Story help - Morning Sickness

[only_more_so]

I'm writing a story where a female character is in the early stages of pregnancy. Since I don't know the first thing about it, I was looking for some information.

What sorts of foods would be unpalatable for breakfast?
What would be good to eat, especially on advice of a doctor?

One of the points of the story is that the main character doesn't know about the female character's pregnancy, but he is starting to pick up clues (she wants to tell him later). So if there are any other signs, that a rather obtuse male would pick up on, or since it's a story signs that the reader would pick up on that the character would miss, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Thanks

 

[rachlou]

Different things can trigger morning sickness. It could be anything - personally I couldn't stand drinking tea whilst pregnant. Spicy foods are often a problem, or coffee (the caffiene I think). It tends to hit first thing, the minute you get up. But it can also affect women at any time of the day as it is often related to low blood sugar.

Bland things are useful to stave off sickness. Ginger is good too.

The other major clue to pregnany is the extreme tiredness during those early weeks. You just want to sleep all the time. There are other symptoms, but the list goes on...and on....and on!

Hope that is of some help.

 

[Guest]

Yep, what rach said.

Different things trigger for everyone, I think.

Ketchup - ugh. To this day I still can't smell it without getting a twinge.

I couldn't use adult toothpaste during pregnancy. I had to switch to bubble-gum kid flavoring because the mint taste was too strong.

Oh! And men's aftershave. Hubby would walk by right after he'd finished shaving, I'd get a whiff and have to run to the bathroom and puke. After it happened the second time he found unscented versions of everything.

(Even an obtuse male could pick up on that.)

 

[sweetness6280]

I haven't eaten mayonnaise since my first pregnancy. The slightest hint of it sent me running to the bathroom.

I had horrible morning sickness for 3 months. I kept crackers by the bed, and when I awoke, I had one in my mouth before even moving.

Signs? Tender breasts, being incredibly sleepy. Also, if your character normally drinks, but turns down even a glass of wine.

 

[Misty_Morning]

For me, morning sickiness was caused by the lack of intake of water the night before.

My morning sickness wasn't really "morning" sickness, but early afternoon sickness.

I must admit that certain smells set me off....but then again they were the smells that made me want to heave before. It just seems that those smells(odors) were accentuated during that time.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, mine wasn't just morning, either.

I had 8 weeks of all-day and night sickness. Week 8 - 16.

Then it was okay.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

Green apples were the only thing I could keep down early morning.

Ginger helps. Ginger biscuits - even ginger beer.

 

[buxxxom]

I kept a sleeve of saltine crackers by the bed, and my husband would bring me ginger ale every morning. Still, I was terribly nauseous for several months at the beginning, and the last two months or so. The middle was great, but only if I kept nibbling all day on small things like Cheerios or Honeycomb dry cereal.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast was something I could not eat. Each chew just seemed to make it grow in my mouth. Even now, I prefer my chicken on the bone. And canned tuna or salmon, forget it. Tried to use a can of salmon for salmon cakes for supper; ended up throwing the whole bowl, can, can opener, spoon, etc. away and setting it outside the house. The smell of canned salmon, even now, makes me squidge a little.

 

[kendo1]

A totally Western condition, apparently.

 

[buxxxom]

A totally Western condition, apparently.

What, really?

 

[kendo1]

What, really?

Yep. Eastern and African women don't get it, from what I have heard.

My wife looked into it when she was expecting our first child, and decided she was not going to suffer from it.

She never had morning sickness for both children.

 

[Vermilion]

Apparently evolved from some sort of evolutionary protection that was s'posed to keep you away from 'dangerous' (pre-refridgerated days) food like meat and dairy.

My mum was sick 24/7 for the first 5 or 6 months. She lost weight during the first 2 trimesters - in both her pregnancies. She said the sickness was worse in the evening.

Sore boobs, big boobs, not drinking, no sea-food, tiredness like people said, *emotional*. Think PMT then multiply.

x
V

 

[buxxxom]

The nausea was the first clue I was pregnant!

There's something to that mind over matter stuff, though.

 

[kendo1]

The nausea was the first clue I was pregnant!

There's something to that mind over matter stuff, though.

I'm only a man. But that seemed to work for my wife(mind over matter)

It may not work for everyone.

 

[Vermilion]

my mum reckons it's a genetic combination. She knows several people who had one or more kids by one partner and didn't get sick at all, then they had another kid(s) by a new partner and were violently sick... and vice versa... perhaps it's the genetic mix?

x
V

 

[glynndah]

I never had morning sickness.

