Morning sickness or sickness in general from pregnancy doesn’t always go away in your second trimester. Trust me, I experienced it all the way into the third trimester. I’m 33 weeks now and have finally been feeling good. Through trial and error I found some things that really worked for me and helped me cope with the never ending sickness.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a medical professional. The following is based off of my opinion and personal experience. ALWAYS consult your doctor on any pregnancy sickness remedies.
- Wake Up, get out of bed, make breakfast ASAP, and eat slowwww
I found that whenever I lounged and scrolled through Instagram in bed I was most likely going to puke twice; once before I ate and after. However the throw up before was almost like vile (gross, I know) because I had nothing in my stomach. I would usually not feel as well throughout the entire day if I didn’t get out of bed and eat right away. Eating slow was also key. I sometimes took up to an hour (dramatic, I know) to eat breakfast. But, it worked for me and the moment I was rushed to eat I was rushing to the toilet. Also, I just wanted to get that post breakfast throw up done and over with because I was just anticipating it coming. The earlier I ate, the earlier I threw up and could go on with my day. - Stay away from fruit, anything acidic, or carbonated
Fruit of any kind including juices was an automatic trigger for me to throw up. Some people would say have some ginger ale, it’ll make your stomach feel better. NOPE. I learned to just stay away from this entire category of food and drinks in the morning. If I have fruit its after lunch time when I had already thrown up in the morning and knew I (hopefully) was done with being sick for the day. - Switch to gummy pre-natal vitamins and take them AFTER breakfast
The smell alone of those pre-natal vitamins made me want to vomit. YUCK! I just couldn’t bear taking them, especially in the first trimester. Another key thing that I changed up was taking my vitamins with either lunch or dinner, never breakfast. If I took them with breakfast, even on days when I didn’t feel sick, somehow I was puking a half hour later. So I switched to taking them later in the day and knew that they were going to stay in my system. - Sour patch kids to ease the nausea
This helped during the 1st trimester and part of the 2nd when I would randomly start feeling nauseous in the middle of the day. For some reason the sourness of the candy took the nausea away. Don’t eat the candy right away, just suck on it. - Flat Coke Classic or Coke syrup – this stuff really works
When I was around 21 weeks or so I was talking to my aunt (who is a nurse) on the phone and she was asking how I was feeling. At the time, I was still puking practically every day, and felt lucky when I had a two or three day streak of being normal. She suggested drinking Coke Classic or getting Coke syrup. If you google it, it is actually used as a natural remedy for nausea and upset stomach. Who would have thought? The next morning I got up and got a tiny pack of Coke Classic, poured it over ice, let it go flat (her instructions), and sipped on it slowly. I made breakfast, ate, had water as well, and started going about my business. Wait..I feel Ok, no nausea, no feeling of having to throw up – IT WORKED! So I did this routine in the morning for the next three weeks or so and didn’t have any sickness. The only reason I stopped was because I didn’t want to get used to having soda first thing in the morning. I never had a full glass though, maybe 1/3rd of a glass with ice in it. I also thought at that point in my pregnancy, this sickness thing should be gone…which it wasn’t, but definitely not as bad as it was in the beginning. Just remember that this will not work with Coke Zero or any of the other Coke products, it has to be Coke Classic. You can also get Coke syrup at your local pharmacy, which you would still pour over ice and sip slowly. - Preggie Pop Drops
I was at Destination Maternity shopping and saw these at the front counter and thought hey, why not? They were very inexpensive, and at the time I still had some sickness here and there. The next morning I woke up and got that feeling like I was going to puke right away. I popped one of the Preggie Pop Drops in my mouth and started feeling better. As I was still sucking on the drop (they last kind of a long time), I would make breakfast and eat right after. If I waited on breakfast at all after having one of these, I would puke for some reason. So my routine became to pop one of these things in my mouth the moment I woke up in the morning and start my breakfast. If I did it in that order they worked like a charm! I wish I had gotten these things a lot sooner, but I was always thinking “the sickness is going away”. - Acceptance
I got to a point in my pregnancy where I was done wishing I wasn’t sick and just started accepting it. I could do everything in my control to try and avoid it but at the end of the day my body was going to do what it was going to do. I remember asking my doctor around 18 weeks if there was anything I could take. He told me that if I took anything I would just be drowsy, and if I felt fine after throwing up and could keep my liquids and food down, then I should try and stay away from taking a prescription. So, puking my brains out most mornings was just my life. My baby is healthy and growing – that’s all that matters. I’ve got some ptsd from the toilet, but I’m sure that will change after I have her. Throw up, get it over with, and go on with my day. It will all be over soon and I know I’m going to miss the days of being pregnant and growing life. BTW I hear that all of the symptoms/weird tastes and senses you have while being pregnant go away immediately after the baby comes out. Definitely looking forward to that!
UPDATE:
When I got pregnant with Goldie I started experiencing the same exact symptoms as I did with Penelope. However, it was a little worse because I didn’t have the option to lay in bed, I was running after a 16 month old. It was rough. My bag of sickness tricks were not doing it this time so I had to lean into taking some kind of prescription. My doctor gave me a prescription for Bonjesta at 7 weeks and then Zofran at 12. I ended up taking Bonjesta up until I was in my third trimester. The Bonjesta allowed me to function and not feel so sick. I was still puking in the morning but only once and it didn’t feel like a big deal. I would feel like I had to puke, do it, and feel totally fine. I stopped puking in the middle of my second trimester. I stopped taking it when I was around 33 weeks and noticed that I couldn’t sleep after. I then learned that the reason you take it at night is because it has an active ingredient that is like a sleeping aid. So, I started taking half a Unisom and that gave me the best sleep. After my second pregnancy I learned that it’s not a bad thing if you have to take a little something extra to help you during the day.
Pregnancy is seriously a miracle. So just accept that this time is short, it will all be over with soon, and you’ll be holding a beautiful baby before you know it. Hang in there, you got this!
xo Dava Jade