Finding out that you are pregnant is joyful experience. I found out I was pregnant at week 5. Little did I know that after one week of finding out I was pregnant, I would be hit with the dreaded morning sickness and my regular routine of life would be turned upside down. Morning sickness has got to be one of the hardest experiences of the first trimester (from week 1-13), well at least from my own personal experience.

Being my first pregnancy, I never knew what to expect until I read in forums and did some research online about what really happens during the morning sickness phase. Although this is a great way to prepare yourself for what’s to come, reading too much information from various sources can get a little overwhelming and confusing to say the least, especially when it’s your first pregnancy and you don’t know what to expect at all.

Hopefully in this post I will be able to answer the most common questions asked about morning sickness and go in my depth of my own personal experience of morning sickness to shed light on what your experience might look like if you are expecting too.

It’s important to note that every pregnancy experience is different including whether or not you will have morning sickness to begin with. According to studies and research, over 50 percent of women will experience morning sickness. Some women are fortunate enough to skip this dreaded experience completely, while others will experience it throughout their entire pregnancy up until giving birth. Needless to say, it’s always a good idea to be prepared in case morning sickness does happen to you during your pregnancy.

What causes morning sickness

From my understanding and research, morning sickness occurs due to the changes in the body, mainly the changes of your hormone levels in your body. This is particularly evident when having your first pregnancy because your body has never gone through vast changes before. Therefore, it can feel a little more daunting, noticeable and dramatic at first.

Think about what your body will go through to nurture and provide a temporary home for your baby. There’s a lot of things changing, adapting and adjusting to make way for a human to live and grow inside of you.

When does morning sickness start and how long does morning sickness last

Morning sickness generally starts at week 6 of your pregnancy up until the end of the first trimester, which is week 13. However, there have been cases where women have experienced morning sickness throughout their pregnancy or who have never experienced morning sickness at all.

In my personal experience, I had morning sickness from week 6 up until the start of week 13, which was spot on in terms of what the research says. I was luckily enough to have completely stopped morning sickness right before Albie and I flew out to New York and Australia for a month long trip.

Morning sickness at night

Although the term ‘morning sickness’ may suggest that it happens in the morning, this is not the case for most women. In fact, the Hollywood perspective of morning sickness always suggests that it happens in the morning and right after you get pregnant too.

A lot of women experience morning sickness during the day or night, or even both. For me, morning sickness started everyday from about 5pm in the afternoon up until 7pm. Though, there were plenty of days where the morning sickness would continue up until I fell asleep at night, it never occurred in the morning. In fact, I had the most energy and felt most like myself during the morning.

What does morning sickness feel like

I won’t sugar coat it but give you the hard truth about what does morning sickness feel like. To sum up what morning sickness feels like, I would say it’s the migraines, cramps and mood swings often felt just before and during your period compounded with vomiting, nausea and ill-like symptoms for weeks on end.

It’s pretty hard to explain how it would feel as I would think that every pregnancy experience would be slightly different and some of the symptoms you may experience or you may not. Here’s a run down of what the typical symptoms are of morning sickness (of course keep in mind that vomiting and nausea are the most common):

– Vomiting

– Migraines/headaches

– Mood swings

– Cramps

– Nausea

– Loss of appetite

– Tiredness

For me morning sickness felt like you were car sick or sea sick for several hours. I was fortunate enough to never had excessive amounts of vomiting throughout the morning sickness period. It’s said that during pregnancy, your sense of smell is heightened and your body becomes sensitive to particular smells and tastes. The two times that I vomited were actually due to smelling freshly cooked quinoa and the taste of sultanas during breakfast. I hated sunlight and even using the lights in the house at night made the migraines worst.

Morning sickness remedies

There are some great suggestions in forums and from pregnant women all over the world online. A few of the things that might work for you would be to have soda crackers and plenty of water, while resting when required. This seemed to work for many women to combat morning sickness. The morning sickness remedies I used throughout the time were not things that I found in books or from other women online. It was through trial and error.

I simply took the time to be more aware and attune to my body’s wants, needs and reaction to types of foods I was eating and environments I was in. For example, as I found that the morning sickness would often occur at night during dinner time, which meant that I had a harder time eating dinner and therefore getting the nutrients I needed. This was a concern for me as I felt as though if I skipped dinner completely every night for several weeks, that I wasn’t eating enough nutrients for the baby and for my body. Being vegetarian, this was a concern. I found that my body craved and reacted well to simple foods like fruit, breakfast foods, breads and cheese. Though this would often change on a weekly basis, but I knew that listening to my body would be the first step in figuring out how to remedy morning sickness.

I also found taking naps or sleeping early during the period I had my worst morning sickness symptoms would help tremendously. I understand that not all women will have the luxury of doing so, particularly if you need to work outside of the home. But for me, this was one of the main things that helped.

I hope this post answered the most common questions about morning sickness and that sharing my experience has given some advice and reassurance of your own journey through pregnancy. Comment below or contact us via our website! We would love to hear your tips, advice and experience of morning sickness too!