About two hours after we went to bed, having stayed up much later than I should have because of a sudden burst of post-dinner energy, Isabella woke up screaming. My guess is she’s teething.
I changed her diaper, rocked her gently, gave her some Tylenol. Tried to put her back to bed. She was having none of it, screaming at the top of her lungs. I tried to bring her to bed with us. More screaming.
Finally, Dom got up with her, making the ultimate sacrifice so that I could get the sleep my pregnant body craves, even though his alarm was set to ring at 5:15.
Unfortunately, his plan didn’t work. Every time I’d finally drift off she’d bang something or throw something and I’d wake up again. This continued for a couple of hours. Finally, I got up and was able with much rocking, singing, and nursing, to get her back to sleep.
And then I lay in bed, sleepless, for who knows how long.
Needless to say, I’m not doing so well today. I’m exhausted and with the exhaustion comes waves of nausea. I did get Bella to take a 2 1/2 hour nap. But I still feel like the walking dead. And she’s cranky.
I love the title of this post! I am so sorry. My sickness has never been that bad. Have you tried home remedies like ginger pills, fresh oranges before bed, anything like that?
Melanie, I also experienced debilitating nausea and vomiting throughout all my pregnancies, but particularly my first two. This last one was my easiest nausea and vomiting wise – it was the only pregnancy I’ve had where I wasn’t hospitalized for rehydration, although I still managed to lose an impressive 10 pounds.
Nothing works for everyone, but what I found with this pregnancy was if I kept changes in my blood sugar to a minimum, I was less sick. So, I ate very little in the way of carbohydrates, unless they were whole grains, grapes, or cantaloupe for some reason. I ate a lot more meat and peanut butter than I normally would.
Also, and probably more importantly, I took a full Unisom tablet (doccylamine succinate) before bed, and a half Unisom tablet in the morning. By the fifth month, I was able to drop the morning half tablet.
You will be in my prayers. I know how difficult it is to mind a toddler when you feel as poorly as you do. God Bless.
I just remembered that I had eggs every morning for breakfast. I know nothing works for everyone, but high protein really made this last pregancy remarkably easy when it’s compared to my others.
Eileen,
Thanks for the suggestions.
I have been trying to eat more protein. Marilyn Shannon’s book on morning sickness suggests you make every snack a combination of protein, carbs and fat. Sometimes it helps.
I can definitely tell that I get worse when I’m hungry or tired. But that second one can be hard to deal with when you’ve got an active toddler who wakes at the crack of dawn. And the fact that I’m a night owl exacerbates the problem. I have a hard time getting to bed early. Especially when it’s finally quiet because the baby’s in bed and I haven’t seen my husband all day.
Otherwise, just lots of small meals throughout the day. Trying to get the protein in there is hard for me. Yogurt with berries is a nice treat. I’m not a huge peanut butter fan, unfortunately. That would make things easier.
I’ve been doing oatmeal with milk or bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. Those might be problematic because there’s not enough protein? I might try to boil up some eggs ahead of time. I think the smell of cooking eggs would really get to me. I had to leave the kitchen on Sunday when Dom scrambled some up after mass.
Matilda,
I’ve tried lots of things. I’m still looking for the magic bullet.
Right now my favorite “home remedy” for getting to sleep is chocolate and a glass of milk right before bed: Take two squares and call me in the morning. I’ve laid in a stash of Ritter Sport praline. I made a habit of eating one a day during my Rome semester and was super excited to find them in regular supply at our local grocery store.
I also had horrible nausea with my second. I probably could have gotten medication, but since it didn’t make me lose weight (lucky me), I decided it wasn’t worth the risk. I would literally spend 3/4 + of the day on the couch, praying not to vomit. Most days, it did work though. I especially wish that vomiting would have made me feel better. The days that I did, I didn’t get any relief anyway. Ugh.
The protein helped for me, but I couldn’t stand to smell meat cooking. Eggs were okay, and probably the only reason I didn’t lose weight. I could eat them and peanut butter. Thankfully, it finally wore off about the fifth month. I have an acquaintance who had to carry a large bowl around with her for seven months of both of her pregnancies. I don’t blame her a bit for deciding not to have more.