Getting to grips with morning sickness

Hi, pleased to meet you. I'm Barfy, the new mum-to-be.

I was sick as a dog over the weekend, nothing I ate stayed in and I conveniently put the blame on TM (the "It's YOUR child!" line). They call it morning sickness but mine was more like all day sickness. What happens is that when you're pregnant, your digestive systems slow down. A book I read noted that the sicker you are, the healthier your baby seems to be and the theory goes that since you're sick so often, you naturally start avoiding foods that are bad for the baby and stick to healthier stuff. That's what I'm telling myself as well.

I've always found ginger to help with my nausea, so on Sunday I went looking for some. The ginger that always works for me is this local preserved stuff, it comes in really tacky looking packaging that hasn't changed since the 1970s. It's got a picture of this Chinese guy on it that really looks like it should belong on his obituary. Maybe they did get it off his obituary, I don't know. You locals in Malaysia may know what I'm talking about, the product is called Uncle Mo but I call it Don Henley assam. This came about in Uni when I was taking a packaging paper in my degree course and I was wondering why this product used this god-awful picture of the Chinese guy. So my best bud and I agreed that Don Henley's pic would be better and might sell more packs. Don't ask me why we came up with Don Henley.

Anyway.... I finally found it in Bangsar's 7-Eleven, a packet costs about RM1.30 (approx 20+p) and it's worked so far. I just take a pinch or two of the stuff when I'm not feeling good. Hubby's also bought me some ginger beer, just be sure to let all the fizz disappear before you take a sip.

Small meals help as well. Don't eat one LARGE meal and then sit down. That's a guarantee for sickness. I'm eating small meals now and I eat about 5-6 times a day and I've been keeping food down so far.

Mint seems to help as well. The nice things about mints is that not only does it keep the nausea away, it gives you minty fresh breath too!

For some, accupressure works to help keep nausea at bay. Go here for some help on where to find the accupressure point. Some of you Xena fans may recall an episode where her sidekick, Gabrielle, was frantically pressing a spot on her wrist to stop herself from barfing because she was seasick. That's the spot you want!

My mum-in-law advised me to keep dry crackers by the bedside and to eat them first thing in the morning before I get up. She said it helps to absorb the stomach acid. I've tried that and it seems to work as well.

Since I've started taking small pinches of ginger and limiting the size of my meals, Little Monkey has settled down too and not been throwing tantrums, so I guess that works for me. You'll figure out what combination of foods and methods work for you soon enough! The good news is, morning sickness usually goes away by the 2nd trimester, so just hang in there.