An Announcement. A Complaint. And a Cry for Help.

The Announcement:

We're expecting a baby in February. Hooray!

The Complaint:

I feel like hell. This morning sickness is unrelenting. I don't throw up, so I feel like I shouldn't complain, but being nauseated all night and all day without a reprieve is starting to wear on me. And it's not just the nausea. It's the exhaustion. And also the fact that the exhaustion and the nausea combine to make the world feel black, black, black. Almost every day finds me at my mom's or my sister's begging for company and assistance. I just can't stand to be alone all day with my very active little boy while I feel so terrible.

The Cry For Help:

I feel like I can't endure a single day more, let alone 3-5 more weeks (which doesn't sound like much, I know-- but that's a lot of very very long days of feeling black and sick and unhappy.) I tried mentioning it to my OB, who is a very lovely woman, at my first prenatal visit, but our conversation went something like this:

OB: So, you're pregnant! That's wonderful! Fantastic! So exciting!
Me: Yeah, thanks.
OB (big, bright smile): So how have you been?
Me: OK. I've had some morning sickness.
OB: Oh? Have you been throwing up a lot?
Me: Well, no....
OB: Why, that's wonderful! Fantastic! So exciting!
Me: Um, I guess so. I do try to tell myself that I'm lucky to not be throwing up.
OB: You're such a cutie! Well, come on. Let's go do an ultrasound. I bet you have a beautiful baby.

And she was off to the ultrasound room. And I, not very good at being pushy with people I'm not close to, obediently followed her out.

What would have been nice at this point in our conversation, however, was some questioning about the intensity of my nausea and perhaps some suggestions for how to alleviate it. But the truth is, I've read it all: eat saltines before you get out of bed in the morning, eat small meals throughout the day, try vitamin B6, try Unisom combined with vitamin B6, drink ginger tea, take ginger supplements, cut the iron out of your prenatal vitamin. And the saltines just make me feel worse, the small meals don't really make a difference (sometimes they make it worse), the vitamin B6/Unisom combo didn't work with Soren, ginger tea makes me gag, my prenatal vitamin doesn't impact my nausea, and I'm just a little uncertain about the ginger supplements.

But seriously. I know this is so lame of me, and that I'm probably the world's biggest wimp, but I'm really thinking if I have to go through this AGAIN for another child, I might just be done with two. I would LIKE more children, but this is just such a living nightmare for me that I can't stand the thought of doing it again.

And this is where I beg for suggestions for dealing with morning sickness, words of encouragement or hope, anything, really. Just throw a sick dog a bone, huh?