Knocked Up – Knocked Over

my journey through pregnancy and hyperemesis gravidarum

Category Archives: HG Preparation

Preparing for an HG pregnancy


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HG and my Employment

I mentioned a few posts back that I was planning to talk to the people at my office to make sure there was a plan in place for when the HG hits.  I just wanted to update you all on what was going on with that.

Let me start by saying that I work for a very large, Fortune 500 company.  This means that all the employment laws, such as FMLA and and CA labor laws (which are extensive) apply to me.  My company also takes health and safety very, very seriously, so it’s primed to be willing to work with me on this.  Once again, I find myself on the lucky side of the coin.  Fortuna favors me right now, it seems.

I started by speaking to my mentor, who happens to be the HR lead for the Americas for the division of the company in which I work.  If that sounds important, make no mistake, it is.  She is very well-suited to making sure I receive the correct information in this regard. 

When I spoke to her, I printed out some info from the helpher.org about what HG is, and what the impact can be.  I will get to why that may have not been a great idea later.  She was pretty decent about it when I spoke to her.  She made it really clear, though, that I didn’t have to tell the what was going on.  All I had to do was say, “I may need to go out on disability.”  No need to give reasons.  She explained the CA disability is really complicated and that she would do some digging for me to make sure I have a clear picture of how it works and how my pay would look.

That was on a Friday. 

Monday, we met and she gave me a whole packet here.  It was full of complicated HR stuff that I really am just too lazy to deal with here, but the bottom line is, my company gives 26 weeks short term disability, then you switch over to long-term disability.  During the duration of the short term disability, I would take FMLA for 12 weeks, supplumented by California disability insurance + the difference in pay for full pay for 12 weeks.  The full pay would continue, as I understand it, up to 17 weeks.  Then the other California disability program kicks in for 55% of the pay for an additional 12 weeks, which would carry me into my company’s long term disability program.

Realistically, I hope to not need any of that.  But if I need it, it’s there.  It’s complicated but it’s there.  She also assured me that I would still have a job when I returned.  I was ready to push on this.  A co-worker was out for bone marrow transplants for almost a year, so in my mind the precedent has been set.  Thankfully, no pushing was necessary.

The reason I’m concerned about giving her those printouts, is she referenced them a couple of times when talking.  She mentioned the 5% weight loss a few times.  What I should have said was that we don’t plan to wait for the HG checklist to happen before putting me out of work.  The idea is to keep that from happening and keep the HG from getting too severe.  If I’ve already been sick enough to lose that much weight, I’ve been too sick to be at work, you know?  I don’t think this will be an issue, it’s just something that is sticking in my mind.

At any rate, she told me that if I wanted to tell my boss now, it would be very helpful to the company, but I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to.  I would be well within my rights to tell her the day I go out, “I have to go out on disability.  Bye.”  All the other stuff, like ensuring coverage is not my problem to worry about.

I’m a nice person, though.  I went ahead and talked to my boss.  I kept it simple.  I let her know that I am pregnant, and I do have a history of this disease, so I might have to go out on disability in the next few weeks.  Regardless, I let her know, she would see me having more doctor’s appointments, and I would keep her updated on days I expect to miss time as early as possible.

She was very understanding.  She said, if I feel bad, don’t come in.  They’ll cover for me.  Don’t stress about doctor’s appointments.  As long as she gets some kind of heads up, it’s just fine.  She also said that if I needed to lay down there are some empty offices upstairs with couches in them, and it would be fine to go rest for a bit up there.

Overall the conversation went very well.  I’m so lucky to have a company who takes health and safety so seriously.

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Illness update:  So far, so good.  I start feeling a little questionable right around unisom/b6 time, but other than that, I’m just continuing to coast along and hope for the best.  I’m going to feel a whole lot happier when I see that little heartbeat on Friday morning!

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Stay tuned for Thursday’s post!  Assuming everything works out, we’ll have a guest poster writing for us!  How exciting!  Expect a story to be blown wide open.  You heard it here!  Knocked Up – Knocked Over may have the scoop!  Can I use more exclamation points?  Possibly!  But only if I try really hard!


