Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Pregnancy Complaint #1: Nausea

First and absolutely foremost- here's a big sincere hug. I think a lot of pregnant women get the response 'oh, that is to be expected'/'everyone feels that way', etc. That's true, but WOW that does NOT make you feel better about it at all. Even if every other mom-to-be out there is feeling the exact same way right now, my heart still goes out to YOU right here, right now reading this. Because all the categories of 'this is normal' are not going to help you through each individual moment of that seasick feeling, only your woman warrior inside is going to. So hugs.
Let's learn a little more about Nausea. Nausea is a common & sometimes debilitating symptom most common during the first 20 weeks of your pregnancy. Most people are told that this is due to hormones, which is actually true in a way, but it is really because the hormone changes occurring in your body are relaxing your body's blood vessels so that they can carry more blood for a higher oxygen demand.  So suddenly your pipes are able to hold more, but with the same amount of fluid inside them. While your body works on filling up these ‘bigger’ blood vessels, you experience being underfilled which can mess with your blood pressure and is associated with common symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, and that light headed feeling you get from standing up too quickly and of course… nausea.
Because of the cause, the ‘cure’ is doing what you can to help counter underfilling. Chiefly this means being optimally hydrated and drinking water! First step is you must write down your water intake: at the top of your planner paper, or just a sheet of paper if you aren't a planner kind of gal, draw eight circles (ideally you would make it to ten circles!). Fill in a circle each time you drink an 8 ounce glass of water. Subtract from your total if you drink anything with caffeine in it (*** caffeine should be avoided when you’re pregnant. Some doctors will condone one glass of it a day as far as safety of the baby is concerned, but for your own sake, remember that caffeine is a diuretic so it makes you loose fluid and makes the symptoms of underfilling worse! That is besides the debate of risk to baby). Many people are surprised when they write down their fluid intake to find out that they really are not drinking as much water as they thought they were! You might think "Oh, that doesn't apply to me, I drink water allll of the time". Carrying around that one bottle of water and nursing it slowly throughout the day is not meeting your water intake.
When you’re doing the best you can with water intake, it is time to try the tricks. Most of the pregnant women that I have spoken to have heard of eating a saltine cracker before getting out of bed, sucking on hard candy, flat soda, etc. Most of the women who tell me about these do so in frustration because they've tried them to no avail. I had one poor lady tell me she thought that he doctor was just making things up for her to try to distract her, hoping that she would just get through this part and quit bugging her! 
Unfortunately, the goal of most of this nausea relief is to decrease it as opposed to actually stopping it. Your body is doing something absolutely amazing and you are basically along for the ride at this point. If you have realistic expectations for how much a little trick can help you, then you are more likely to have the positive outlook that allows you to see the decrease in nausea, even if it is only a little bit. A little bit is better than nothing, so keep an open mind and try to focus on small differences. If you focus on the small differences, you will feel them more greatly!
 I’ve broken down the tricks into categories:
Ingestion:
-          Sucking on ice cubes or popsicles can numb your stomach. This is the only thing that mildly helped me and I found that it also helped my water intake. The best ice (in my opinion) is at Sonic drivein where you can by it by the bag and it is the tiny balls of ice (yum!).
-          Sniff or suck on lemons (this is a good counter taste to the metallic taste some women experience)
-          Swipe a rubbing alcohol wipe under the nose and breath deep calm breaths of the smell (I don’t know why, but this works for patients undergoing chemotherapy and it did help me as well... I gave one quick sniff of the noxema in my shower and that would usually stop the chain drive heaves long enough to take some deep breaths).
-          Research supports eating calcium rich foods will help and that is a common reason that these come up as cravings. Cheese, yogurt or icecream are good alternatives if drinking milk is upsetting. Ice cream serves a duel purpose because the cold will also numb the stomach. 
-     Many people swear by ginger. There are ginger candies and ginger tea that you can have approved by your doctor. Make sure that you discuss any and all supplements that you take with your doctor.
Action:
-          Sea bands can be found at most drug stores, they do the wrist acupressure point which is supposed to alleviate nausea symptoms.
-          You can try the acupressure on your own by placing the first three fingers of your right hand on the inner aspect of your left wrist with the ring finger of the right hand directly over the wrist. Under the index finger will be the acupressure point; switch wrists after five yoga breaths.
-          Yoga Moves:
1)      Downward facing cross legged: Sitting on the ground in a cross legged pose, bend body forward and rest arms on the seat of a chair. Relax your head onto your arms.
2)      *Reclining hero pose: (I’ve had the most luck with this one, because it lifts the diaphragm): Kneeling position with buttocks between heels. Recline upper body backwards slowly as far as you can comfortably, looking up at the ceiling (you can brace your arms behind you but don’t curve your spine or you’re defeating the pose).
-          Outdoor air with deep breaths. Some people find relief from breathing the salty air near water at the beach.
Try something different:
-          For some people, the nausea is actually being caused by the prenatal vitamins. Don’t stop taking them, but taking them at a different time (with your biggest meal of the day like around dinner time) might help this.
-          As a last resort, remember that if your nutrition is being affected by vomiting, consider that your doctor can prescribe medications that are safe to take during pregnancy that deal with nausea. Never take any over the counter nausea medication without your doctor’s permission.
Of course with regards to nausea, make sure your nutrition is optimal, that you're getting that water you need and that you're getting enough sleep... if there's a problem in any of these categories then your nausea might mean something more serious. You should always talk to your doctor about your symptoms, even if she's said that they are normal before or if other people tell you it's normal. You know yourself.
In the meantime, here's another hug. And also, just so you know, the nausea card is a great thing to cash in on throughout future mother's days!

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