ever go through in their lives. I’m currently experiencing my second pregnancy with HG and I’m here to tell you, it’s no picnic.
HG is a debilitating form of unrelenting nausea and vomiting that sends about 50,000 women a year in the U.S. to the hospital and restricts others to their beds for the most incapacitating parts of the sickness. It can last anywhere from the first trimester all the way through until delivery and serious complications can arise. Severity varies from woman to woman but ladies who are struck with the illness are commonly so sick they become unable to work or in many cases even care for themselves. The nausea is powerful and persistent that women with the condition have immense difficulty eating or drinking anything without vomiting and usually lose more than 10% of their pre-pregnancy body weight.
Sarah Bregel 