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Getting things done

I’ve got this powerful drive lately to get stuff done that I know I won’t be able to do with HG.  Considering that we’re actively trying for a baby, it seems like that day could happen any second.  Poor Juan is just being dragged along for the ride.

Last weekend, I cleaned out my fish pond.  I have a gorgeous fish pond in the back yard, but it had started getting a little mucky.  It was full of string algae and mulm (fish poop), and the plants needed to be trimmed for winter. 

I cut back the plants, scrubbed the string algae out of it with an un-used toilet brush, and cleaned out the filter.  It’s a task getting the filter out since the pond is about 4 ft deep and narrow, but I managed it!  The filter was horrible with mulm.  I’ll spare you the gruesome details.  Let’s just say the waterfall is falling much more vigorously now.

We also finally decorated Gabi’s room!  She’s been with scuffed white walls and a mattress on the floor since we moved in.  In defense of that, the mattress on the floor was deliberate.  That’s been her bed since she was about 10 months old.  We can snuggle up together and there’s no risk of her falling out. 

Saturday, my darling sister came up from LA, and we painted the room a gorgeous shade of blue.  For the curious, I picked Behr’s Serene Sky.  It turned out fantastic!  Gabi was thrilled when she saw it.

Sunday, Juan and I spent the day putting IKEA furniture together for her.  It’s mostly white furniture (with the exception of the natural wood toy chest), and it looks gorgeous against the blue walls.  Best of all, there were no fights as we were constructing the stuff!  Not even in the midst of building the bed, which for a while, we thought must actually be a piano because it had so many pieces.

See? It's a piano!

We accomplished the seemingly impossible, though, and last night, for the first time, Gabi slept in her big girl bed.  She seemed to really love it.  The look on her face was priceless.  Finally, she’s living in a child-centered room instead of a converted nursery.  The bookshelves are all at her height, the toys are in a toy chest that she can reach.  Everything is geared toward her comfort.  It’s wonderful.

The new child-focused room

 The room is not quite finished.  I need to get the curtains made and hung and the tree decal up.  Okay, so I haven’t bought the tree decal, but imagine a pretty tree with little red birds flitting around.  I’ve got a few pictures to get framed: A Totoro batik that we brought back from Japan and a few Miyazaki lithographs.  Also, we have some pretty wooden letters that spell out her name. 

We also have to get her a new lamp because the geniuses who built our house failed to install ceiling lights in any of the rooms, and floor lamp + active kid = begging for a disaster.  I’m planning to get one of those round paper lanterns.  Yeah, I know, they’re so cheap, but I really like the playful look of them.  Also, they plug into the wall meaning we don’t have to hire an electrician.

In addition to the home decorating stuff, I’ve been on a food-finding mission.  The question I keep asking myself is, “What won’t I be able to eat when I get pregnant?”

We’ve been doing the spicy-food tour: buffalo wings, burritos, Indian food (ahhh, Indian food, how I love thee!), Thai, steaks…  Also garlic stuffed olives.  I’m lovin’ my garlic stuffed olives.  Juan not so much.  Note to self:  Eating garlic stuffed olives might be a great non-hormonal form of birth control!

I think Juan is a little surprised with my food enthusiasm lately.  I mean, I’m always pretty enthusiastic about food, but lately it’s been a MUST EAT INDIAN FOOD NOOOOW kind of enthusiasm.  Also garlic stuffed olives.  I’m lovin’ my garlic stuffed olives.  Juan not so much.  Note to self:  Eating garlic stuffed olives might be a great non-hormonal form of birth control!

I just keep trying to think of things I won’t be able to do when I actually do get pregnant.  Kind of like a bucket list only instead of a metaphorical bucket, it’s an actual bucket.  That will sit by my bed.  Yeah.

So I’m just going, going, going like a woman on a mission.  I’m just trying to accomplish all I can before the pregnancy hits.


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Hooray for Therapy!

