Royal Bump Watch: Kate Joins Millions of Women With Extreme Morning Sickness
By now you must have heard the news that the Duchess of Cambridge has fulfilled the first part of her most important duty -- she is pregnant! Sound the trumpets! Royal Bump Watch Cometh! There is a royal heir coming (and it doesn't even matter if it is a girl or boy)!
Unfortunately for her though, she is very ill with "morning sickness." So ill that she has checked into the hospital for a few days and is receiving IV fluids to keep her hydrated.
Kate has been diagnosed with hypermesia gravidarum which is excessive vomiting in pregnancy (and possibly the most searched medical term on the Internet today). It usually hits women in the early stages of pregnancy, somewhere between six to nine weeks and lasts until about 14 weeks. (Though, for some truly unlucky women it lasts longer.) It affects about one to two per cent of pregnant women and is thought to be caused by pregnancy hormones. Women carrying twins have a slightly higher chance of getting sick with HG; I'm sure the British bookies are beyond thrilled with that idea.
It is not usually dangerous to the baby but an expectant mother suffering from HG does need to be under the care of a doctor to make sure that she receives all the nutrients possible.
It is interesting that many of the headlines exclaimed with great gusto that the Duchess was pregnant, with a sidebar saying she was suffering from "morning sickness."
Morning sickness is rarely something that just affects women in the morning, it is not a cute barfy feeling that interrupts breakfast. The nausea can last all day and be very debilitating. It causes physical distress and emotional exhaustion. For women who have HG, it is not a sidebar.
I have friends who got great relief from Diclectin to stop their extreme nausea (though most had persistent tiredness as a side effect) but I don't know if it is available in England to help the poor princess.
Even though Kate Middleton has great hair, a loving husband and a crown in her future -- right now she is a very nauseous woman in her early days of pregnancy with the whole world watching.
Poor thing.
Did you have HG? Did you have morning sickness of any kind? How did you deal with it?
Image credit: CP
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