 

[Emerald_Dragon]

The first pregnancy I didn't have morning sickness at all. I did get the sleepies though. I fell asleep sitting in a straight backed chair for the first time ever. That and when I got hungry it was instantanious starvation. I had to have food, NOW I would tell the husband, or I would've started with his fingers. I craved shrimp and sausage. You also have to pee all the time. Youre blood volume goes up by about a third and the kidneys are working overtime.

With my second pregnancy I couldn't use toothpaste of any kind, it made me gag. I also couldn't see, touch, or smell hamberger of any kind, it made me beyond nauseous. I didn't puke if I ate something in the morning, toast or what not. If I tried to get away with just a glass of juice or something up it would come. I also craved strawberry and chocolate malts I had one every night.

 

[tickledkitty]

I never really had it either. However, certain things did turn my stomach briefly. The one I remember most is oatmeal. I always ate it for breakfast at work, and then one day I looked at it and...no more oatmeal for a while.

I had a problem with my hubby's aftershave, as well. I couldn't stand to walk into the bathroom in the morning after he'd been in there.

 

[SensualCealy]

Never really had morning sickness but I couldn't stand the smell of hamburger cooking, nor the taste of shrimp for the first few weeks. I found out I was pregnant the day we hit Florida for a 28 day vacation. We had been trying for a full year, I mean, temperature taking, charting, all that and more so I knew as soon as I didn't get my period that I was pregnant.

I agree with the exhaustion, Id wake up and be ready to go back to bed I was so tired-maybe I'm pregnant now? lol-NOT!

I think something to show a guy without saying anything would be to stop typical behaviours, stop drinking alcohol, cutting back on certain foods-chocolate, coffee/tea etc. If this relationship is a few months old and she typically had a drink of wine after dinner while they listened to music and all of a sudden she isnt drinking-bingo!

If she is a couple months pregnant, maybe wearing looser clothing, not regular waist clothing, drawstring pants/skirts, not tucking in your blouse. If you were usually a tailored suit type and suddenly you are wearing flowing outfits, its a good indication. With my girl I was only 2 months pregnant and everything felt binding around my waist where with my son, I was almost 6 months before I went to materinity clothes.

Hope this helps,
C

 

[SlickTony]

You never know what kinds of food or smells will affect you. When I was expecting my daughter, I did get nausea. But it wasn't morning nausea, it was afternoon nausea. I was prescribed this liquid iron supplement, and every time I took it I threw up. My (then) MIL came down from Tehran and did a lot of cooking for us, and one day she fixed boiled mutton with dried limes in it, and it made me want to run out into the desert to get away from the smell.

When I had my son, I didn't know a day of sickness, although there was one evening, when I was starting to suspect I was pregnant, that hardly anything appealed to me and I ended up having a couple of pounds of grapes for dinner.

I have always been fond of chicken livers, but nobody in my family likes them but me. I thought if I got pregnant I'd have a simon-pure excuse to have chicken livers once a week. But when I did get pregnant, I had no desire for them. The thought didn't make me actively sick, I just didn't feel like fooling with them. I did have a craving for spinach salads, and had one nearly every night.

 

[LaJovena]

I didn't have bad morning sickness, but my appetite changed. With #1, I craved vanilla ice cream. With #3, I craved light, healthy foods, like salads. Greasy foods did not appeal to me at all.

Any health-related website will give you a list of symptoms, but yeah, nausea seems to be the most universally recognized sign.

 

[buxxxom]

Cravings from first pregnancy: BBQ sauce (the thick, hot, sweet spicy tomatoey kind), and orange juice.

From second pregnancy: candy apples (no nuts, eww) and orange juice.

And sleep. Naps. Followed by more naps. And backrubs, and bellyrubs.

 

[Shugahhhh]

I had wicked morning sickness for the first five months. I couldn't even get my vitamins down and keep them there. I existed on soda crackers, lipton chicken soup (the kind in the box) and pepsi. I lived with perpetual bedspins.

Lost weight until my last month, and ended up dead even. Three weeks before I delivered, the little monkey kicked a rib and cracked it.

I only had one.

 

[Guest]

Nestles chocolate chip cookie dough (slice and bake) right out of the package.

With a spoon.

 

[buxxxom]

Nestles chocolate chip cookie dough (slice and bake) right out of the package.

With a spoon.

A spoon is so civilized! I just whacked off a hunk and ate it.

I didn't know that required pregnancy, though. Just a dreary Saturday afternoon is reason enough