I mentioned previously, in my Travelling with Emetophobia post, that my emetophobia has been getting worse.  This played out again in church on Sunday when the child in the row behind me started coughing and my first thought was, “Oh, my God.  I hope he doesn’t puke!   EEEK!”  Yeah, so it seems like the emetophobia has started to spread out a little and make me uncomfortable about other people getting sick too.  Kind of like with the retching baby on the plane.

Good thing for me, though!  Last week I called the therapist my husband and I saw last year.  He didn’t seem completely sure what he could do to help, but he said he wanted to meet with me to find out more and see if we could come up with a plan.  I appreciate how candid he was in that respect.

We met yesterday at lunchtime, and I had to explain what I went through with the HG and how it affects me day-to-day.  He listened carefully and took notes in that disconcerting way that therapists do.  Ultimately, he came up with a few coping ideas for dealing with my anxiety:

  • Live in the moment.  Remember that it’s the Fear of the Fear that causes the panic.  Live in the moment by reminding yourself that you aren’t sick right now, so there’s nothing to be afraid of right now. 
  • Shift your focus.  The panic comes from your brain working itself into circles.  Don’t start down that path to begin with.  If you feel yourself starting to go down that hole, breathe and consciously shift your focus to something unrelated to the fear.  A dinner table example might be the good conversation with the family.
  • Say a mantra. Come up with a mantra to keep from going down the hole of panic if you start getting scared.  Not something to say over and over until you freak (“I’m gonna be ok. I’m gonna be ok. I’m gonna be okay. OMG I’M SO NOT OKAY!!!”), but something calm to say once to trigger yourself to calm down.  You might have two mantras: one if you hear someone else coughing or retching (“Thank goodness that’s not my problem!”) and one to keep from going into panic about germs and being sick (“You were good yesterday, you’re good today.”)
  • Keep a talisman. Get a few anti-anxiety pills from your doctor in case you do start having a panic attack.  Head it off at the pass.  Like the zofran you keep from last year, you probably won’t need it, but just having it there will bring a sense of comfort and control.  If you start feeling scared, remind yourself that you have this if you need it, and you don’t need to fear the fear.  Stop thinking of this as a “crutch.”  It’s not a crutch.  It’s a positive tool to help bring control to an otherwise out of control situation.  It’s a talisman.

He said that learning to use those little techniques takes practice, but he complimented in saying that I’ve actually got a pretty good handle on it already with the way I was able to talk myself down from panic on the plane.  I told him about some of my fear and reservations going into an HG pregnancy, and he drew me back to the points he made that I listed above.  I can use those to deal with the anticipatory fear of HG just like with the emetophobia.

He reminded me of my own words:  I’ve been through this before.  I know what to expect.  I know that I will be getting the best medical care available.  Some days will be good.  Some days will be bad.  Live in the moment.

It actually didn’t take that long to talk about.  I still had half an hour left!

Like a good blogger, I took the opportunity to plug my site!  Okay, well, I didn’t really “plug” it, but I did talk about how I’m channelling my anxiety and energy into something positive: helping other women who have had, do have, and will have again HG.  He seemed pretty pleased with that, and he talked about the positives that this whole thing will bring:

  • I will have the ability to give back to the community through writing and the ability to receive support through sharing my experience, something that appeals to my activist mindset.
  • In a morbid sense, odd things make for good blog posts.  Hang onto that on crappy days and remember to watch for the weird.  This plays right into my somewhat sarcastic and slightly twisted sense of humor.  Yeah, if I have to go to the hospital, I’m so making Juan take the camera.

The biggest thing he focused on was that I wouldn’t be suffering for nothing.  Interestingly enough, he didn’t talk about that “something” as being the baby.  In a weird sense, that’s okay.  When I was pregnant with Gabi, I reached the point where I was so detached that I didn’t really care that much about that.  I just wanted to get through the damn pregnancy and get her out. 

