Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm not sure where you were given the impression that pregnancies get easier the more you have them, but that would be incorrect: all pregnancies are unique. Even ones in the same woman.

My second pregnancy has been easier in some ways but more difficult in others. With my first, my nausea was chronic but lasted a mere 3 weeks. At the end, I didn't experience it again and was fine to eat just about anything I pleased. With my second, I still have days where I will be sick in the morning (I'm almost 28 weeks along) and if I do not eat a proper breakfast it can be quite unpleasant. This time, I'm very sensitive to motion sickness as well and if my husband turns a corner too fast while we're driving, my stomach will be in my throat and it takes awhile for it to pass. The sickness hasn't been constant, it seems to hit violently and at inopportune times.

With my mother, she says her pregnancies with my sister and I were perfect. She never felt sick, she was never uncomfortable, she'd argue it's the greatest thing ever and she l-o-v-e-d it. She wanted to always be pregnant. When my brother came along, she seemed to be taking the sickness for all three pregnancies at once and couldn't leave her bedroom the first four months for fear of even smelling the food the rest of us were eating. (She literally lived in her bedroom with towels shoved under the door with a glass of milk and a pack of saltines in hand.)

About half of pregnant women experience "morning sickness" during pregnancy and it's caused by the surge in growth hormone levels which peak in the 8-12 week range. (Growth hormone causes the senses to be more sensitive.) This is why it *usually* passes with the first trimester as the hormone levels go back down.

You're already doing a couple of the things you can do to help ease the sickness: tummy friendly carbs like crackers and eating plenty of protein. (I wouldn't worry too much about the "balance" of the diet, regardless of how you eat, the single most important thing you can do while pregnant is take your prenatal vitamins daily.)

Other things you may want to try are flavors like ginger, peppermint, or sour flavors like lemon which can help to ease ickiness. Motherhood maternity and other online retailers carry a line called Preggie Pops which come in a variety of flavors that are supposed to help soothe your stomach. You could always give those a try. smile

Is it ok if I revive an old thread? This was only 7th down the list, not including locked ones, but it was in June! I notice there's not a whole lot of activity here anymore, glancing down the thread dates.

Pirate Dirge, I'm so glad you mentioned exactly HOW different each of your pregnancies' morning sickness was, because that gives me hope. Mine with Jade and with Amber both lasted 10 weeks total (6-16wks vs. 7-17wks) and were pretty constant throughout the day, and I feared the same with this one, but so far it hasn't been constant and there are times in the day when I feel good enough to eat and can get in some nutrition, compared with Amber when for weeks all I could do was sip chicken broth.

I'm also glad you can pinpoint exactly what causes it and why it normally subsides after the first trimester, because when I heard it's caused by the increase in hormones, that didn't make sense to me because hcg levels just increase exponentially until birth! So to hear it's growth hormone and when that peaks and subsides is a relief too.

Has anybody actually tried the pregnancy pops? I've seen them for sale at Motherhood Maternity, but that's 100 miles away and we won't be going for almost another 2 weeks, and I don't know how much worse I'll be then, but I had someone else suggest them too.

I'm only 7 weeks pregnant right now. I haven't had any morning sickness at all, just a very mild queasy feeling a couple weeks ago that caused me to go out and buy a few pregnancy tests. 3 in total before I believed it. The line making up the plus sign on 2 of them were too faint, so I went and got me a digital one. I love those. So easy!

I do have the chronic urination, exhaustion, soar nipples, mood swings. I'm always hungry. It's funny that it hasn't effected my appetite. I suppose it will in a few weeks. It's too early to tell yet lol.