Hi again MJ.
My apologies for not writing back when I said I would
It sounds like they may be giving your wife Phenergan which can cause drowsiness. I hope it helps her get a few good night's rest in and reduces the vomitting. What else has she tried?
Well, when HG ends depends on each person. I think for every HGer the worst part is most definitely the first tri so please re-assure your wife that she should
almost certainly be over the worst. She 'should' be starting to see some improvement very soon as in the next few weeks. I think most people (myself included) tend to see a great difference after week 20 and it is true that ifor some women, HG lasts until delivery (or in the worst case I ever heard of until 3 days post partum). Unfortunately for you and your wife, you don't know yet which camp she is going to fall into - the week 20+ or week 40 camp. It's kind of an added torture - the mental anguish of not having a definete end date unless you count the end of the pgy. Please bear in mind though that even those rally, really, really unlucky people who get HG right up to the very end of the pgy say that the 3rd tri is nowhere near as bad as the first.
There have been lots of different theories for why some people get HG. There is some link between high saturated fat intake and also some kind of issue to do with the liver. There have also been links to a bacteria that lives in the stomach. There are loads of different theories - some of the research has been able to prove links and then there seem to be just as many women who don't have any of the above but still have HG. Basically, it just majorly sucks.
One thing that is really important is to ensure that when your wife gets home, she rests as much as she possibly can. Fatigue can exacerbate HG so even if she feels a bit better (relatively speaking) warn her not to get all excited and overdo stuff (easily done when you've been that unwell) because it will just set her back.
Another piece of advice - ditch the ginger biscuits!! Trying to cure HG with typical morning sickness remedies - it hardly ever works. I refer you to the 'I got crackered' forum (as in 'have you tried crackers in the morning before you get up?'
) for pages worth of evidence where nice people are trying to be helpful in suggesting traditional morning sickness remedies but just not understanding that HG and morning sickness are different beasts.
For fluids what seems to work for quite a few women is cold (as in straight from fridge) or frozen water or very weak FOODMENT Orange juice / squash END FOODMENT.
Please wish her well from us, she is not alone and when she comes home it would be fabulous to 'meet' her. Maybe she could introduce herself in the second tri forum and meet some other mums to be who are due the same time as her.
Do post again if you want any further advice / support
Good luck!! ANd of course, well done on being so supportive. Many SOs are not so supportive when their partner is suffering through HG.
Love Natalie, x