He focused on the “something” as being my contribution to the community, my contribution to other women and families in sharing my experience.  In that sense he helped me find a way to bring value to the HG itself.  It’s certainly a means to an end, but in approaching the journey in this way, it makes the horrible means a whole lot easier to get my head around.

Another thing that appealed to me was when he pointed out that this will be like a science project.  What does a really aggressively managed case of HG look like?  What does HG look like when a woman does have the proper support of doctor, family, community, and friends?

I really like science.  The idea of thinking of this whole thing as an experiment really appeals to me.

Ultimately, I left the session feeling empowered and uplifted.  We both agreed that I probably wouldn’t need a follow-up any time soon.  The tools he gave me are ones that I need to practice, and, as another positive, the chances to practice those really do come few and far between. 

He said if I do start struggling with depression as a result of having HG, he’s absolutely willing to see me to talk things over.  Talking out loud, and saying the words can be healing.

Ultimately, we parted with smiles all around and a hearty, “See you later!”  “Hope not!”

Yesterday was a good day.  I can do this.


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Leaving on a Jet Plane (to Ecuador)

This is the first our daughter really “gets” Christmas.  She is very excited.  She is excited about Santa, presents, and, most of all, seeing one of her favorite Aunts: her Tia Meli.

This is going to be an especially exciting Christmas because we are flying down to spend it with my husband’s family in Ecuador.  This will be Gabi’s first trip to Ecuador, although not her first trip overseas.  She’s been to Nicaragua to visit family and Japan for vacation.  She’s quite the little world traveller!

Not really knowing where we are with being pregnant or not, I’m taking pretty much everything I might potentially need for the first stages of the HG assault. 

Thank goodness for the little Grab-and-Go Kit I put together as a part of my disaster kit this fall!

I’m adding a few items that weren’t in there before:

  • Prima Bella wristband (that’s going to be fun to explain to TSA)
  • 30 Zofran ODTs, bringing my total to 45, enough for 11 days a full dose.  Possible overkill.  I may re-evaluate this.
  • A few pregnancy tests
  • My regular daily vitamins (mulit-vitamin)
  • The stuff I’m taking for my sinus infection: antibiotics, affrin, etc.
  • A copy of The Protocol.

I’m thinking that this is going to need to go into the carry on.  I know they unlock and go through bags, and while I would never presume to accuse anyone of thievery, it just seems more prudent to carry this with me.  Several items in this kit are costly, namely the Zofran and the wristband.  It’s simpler anyway.  If TSA has questions about any of the stuff (I’m thinking the wristband), I can be right there to answer those questions.

We fly out this Saturday at the crack of dawn, so I’m glad that this is all basically together.  There’s so much other stuff to do, so it’s nice to know that this is all taken care of.

It’s going to be busy tonight and tomorrow getting ready, and I’m not sure what internet access is going to look like in Ecuador.  This may be the last post I write for a while, so don’t expect to hear too much from me between now and the first of the year.  I’ll do my best to approve any comments that need approving as quickly as possible, but if it takes a few days, please don’t take it personally.

Happy Holidays to everyone and to the HGers out there, I hope you are able to enjoy your holidays as well as possible. 

Wishing comfort and joy to you all!


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B6 hunting takes me into a Body Building shop

I was having lunch with my husband today, and next door to the restaurant was a vitamin/supplument place.  I decided to have a look inside to see if I could find that pesky sublingual B6.  Little did I know, this was no ordinary vitamin shop.

This was a nutrition shop for…

Body Builders!

Okay, I need to be honest.  I don’t really get the whole Body Building! thing.  I’m not gonna knock the lifestyle, but I really don’t get it.  Really huge people make me nervous.  Like they might explode at any second, splattering Muscle Milk and rage all over the place.  Okay, maybe I am knocking the lifestyle a bit.  Sorry.  It just weirds me out is all.  I can’t explain it and I can’t find an excuse.  It just gives me the willies.

