Aliesha, Author at Feathers in Our Nest

Now that I have made it through the first trimester of three pregnancies, I feel like I’ve learned a LOT about coping with morning sickness (which, for me, was rarely just in the morning). I’d like to share a bit of my story, and give you some advice and tips on how you can survive morning all day sickness too! (For the purpose of this post, I’ll refer to it as “morning sickness,” but believe me, I stand with you in acknowledging that phrase as a frustrating misnomer.) I hope this post will give you some remedies for morning sickness and help you through this exciting but challenging time!

*If you’re not currently pregnant, or you’re past the first trimester, pin this and save it for later!*

What causes morning sickness? There are lots of possible reasons!
-ridding your body of toxins
-extra hormones from the pregnancy
-low blood sugar
-vitamin deficiency
-poor nutrition
-and others!

My Story: Pregnancy #1

Coming off of four years of college food (dining hall food + fast food) and still being in early marriage (lots of home cooking but also a good bit of fast food too), my body was not at a very healthy place when I got pregnant. The day I found out I was pregnant (5 weeks) I was already sick. (Note: They’ll tell you morning sickness doesn’t start until 8 weeks and only lasts until 12 weeks. THEY LIE.) I tried to cope by eating whatever I could keep down: Chinese takeout, McDonald’s burgers, sweet tea, Lean Cuisine meals (because, honestly, if I threw one up, I only wasted 2:30 of effort preparing it), saltine crackers, instant cinnamon roll oatmeal, mini grasshopper fudge cookies, and Sour Patch Kids.

I probably should have clued in to the fact that eating unhealthily was creating a vicious cycle: I didn’t want healthy food (or thought I couldn’t keep it down), so I ate junky stuff, then I threw up some of that too, but ultimately felt bad again the next day. I really blame the massive amounts of sugar for how sick I was with my first pregnancy. (Did you know there are 69 grams of sugar in a large sweet tea from McDonald’s?) No wonder I was sick. My body was trying to purge all the junk I was consuming to protect my baby.

I eventually went on Zofran when I couldn’t keep water down, but that caused constipation, so I took Colace, which caused more nausea… Horrible. I just stopped taking both after a little while.

I did learn some ways of coping: eat something before you get out of bed, eat first thing in the day, don’t let yourself get hungry (snack all the time), etc. I rested a LOT those months, which I could, since I didn’t have another baby to care for. From what I remember, the last time I threw up with my first pregnancy was at 4.5 months. I knew, though, that something had to change the next time I got pregnant!

My Story: Pregnancy #2

Our family started to change our eating habits shortly after Vera’s birth (Thanks, Food, Inc. and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution). We started cooking from scratch and ditching the processed meals. We started eating less sugar and eating more fresh vegetables and fruit.

Before getting pregnant the second time, I did a day of freezer cooking to help feed our family when I was sick in the first trimester. This was nice, since there were definitely days I didn’t feel at ALL like cooking or even seeing food. Also, I did a lot of reading of natural living blogs which gave me advice on how to deal with morning sickness. Some of the tips I learned (and applied) with my second pregnancy: avoid sugar at all costs, eat protein, eat beans, eat almonds, use ginger in your cooking (I hated this, but I could handle a pinch in my plain oatmeal each morning), and (one from last time) eat frequently.

All of these things I changed must have helped, since I only threw up once with that whole pregnancy (and it may have been slight food poisoning instead of morning sickness). I felt so much better that I thought Cordelia must have been a boy since my two pregnancies were night and day different! I was feeling better by around fourteen weeks.

My Story: Pregnancy #3

I knew I was pregnant with #3 when early in January I started despising food (thinking about food! looking at food!) while simultaneously feeling like I was starving. I couldn’t bear the thought of setting food in a grocery store, so I texted Tad a list of about 34 things I needed… the last of which was a pregnancy test. I just knew!

This pregnancy was a little backwards… I had afternoon/evening sickness! In the mornings, I felt great, but by lunch I was feeling pretty blah. After lunch, I would nap when the girls napped EVERY DAY. After naptime, I could barely stand to think about making dinner. SO, I started preparing crockpot meals (Mama and Baby Love to the rescue!) in the morning (food was still gross, but I could close my eyes and throw a roast in the slow cooker) so we had something to eat in the evenings. Tad helped a lot in the kitchen so I didn’t have to get dinner on the table. After dinner I was done. I went to bed most evenings around 9:00.

I swore off sugar, ate lots of beans for lunch, ate almonds all day long so I didn’t get hungry, and avoided almost all processed foods. Our family’s eating habits have gotten even more healthy, with the addition of grinding our own grains into flour, eating produce in season, and substituting natural sweeteners for white sugar (while still limiting our sweets intake overall).

I never threw up with this pregnancy, and I only felt ill from weeks 5 through 10. Much improved!!!

Here are my best tips for dealing with morning sickness:

-evaluate your diet
Are you eating healthy foods, or are you consuming a lot of processed foods and fast food? (I know convenience foods are convenient, but a slow cooker roast doesn’t take any more time to make than a Lean Cuisine meal… I promise.)

-avoid sugar
I mean totally, cold-turkey, zero sugar AT ALL for the first trimester (I know you can do it!)

-avoid caffeine
You’re probably already doing this because your doctor told you to, but I’ll add it here just in case.

-eat beans
Seriously (Brandi will tell you too). I ate beans, salsa, and avocado almost every day for lunch during the first trimester with my current pregnancy. Try mixing half beans and half meat when you make tacos. Throw beans in whatever soup you’re eating. Make hummus or other bean dips. In “emergency” situations, I ate them straight out of the can!

-start your day off right
Eat a good breakfast. Whatever works for you – eggs, bacon, oatmeal (just cinnamon and fruit), yogurt, whatever is most appealing to you. For me this time, it was fried eggs (I didn’t want anything to do with bacon or oatmeal).

-eat throughout the day
Eat healthy snacks throughout the day (yogurt, hummus, veggies, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal again, leftover beef roast, whatever). Don’t let yourself get hungry!

-eat almonds
For some reason, this tip (which I also learned from Brandi) is so helpful. Snack on raw, unsalted almonds whenever you start to feel queasy.

-when you feel sick, eat anyway
Even though this feels counter-intuitive, especially if you’ve been throwing up, you HAVE to eat.

-buy certain convenience foods
I usually make my own yogurt and I often cook beans from scratch. However, in the first trimester, I bought Greek yogurt and canned beans since I knew if I didn’t buy them, I wouldn’t eat them. If you bake all your bread (like I do), it’s okay to purchase the best quality bread you can. I bought a few rotisserie chickens and packaged salad kits too.

-give yourself a break
Take it easy on yourself! You’re growing a beautiful new baby, so let all of the non-essentials go. In January, I took care of Vera and Cordelia, did essential laundry, made simple meals, and rested. A lot. Like I said, I took naps every afternoon, and by the evenings I felt horrible, so I went to bed early.

What are your best remedies for morning sickness?