I’ll start off by saying that every pregnancy is different. This is my first pregnancy so I have no idea what I’m doing and each new thing I experience is simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. The number of times I have asked myself “wait, is this normal?” is staggering and as I approach the third trimester, I’m sure it’s only going to ramp up even more.

My first trimester was rough. The nausea started right on schedule at 6 weeks and from weeks 7 to 9 I dealt with what I would call crippling nausea. I consider myself very lucky to have not gotten physically ill during this time. But the nausea, it was near constant. There were days it would start the moment I opened my eyes and end as I closed them for the night. I spent a good deal of time scouring the internet for any remedy I could find. If I had even vaguely remembered a random blog post from years ago discussing the topic, you can bet I was clicking through page after page trying to dig it up. By the end of week 10 as predicted by my doctor the nausea started to become more bearable and was no longer constant. From there it lessened more and more each day until one day around 14 weeks (pictured above!) it was no longer present.

Throughout that time all I wanted was a guide on how to deal with it, any tips or tricks that may have worked for someone once, just for a minute. I think that’s called desperation, but you get the point. Especially if you are reading this blog post in hopes of finding anything that might work for you, because as previously mentioned, every person and pregnancy is different and there is no one thing that will work for everyone.

Slowly but surely I was able to come up with a list of things that did work for me, so I thought I would share them in hopes that even one of them might help someone else for just a few minutes.

In the early days before I reached the point where nothing could touch my stomach or I’d feel sick, Finn would attempt his tried and true method of sitting on top of me to “help”, which he tends to do when he’s not sure what exactly is going on. This is not a tip, but it was a sweet show of support that I very much appreciated.

EXERCISE / WALKING
I know. It’s the last thing you want to do when you’re feeling like this, but for whatever reason getting up and moving my body really helped, even if just for a few minutes. Getting up and walking around has always been a go to for me when I’m feeling nauseous so it was at the top of my list of things to try in this scenario. While it didn’t keep the nausea away for too long, it certainly helped get me through more than a few bouts.

It was equally as effective to get a workout in. The earlier the better because the later in the day it got, the harder it was to peel myself off the couch. I’d plan a 20 – 30 minute workout and try to get it done by mid-morning so I could try to work up an appetite for lunch as well. Having a scheduled activity to do was also helpful because it gave me something to focus on.

FINDING SOMETHING TO FOCUS ON
I noticed early on that days where my mind was occupied were a lot more bearable. If work was really busy or we were catching up with friends or family members (they had no idea until we announced at 20 weeks so keeping our secret required a lot of extra effort and attention) I was less likely to notice the nausea.

For help on less busy days I downloaded a bunch of games on my iPad that I thought I could focus on long enough to distract myself. A few puzzle like games – a knot untangling one, an object sorting one, and a home design one – that helped me through some rough afternoons. I would just sit and try not to think about anything while I fussed with the puzzles. My personal favorite, which is great for anxiety as well is Hexaknot. And you can play it on online as well without downloading an app.

GINGER
Candied ginger, ginger hard candy, ginger ale. In the first week I was dropping a piece of candied ginger into hot water to let it flavor the water, which helped for that first week only and then I couldn’t do it again. I had this fun problem where I couldn’t eat the same thing twice because the thought of it alone would turn my stomach. My aversions included most vegetables, tofu, meat, water, and dairy. I had a soft serve ice cream cone the day before the morning sickness really kicked in and it left such a sour taste in my mouth (literally and figuratively) that I couldn’t even stand having cheese on pizza. So ginger water worked great until it didn’t, which was a quick turnaround. I was able to sip small amounts of ginger ale without issue, which helped greatly and continued to eat the candied ginger and ginger hard candies as needed – usually a last resort.

Please enjoy the following photo of me crying while drinking ginger ale out of a crystal tumbler because I genuinely thought it would make me feel better. Also pictured, my watch fastened to the tightest notch possible as a makeshift seasickness/pressure point band.

SEASICKNESS BANDS
Feeling awful will really get you thinking. Every now and then I will get that form of seasickness where you feel like you’re still on a boat well after getting out of the water. This usually happens to me when I spend time on the water on bad sinus days. Seasickness/pressure point wrist bands have done wonders for me at calming this feeling so I figured I would give it a try for morning sickness too and it really did help! I didn’t have them with me at our apartment so I improvised by tightening my watch band a notch (or sometimes two or three in more dramatic moments, like pictured above) or wrapping a hair tie around my wrist. This was probably the most consistent trick I used and the one that worked the best for me for more instant relief.

LEMON WATER
As mentioned, I had an aversion to plain water during the first trimester. I am normally a big water drinker so this was very frustrating for me, especially so because you need to consume a lot more of it as you dehydrate more quickly when pregnant. I usually love adding a little bit of lemon juice to my water as it is so when I found I could no longer drink plain water I clung to my lemon water like no other. It was still challenging for me to drink it. I really did not want to be eating or drinking anything at all at most points, but it did make it easier and the lemon helped to settle my stomach as well. Whenever I felt like I was starting a new bout of nausea I would take a few sips and pretty often it worked to settle things for a bit. The one downside is that if you have any tooth sensitivity all of the acidity will likely irritate it so please keep that in mind if you do!

EATING SMALL AMOUNTS OFTEN
This tip is the most common one I came across and one of the most challenging for me to actually do. Eating anything was often the last thing I wanted to do, and when I did all I wanted was bland carbs. Crackers, toast, bagels, flour tortillas, pasta. All plain. The only meal where I stuck to my regular diet was dinner, and then I couldn’t eat whatever that may have been for weeks. Crackers were my go to and I would carry a packet around with me whenever I ventured off of the couch. I would force myself to eat a few every couple of hours and it really did help in staving off the bigger bouts of nausea.

Like with anything, some days were better than others. Some days I had to run through the whole list of tricks twice before anything worked. And some days I was in bed under the covers by early afternoon with old episodes of The Office on in the background. It was very much a one day at a time sort of thing.

If you have any questions or suggestions of your own please leave a comment down below or send me a note.