The BODY BUILDING! stuff in GMC makes me pretty uncomfortable.  Imagine my feelings when I walked in and was greeted by a large poster identifying the establishment as a place. “WHERE MEN BECOME MONSTERS” with a large, potentially explosive man flexing and howling underneath the words.  The snarling German fellow* on the pamphlet by the register continued the Body Building! theme, as did the photographs of what I can only assume were happy, flexing customers on the wall beside the register. 

Oh, my.

Did you know that there is such a thing as “POWER BUTTER”?  I was too afraid to pick it up to see what it was.  Probably explosive.  They also sold dog food, which puzzled my husband and I.  Yep.  Dog food.  High quality stuff too.  Right next to the HIGH CARBON PROTEIN POWDER shake mix.  Probably only for large breed dogs, though.  (Ha!  Thank you!  I’ll be here all week!)  Also a giant man in a tiny tank-top and ski-hat selling what he purported to be a cure for headaches, insomnia, allergies, herpes, liposuction, and possibly irritable bowel.  At the time, we politely declined the offer for a demonstration.  What if he suddenly started flexing?  My husband told me later that it was a wristband of sorts, which I actually would have been curious about, but by that point I was so intimidated by the BODY BUILDING! atmosphere that I just wanted to ask about my vitamins and leave. 

I felt like a whippet at a pit-bull party.

The folks behind the counter were very nice, although they weren’t able to order what I was looking for.  If the theme of their store was discomforting to me, I’m sure they can be forgiven.  After all, my husband and I, while not puddin’ pies aren’t exactly excercise-addicts, are certainly not their target market.  BODY BUILDING!, which certainly does require special capitalization, is a profoundly different culture than what we are accustomed to.

So the quest for sublingual B6 continues.  Maybe by the weekend my local health food store will have come through for me.

*”How could you tell he was German?” asked my husband.  “He looks German!  Look at the hair!”


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Why is getting B6 so hard?

The B6/Unisom combo (home-made diclectin) will be my very first line of defense against HG.  I know that sublingual B6 exists.  I’ve heard it talked about on the helpher forums, I have imaginary internet friends who have taken it.  Why then, is it so hard to get locally?

I started by trying to get it from Walgreens.  As I expected, no luck.  The pharmacist’s assistant told me that all the vitamins are over on the shelves, which they’re not since I get prescription folic acid and I know for a fact that prenatals and other vitamins are available via prescription only.  Also, there was no sublingual B6 there since I already looked.  The pharmacist looked at me like I had three heads and proceeded to grill me about why I can’t just take a pill.  When I elaborated further, he suggested… wait for it… ginger.

Yes, Genius.  I just handed you a prescription for a month’s supply of Zofran, which is around $35 for the generic PER PILL (thank GOD for insurance).  My prescription is for 4 pills per day for 30 days.  Do you really, honestly think we (insurance and I) would be shelling out $4200 a month if friggin ginger was likely to be a viable option?  All I wanted was some info on whether or not sublingual B6 could be ordered.  That’s.  It.

Clearly Walgreens can’t help me with this.  Next stop, my local health food store.

My local health food store has a huge selection of vitamins.  It’s where I generally go to get all of my vitamins.  In this case, though, they’re coming up short.  They’ve got various sublingual B complexes, which on the surface sound great!  B12, B6, Folic Acid all in one little tab is a great idea.  Until I flip over the bottle and read the content.  It’s all tiny amounts of B6.  If I’m looking at taking 100-15o mg/day, 5 mg isn’t going to get me very far.

They looked into ordering it for me, but this has turned into a major ordeal.  I checked in a week after they were supposed to have ordered it, and they hadn’t ordered it.  They placed the order right then, and a few days later, they called me saying it had come in.  When I got it home and looked a little closer, it turns out it wasn’t sublingual at all, just plain Coenzymated B6. So I took it back.

When they started looking into it, their book appeared to be incorrect.  They’d ordered what appeared to be the right thing.  The numbers matched.  It’s just that the bottle didn’t specify that it was sublingual.  They said they would call the company for more info and then call me back.

A week went by.

