WHEN most people hear about morning sickness, they nod knowingly, recalling their personal experiences. It’s viewed as a queasy inconvenience that every pregnant woman is expected to grin and bear.
So, when I became violently sick during my pregnancy, every well-meaning person I met offered their best advice: crackers, ginger biscuits, ginger-ale, figs, china fruit, plain toast, avocado, chips, pap, I tried it all.
Every remedy passed down through generations of mothers ended up on my list.
Yet, none of it worked. Because what I had was not morning sickness. It was something far more severe: hyperemesis gravidarum (HG).
HG is a life-altering pregnancy condition affecting 1% to 3% of women. It causes extreme nausea, dehydration, weight loss and physical weakness. My gynae told me that mine was the worst…