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Queasiness:

Eat frequent smaller meals. I know this may sound odd, since food may be a total turn off at this time to you, but even though food smells made me gag at times, I did find that if I forced myself to snack frequently on healthy snacks instead of the standard 3 large meals a day the nausea was indeed lessoning. Whenever I got truly hungry the nausea would be at its worst. Additionally, drink LOTS of fluids. I know you read that it should be 8 glasses of water a day ... but really it can be any liquid, though it is highly recommend that you cut out the caffeine, and I found that sometimes carbonation isn't the best thing on an upset stomach - even Sprite or ginger ale could cause some stomach upset. Water is the best choice, but not your only choice. If you are having trouble eating, you might consider V8 Splash or something that would include some of the extra nutrition/vitamins you are having trouble keeping down.

Prenatal Vitamin Induced Queasiness:

I did not experience this myself, but several women I know have stated that the extra iron in their prenatal vitamin would worsen their nausea. The doctor advised them to take their prenatal vitamin in the evening before bed until their period of morning sickness had subsided. For some women this is the entire pregnancy. I additionally had to take C&E vitamins, and an extra Calcium + D supplement due to other medical conditions. My doctor advised that if you have to take extra supplements, make sure the doctor knows about all of them and that you take those supplements at a different meal-time than your prenatal vitamin. I chose to take my other vitamins at lunch and my prenatal with my evening meal - just in case the extra iron was making the nausea a little worse.

Meat Queasiness:

Sounds crazy, but even though I can be quite the carnivore when I'm not pregnant, the 'morning sickness' phase for me was one of the few times I went semi-vegetarian. Meat smells did a number on me. So, for protein I consumed more beans, eggs etc. and even invented what I later dubbed pregnancy peanut butter balls. These are largely peanut butter, dry milk, oats, honey and raisins all rolled into little bite-sized snacks that were a great tasting treat - while other things were making me feel very ill. Fresh fruit was another item that my stomach seemed to handle better than heavier foods.

However, different women are turned off by different smells during pregnancy and you just have to keep trying to find nutritious alternatives for whatever is doing a number on you. You may have to bland it up for awhile - even if you ordinarily love everything spicy. Onions and other strong smells may also send you, err ... worshiping at the feet of the 'porcelain god' (a.k.a. the toilet bowl).

With any luck, you will be among the majority of women whose nausea only lasts till the end of the first trimester. This may seem like forever at the moment, but if it does go away at that time, you will be back to enjoying your pregnancy again ... well, until the cumbersome/heartburn/swelling stage (but not all women get all of those symptoms either!)

Remember, in just a few months all the nausea, swelling etc. will be a fading memory as you blissfully rock that little one of yours off to dreamland. It's well worth the temporary misery!

Learn more about this author, Suzanne Wesley.
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