I ran out of my multivitamin (which I highly recommend as being wonderful and non-puke inducing), so while I was in picking up a new bottle, I dropped by the supplement counter to see if they’d heard back on whether or not I could take the B6 sublingually.  After much standing around and waiting, it turned out that they hadn’t called yet.

He did call them the next day and left me a voice message saying that the 100 mg, which I bought, is not sublingual but the 25 mg is sublingual and would I like to go ahead and order that.

I’ve tried to call them several times this week and hit voicemail every time.

At this point, my frustration level is pretty high.  Why is it so stinkin’ hard to get sublingual B6?  I’d like to get it locally so I don’t have to fool with shipping, but this is just getting ridiculous.

I just want my vitamins already.

 

 

Update:  It took a few weeks, but my local health food store finally came through for me!  Yippee!


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Thank you UPS man!

Thank you UPS man for delivering so many exciting things this week! 

The first thing that arrived was my PrimaBella wristband.  These are not seabands!  (Don’t even get me started on how much I loathe the seabands.  Seriously.  I hate them.)  This is a prescription wristband that sends a tiny electrical impulse up the arm to supposedly help combat nausea and vomiting.  Just look at how happy those ladies look on their website!  Yeah, I know, it’s likely that at some point I will want to get stabby with those happy, smiling ladies, but for now, I’m hoping that this will help.  This sucker is actually FDA approved, and there’s been a bit of buzz on the HelpHer forums.  With that in mind, I’m hopeful.

I have to say, dealing with the PrimaBella people so far has been nothing but pleasurable.  Within 24 hours of them getting the prescription from my doctor they were calling me to talk insurance.  They tried running it through both prescription insurance (DENIED!) and medical insurance (DENIED!), and when that fell through they offered me a coupon to help offset the cost and gave me free priority overnight shipping.  The whole process took about a week from the point where my doctor faxed in the Rx to me having the wristband in my hot little hands.  They called me every day to update me on the status, which I thought was very nice.  If I was pregnant and sick, having that assurance that they were trying to get me help ASAP would be very comforting.  This seems to be a seriously on the ball company.  Let’s hope the wristband helps.

In other wonderful customer service news, I also got to experience the phenomenal customer service of Tara Ramos, fellow HG survivor and the creator of Morning Chicness Bags.  These are the fun alternative to the plastic grocery sack puke bag.  She’s taken the concept of air-sick bags and made them pretty!  There wasn’t a way to order a variety pack directly on the website, so I emailed her directly.  Within an hour or so, we were communicating.  I got my order placed for 50 bags in a variety of design options, and she got them packaged up and out the door the next morning!

They arrived this past week and they are so pretty!  Whoever thought puke bags could be cute and pretty!  As I told Tara, I can’t say I’m looking forward to using the bags, but I do look forward to the sunshine and cheer they will bring me when I feeling crummy.  They’ve even got an inspirational message on the bottom: “Take one day at a time!”

 And hey!  We’ll probably get to try them out tomorrow!  We’re taking a road trip to visit some of my family for Thanksgiving and Gabi gets carsick.  Joy.  But at least she can harf in style!

At some point, I’m sure I’ll be able to review both the Morning Chicness bags and the and the PrimaBella wristband.  For now, I will just be thankful for an illness-free Thanksgiving and for the good memories we’ll be creating together.

Oh, I almost forgot!  The last thing that came in the mail this week was… My FABULOUS New Boots!  Yeah, I know, not HG related at all, but they’re so pretty!  I love you Nordstrom’s Shoe Department!


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Assembling the disaster– I mean, the HG kit

I made it to Target yesterday between swim class and nap time to pick up the last of the items for my HG kit, and last night, while my daughter ate star and heart shaped sandwiches, I put the whole thing together.

This kit contains my Essentials for Surviving the First Weeks contained in one compact, and easily accessible unit.  Fancy!

Here’s what’s in The Kit.

Let me apologize for the picture quality.  It was at night.  It was on my phone.  My camera is in Europe with my husband.

I started with getting together the medicines that will be my first line of defense (refer to the protocol for timing and dosage).

