So Your Misses Got Hyperemesis (Gravidarum)

Many people addressed my wife’s extreme nausea and said, “Don’t worry, everyone has morning sickness.” Even some of the doctors and caregivers we consulted responded similarly. I honestly understand why – It’s easy to confuse hyperemesis gravidarum with “normal” morning sickness. The truth is, it’s far beyond that.

As unpleasant as nausea, vomiting, and a rumbling stomach can be, the immediate danger of hyperemesis gravidarum is dehydration. This is a daily threat that endangers the lives of both the mother and the baby.

Dehydration can lead to death within three days. In HG, the danger is even greater since a lot of fluids are lost due to frequent vomiting. So, the time leading to dehydration and the damage it causes can be even shorter.

It’s important to note that dehydration is often hard to detect during hyperemesis gravidarum. Its symptoms include fatigue, lack of concentration, difficulty communicating, and headaches — symptoms very similar to those of a woman who vomits a large number of times in a row… The confusion and stress of a day filled with vomiting can make it difficult to realize that underneath the surface, the real danger is growing with each vomit, and dehydration is already underway.

It’s also worth mentioning that dehydration during pregnancy often leads to another complication—preterm contractions. These are contractions that can appear before week 37, shorten the cervix, and if left untreated, lead to preterm birth. My wife started experiencing preterm contractions at week 27 because she couldn’t get enough fluids. You don’t want to be in that situation, believe me, it’s scary.

Therefore, we, the partners, have a very big responsibility: we need to remain calm, monitor the amount of fluids our partners have consumed in the past hours, and be alert to signs of dehydration. We also need to try to encourage our wives to drink more and help them find ways to get more fluids into their bodies — for their health and the baby’s.

There are different levels of response to fluids in HG. For example, one of my friends who also suffered from HG could drink normally, more or less. Her big problem was vomiting after eating. Other women can’t drink more than a few sips at a time.

On the other hand, my wife (and other women we met) suffered from severe HG. She couldn’t drink at all. You read that right. At all. When she tried anything more than just wetting her lips, she would vomit within seconds.

According to medical experts, a pregnant woman should drink 2-3 liters of water a day, or  67-100 ounces (about 10-15 average-sized cups). How do you do that when your wife’s body vomits most of the fluids that go into it? This is probably the most important question during a pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum. Therefore, preventing dehydration was probably our main focus in dealing with HG.

Just like with food, we discovered that it was important to first understand how to drink with hyperemesis gravidarum to get fluids in as easily as possible, and only then understand what to drink with hyperemesis gravidarum.

We found three very important principles when trying to figure out how to drink with HG. We will detail them in the next chapter.