The Photographer's Wife Working Mom, Family, Disney, Travel, Reviews
FYI - I started writing this when I was in the midst of my morning sickness, but decided to hold off until I was well in the clear and no longer sick…and then I forgot about it…so here it goes!
As I have said before, this pregnancy has been completely different than my first pregnancy, especially when it comes to morning sickness. Last time, I went through a few weeks of not really feeling so great, but never really got sick.
This time around, even though I am no where near as bad as some other pregnant mommies I know, I threw up several times, spent an entire day throwing up on the last day of our cruise, felt sick mostly every night, and went through a few weeks where the thought of drinking anything made me want to gag.
Luckily, I started feeling better as I entered the 2nd trimester and now want to talk about all the ways I tried to make myself feel better during those dreaded weeks. Some worked and some didn’t, but what may work or not work for me may have the opposite effect on someone else. You just never know….pregnancy is weird like that.
1. Sea-Band - Sea sickness bands
These are one of those things that I may never know whether they worked or not, but I was too afraid to take them off for fear that I may quickly become sick if I did. The premise of these is that by placing both bands on a certain pressure point on your wrists, you can reduce that nauseous feeling. These are primarily meant to be for preventative measures on cruise ships, but can also be used for morning sickness. When I first started wearing them, I took them off twice to wash my hands and then to give Trent a bath, and I threw up both times. From then on, I wore them 24/7, except in the shower. However, I was wearing them when I got sea sick on the last day of our cruise. I threw up all day long while wearing those bands, so perhaps they are only effective to a certain degree and can’t handle anything extreme?? Either way, at just a few dollars, it’s an inexpensive method to try.
2. Mints or Candies
One of the main causes of me feeling sick/nasty and wanting to throw up was the gross taste in my mouth pretty much all day long. I couldn’t even brush my teeth or use mouthwash enough to make it go away, because it would come right back. So I always kept mints handy. I liked the Sugar Free Wint-o-green Mints from LifeSavers. I didn’t like peppermint, but spearmint was good. I just kept a mint in my mouth for most of the day to prevent tasting anything else.
Before going on the cruise, I discussed my options with my doctor. He said Dramamine or Bonine was ok to take, but that he could also prescribe me a light dosage of their prescription nausea medication. He said it would make me drowsy, so I passed. When I started feeling sick on the cruise, I took 1 Dramamine….and threw it up. So I will never know if it would have worked…perhaps maybe if I took it sooner as a preventative? I just tried very hard not to take anything I didn’t have to, but by the time I HAD to take it, it was way too late. They make a “Less Drowsy” formula, so I tried that to be on the safer side.
4. Vomit Bags
I can’t believe I actually ordered these, and laughed when I did, but liked having them available to me if I needed them. Luckily, I never had to use any of them, but I kept one in my purse, in the car, in the diaper bag, at work and in my bag I had with me during the cruise. I was always afraid I was going to get sick at work or in a car and not have access to a container…so it was reassuring to know I always had a bag. They are just plain white plastic bags that have a drawstring and a super absorbent insert, so if someone sees it, they might not even know what it is.
5. Quease-Ease
I came across this product while searching “morning sickness” on Amazon before the cruise. I liked the idea of it since it wasn’t a pill or anything that I had to put in my body. It’s basically aromatherapy and the combination of scents is supposed to make you not feel sick. You just take a few good whiffs when you start to feel sick and it’s supposed to make you feel better. The scents didn’t sound like anything bad, so I ordered it and didn’t open it until I was on the cruise on that last day. That smell was not pleasant at all. But I did it a few times thinking the effect would be better than the smell, but unfortunately it was not. It had no effect…in fact, it may even have had an opposite effect. Either that or I was already far to sick for it do have any effect anyway.
6. Ginger
For my first pregnancy, I tried ginger candies from the health store and ginger ale. I became disgusted with the taste and decided not to use it this time.
I actually had some of these leftover from my first pregnancy, so I used them again, but didn’t buy a new container. The ingredients are supposed to help and the flavor is pretty decent - I got the sours I think - but since the mints were working ok for me, I just decided to stick with those. These are good if you are wanting more of a candy taste, as opposed to mint or ginger.
8. Time
I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but the best thing I did was to keep thinking about how I wouldn’t be sick forever. That hopefully in a few weeks, I won’t have to deal with this any more and I can move on to another set of pregnancy side effects. While I may not be entirely out of the woods yet, this did hold true. The Sea Sick bands are off, I don’t mind drinking liquids any more and I may even remove the barf bag from my purse soon. With only a small percentage of pregnancies that include morning sickness for much longer, most morning sickness goes away as you enter the 2nd trimester.
Your thoughts?
Have you tried any of these remedies? Did they work? Do you have any other recommendations? If so, share them in the comments!
You may also be interested in…
Tips for Going to Disney World While Pregnant
My Pregnancy and Baby Book List
Pregnancy Progress Photos – Part 2