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From left to right they are:

  • Zofran 8 mg ODT tablets – It’s a starter Rx of 15, I’ve got a prescription on hand for a full months supply that I will fill when I become pregnant
  • Unisom – NOT the sleep melts, plain old Doxcilimine Succinate
  • A pill splitter
  • Generic Pepcid – Last time everything turned to acid in my mouth so I couldn’t eat.  Hopefully this will help with that.
  • Generic Colace – Trust me, if you’re taking Zofran, you will need this stuff.
  • Generic Ketone test strips
  • What’s missing? B6.  I have regular B6 on hand, but I’m ordering the sublingual B6 from the natural food store.  It just hasn’t come in yet.

After I got the Druuugs together, I put together some natural remedies.  We’re going to be hitting this from all sides.

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(Dang that’s blurry!) From left to right they are:

  • Crystalized Ginger
  • 550 mg Ginger pills
  • Ginger chews
  • Rescue remedy Pastilles – Rescue Remedy came highly recommended by a UK HGer who’s been through this many times and plans to become an HG Doula.  I’m givin’ it a shot!
  • Aromatherapy blend – Aura Cacia Pep Talk: cardamom seed oil, sweet orange oil, lemon oil, peppermint oil
  • Organic hard candy variety bag

Now for the comfort measures.  Things that won’t help with the puking, but may help me feel more comfortable.

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There’s a lot here.  I’m going to work in a circle, left to right on the back row, then right to left across the front:

  • Cooling gel eye mask
  • Baby washcloths
  • Facial cleansing cloths
  • Generic Lysol disinfecting wipes – These won’t actually go in the kit.  I picked up a 3 pack.  One for each toilet.  Believe me, when you’ve got your head in the bowl for days on end, the last thing you want to look at is toilet grode.
  • (front row) Sensitive, unscented baby wipes
  • Chewing gum
  • Child’s toothbrush – The smaller head may be less gag inducing than a full sized adult brush.
  • Child’s toothpaste – The gentler flavor may be less of a trigger than the strong adult stuff.
  • Chapsticks: Burt’s Bees and Alba – Variety to see which one works best for me.

Because of the upcoming holidays, I need something that will travel easily.  For the medicines and smaller essentials, I purchased a cute travel case.  It’s actually got 2 zippers meaning I can put a luggage lock on it to keep out curious toddlers.

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This will be my grab and go kit.  This will go with me to San Francisco for Thanksgiving and then Ecuador for Christmas.

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Into the travel kit went:

  • Everything from the medicine list
  • Everything from the natural remedies – A selection of the candies is in a ziplock bag on top of the case.
  • Gum
  • A Lip gloss

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It all fit very neatly.  Now I’ve got a grab and go, kit-within-a-kit that is perfect for travel.  It will probably also be good for the office when the HG still allows me to work.

I want to keep this stuff together under my sink, so I picked up a cute storage bin.  It’s cute!  This way, it can live under my sink in readiness and then come out and be part of the regular house without being hideously ugly!

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Everything fits neatly.  Nice, contained, and compact.

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And there it goes.  Straight under the sink.  It’s ready for when I need it.

A Note about Food Items:  I received a suggestion here and several suggestions on the HelpHer forums for different food items to include.  Things like Jello, Gatorade, cookies, etc.  I definitely took those suggestions!  I just didn’t put them in this kit because of where I am storing it.  I’m just not super comfortable with keeping food items under the bathroom sink.  I’m building my snack stash separately, in the pantry.


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What saved your rear-end?

I’m dealing from a case of sudden nerves.  I keep worrying that despite all of my preparation with the protocol, and the green monster will jump out from around a corner and smack me in the face with a stick.

To help myself feel better, I’ve decided to build an HG Kit.  I imagine it to be along the lines of an earthquake kit.  I imagine a kit filled with the basic essentials I will need going into it.  This way everything will all be in one place, and I won’t have to scramble around yelling at everyone while I find all of my stuff.

