Morning Sickness

It seems like almost everyone deals with morning sickness in some form or another. Those of you who haven't yet or didn't, consider yourselves lucky! The best way I can describe morning sickness for those of you who haven't experienced it, is nausea. You know the feeling you get when your stomach is empty and growling but you can't stand to think about putting anything in it! Also a similar feeling to having the flu. Don't let the term confuse you though, just because its called morning sickness does not mean it only happens in the morning. As a matter of fact, I have experienced this most commonly in the middle of the day around lunch time.
All in all I would have to say I have been very fortunate up to this point. I have had some morning sickness but certainly not to the point of actually making me vomit. I have had a lot of advice from friends and family and have found that if I keep something in my stomach I am much less likely to have the very sick feelings. At first I tried drinking Vernors, a ginger ale, this helped a lot and I would drink one before lunch so my appetite would be better. Then I realized that I was adding an additional 150 calories to my diet (you only need about 300 extra calories during pregnancy) for each soda and no nutritional value so I decided to search out some additional remedies. The next thing I tried was ginger cookies, I know not much more nutritional value, but I didn't need to eat as many to get the soothing feeling. I ate saltine crackers to keep something in my stomach when nothing sounded good. I also found that if I ate more frequent meals I was more likely to keep my appetite. I have found that if I eat dinner early I will get hungry right before bed. If I don't eat anything I may be nauseous when I wake up. So if this happens I try to eat something before bed. If I wake up feeling sick in the morning I know I have to force myself to eat something so I will have a yogurt because its nutritious and easy to get down quickly.
The biggest thing for me is to try to eat healthy even though I may not feel like it. I try to keep a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables handy. Quite often I will find myself losing track of time while I am away from the house so in this case I keep granola bars in my purse for a quick snack. My most favorite unhealthy food is pizza, but since I have been pregnant I cannot eat it. Even if I just get a vegitable pizza to try to keep it less greasy and more healthy my body seems to reject it. About 30 minutes later I am sick and regret ever trying to eat it. This experience has made it easier for me to eat healthy because I want to avoid feeling bad later. I still have the occasional Ginger Ale when it gets really bad but I try to leave it for a last resort.