The closest I will ever get to HG

Hi everyone,

This last week I think I got as close as a man can get to actually having Hyperemesis Gravidarum – I got a nasty case of food poisoning. It all began with what seemed like a nice meal from Noodles & Company, but several hours later turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life.

I was on Ben watch until 1am and when Brynn came to relieve me I felt fine. However, just a few hours later I woke up with intense feelings of nausea like I have never experienced (if you don’t want to read about getting sick you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph). When I wasn’t running to the bathroom I just curled up in the fetal position and moaning to myself. After three hours I finally brought the meal back up and had some temporary relief.

About an hour later the nausea returned, though not as intense than before. Then I began to have a really bad headache and feel really dizzy. I also developed a mild fever and began feeling delirious, which was probably exacerbated (or caused) by the amount of fluid loss I’d incurred. Fortunately that part of it cleared up the following evening and I just had to deal with the other symptoms in various capacities for the next few days.

While I certainly wasn’t glad to have had food poisoning, the experience did give me a deeper appreciation for what Brynn and other HG sufferers have to go through in their pregnancies. The main difference was that the worst of my food poisoning lasted one day… I could not imagine dealing with that for an entire pregnancy! Also, I only had to worry about myself – I didn’t need to stress about the potential of my illness harming an unborn baby.

One thing that really resonated with me was how Brynn had always told me that the nausea was far worse than the vomitting that comes with HG. The first doctor that Brynn saw told her she would need to start throwing up more if she wanted her case taken more seriously (despite the fact she’d been in the ER three times for dehydration – did I mention she was a quack?) However, the vomitting that comes with HG is sometimes (but not always) seen by HG sufferers as a good thing as it gives them a window of opportunity where their nausea subsides to a point that they can eat and drink a few things. I knew Brynn wasn’t faking it, but it’s impossible to imagine feeling that nauseous until you’ve been through anything so intense. Now that I’ve had an insight it baffles me how she was able to go through it so long. The nausea incapacitates you – you simply can’t eat, sleep or do anything until that window of opportunity comes around.

I’m still not 100% recovered yet, but at least it’s more manageable now. I’m able to eat quite a bit, but I think I’ll be on a pretty bland diet for at least another week. I had four days off training (which is how you know I’m feeling bad!), but got back on the bike last night for an easy 20 minute spin.

My parents were staying with us at the time so I was lucky that we had a few extra hands to look after Benjamin (and me!) Fortunately I was the only one that was affected, I don’t know what we would have done if we all came down with food poisoning!

Ben is getting bigger by the hour