Thank You For Much Needed Acknowledgement

The HER foundation contributed letters from our forums members for a show that featured Hyperemesis as a topic. The show aired in April of 2007.

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Thank You For Much Needed Acknowledgement

Postby BrandiJK » Feb 28, 2007 11:57 am

My story is not as hard as many women, I was not an extreme case. I have watched some women travel this road of HG and been amazed at their strength and courage.

These women writing you letters are true heros and champions. They are strong, amazing, brilliant women, and some of the best mothers in the world. They have, quite litterally, put their lives and their sanity on the line for their children.

Myself, I have survived 3 seperate hyperemesis pregnancies. One in 1997, in which I had no medication and exsisted on regularly needed IV treatments. One in 2003, which was mild and after only a handful of IV treatments was able to complete the pregnancy on just a low dose of phenergen. My last was 2006-2007, and this was my hardest yet. Remember, I am NOT an extreme case.

In my last pregnancy, I lost 30 pounds in my first trimester. My bones hurt from low bloodpressure, I was always cold and always, always, always sick. Zofran was my savior, in that I was able to stop vomiting and thus attempt to regain some weight. But I was never well, not the entire pregnancy. I finshed the pregnancy 20 pounds under my prepregnant weight, and that was after struggling hard to regain 12 pounds. And the post pard. depression that followed almost took me out completely.

Few people believed I was actually ill, even though I was litterally wasting away before their eyes. My marriage almost ended, I lost many, many, many friends. I was expected to raise my two children, find daycare when I needed IV's, maintain the house, and somehow be joyful and'glowing'.

It is hard to get over how many people turn a blind eye to a pregnant woman in this condition. It is hard to get over the outright neglect when one actually asks for help. It is hard to get over the weakness, the self loss, the inability to care for one's self, even with the knowledge that few if any will help. It is hard to get over the judgement.

I wanted to say thank you for naming this on your show, and honoring these women, myself included, who have battled forward through hell and back. It eases the pain that lingers over being forgotten and ignored, being treated like we were 'making it up', when all we wanted was someone to understand.

God bless you. May your show reach those women. This is a serious condition, and it is a balm to know someone is taking it seriously.

Brandi
The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child.
BrandiJK
Master of HG
 
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