I’ll post more detail about this at a later time, once I’ve assembled my supplies, but for now, I’m asking for your help.

What saves your butt when you’re worshipping at the shiny white altar?  What gives you comfort when you’re yodeling produce?  What helps keep your bucket singing at bay?  Is it a cold wash cloth?  Lip balm?  Knee-pads?

Let me know!  I’m compiling my shopping list for the weekend, and I’d love to include your suggestions.


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The Importance of Having a Plan

I’ll be the first to admit this.  I am an information collector.  I collect information about certain topics obsessively.  I did this for breastfeeding, childbirth, pond/aquarium keeping, child-rearing, baby-wearing, urban legends, and, of course, HG.  I don’t necessarily have the info memorized, although I do remember a lot of it.  It’s more like I have a card catalogue in the back of my head that I can flip open occasionally to find the website to access what I want to know about.  I am not completely sure this is normal.  I do like sharing this info, though, so I wind up fielding a lot of questions from friends and returning their well-meaning interest with a deluge of information.  I’m trying to learn to give folks the drinking fountain version of things as opposed to the fire-hose version.

I’m also a serious planner.  I tend to worry through a scenario until I’ve come up with all of the potential courses that something might take and work my way through each and every little aspect until I’ve thought about something so hard and so long that there’s just nothing left to think about.  Juan, my husband, calls that being a worry-wart.  I just think it makes me a really good project manager.

All of this means that I’ve obsessively gathered HG-related information and obsessively massaged all of that information into a plan for dealing the HG during the next pregnancy.  I call it The Protocol, and it’s pretty thorough and in-depth.  It’s six pages of Microsoft Excel glory.  My doctor assures me that having something like this does not make me a raving lunatic thankyouverymuch.

This time around, it was really important for me to have some sort of plan.  Part of the despair and hopelessness I felt last time around stemmed, in large part, from not knowing what to do or when to do it.  I spent so much time wondering if what I was feeling was technically bad enough to call the doctor or technically bad enough to take the medicine or technically bad enough….  You get the idea.  I spent more time analyzing everything and feeling guilty about it than I did taking care of myself, and because of that, I waited too long for certain things like medication changes and fluids.

This time around, I felt like I needed to set up project plan of sorts to help give myself direction.  It took a year of writing, researching, re-writing, fiddling, re-writing some more, fiddling a bit more, tweaking here and there, and finally setting it into Excel format for readability and printing purposes. 

Going over The Protocol with my doctor a few weeks ago was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience.  Would she tell me I was nuts?  Would she just give it a quick skim and just smile and nod?  Worse yet, would she wait until after I left to roll her eyes and tell her nurses that I am one of those patients?  I had never met her before.  I had no idea what to expect.  By the way, did I mention earlier that I am an obsessive worrier?

She ended up doing none of those things.  Instead, she read through every single detail with me.  We talked over each line item, and aside from a few tweaks here and there and some additional information (mostly dosages), it was able to withstand her scrutiny.  I’m actually pretty proud of that.  She assured me that not only am I not crazy, but that the kind of early aggressive treatment plan that I laid out can, according to studies, reduce the severity of the HG.

The biggest thing that came out of this was the change in the way I feel about this future pregnancy.  My feelings of anxiety and downright terror were replaced with a sense of hope and empowerment.  I know what to do and when to do it.  I don’t have to sit there and wonder if my ketones are within the necessary range to get fluids or count the number of times I vomited to decide if it’s time to up the meds.  The path is mapped out for me ahead of time.  All I have to do is follow it. 

Why is it important to have a plan put together if you’re an HG patient?  Because when you’re in the thick of things with your brain foggy from the sickness, you shouldn’t have to try to find your way.  Just close your eyes, grab the guide-rope, and follow it to the end.

Without further ado, here is The Protocol in all its six page glory.  Of course, I can’t post the Excel file here, so I had to rewrite it a final time to post here as paragraphs and bulleted lists.  It ain’t pretty, but it does the job.  I’ve added it to the pages at the top of my blog for easy reference.

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