I just want to start this by saying not all HG stories have a beautiful happy ending. Some have tough endings but I believe all stories should be told no matter the outcome.

Pregnant. That’s what that stick said. I was certain it was the flu. I had been vomiting for days. I was just nineteen. I couldn’t do this. By week 11 I was down 50 lbs, in the hospital 4 times a week for fluids and vomiting 30 times a day.

They say the most beautiful rainbows happen after a storm, but you don’t truly understand how violently brutal those storms can be until you have had to live through an HG pregnancy and walk home with empty arms. We did just that four times. Each pregnancy more taxing than the last. Which is why It’s a strange feeling when you’re ready to make an appointment to see the doctor about a hysterectomy and you find out you’re pregnant.

I did manage to survive and live to tell the tale. If you ever wonder why I’m here, this is it. My story right here. I have seen the lowest lows that HG has to offer and been there to support women and seen the genuine kindness of it’s sufferers. I’ve been fully supported by one of the charities. I have been there in the thick of it with you. I have fought this fight, now I want to help you fight yours.

My husband and I always joked that we would have at least 5 children…enough to fill a netball team! For as long as I can remember I had been looking forward to being pregnant, getting that glow everyone talked about and growing a little one from scratch A lot of people had told me being pregnant was tough but I was ready…ha!

When Caitlin told us she was pregnant, I was so excited – our first grandchild. I was nervous too, which I didn’t expect. I just wanted everything to go well – Caitlin and the baby to be healthy of course and for us all to be able to enjoy the wait. Caitlin was my first child – she was followed by 2 brothers – and I never had any sickness during any of my pregnancies. I was bursting with ‘rude good health” as my mother would say.

The hardest part for me was feeling a complete lack of disconnect to the little life that was growing inside of me. The sickness takes over your whole life. It is hard to associate love and happiness with an experience that is leaving you for dead. And having never been pregnant before, I was yet to meet the little guy that would ultimately make it all worthwhile.

I can honestly say that if I had known that I would have HG, and that it would last for 34 weeks and five days, I would not have had the courage to go through with my pregnancy.

223 days of constant nausea and vomiting (at least 10 times a day). 19 visits to the emergency department for dehydration. 2431 tablets taken (and only just kept down). That was the reality of my pregnancy. Women are constantly told that nothing can prepare you for how much your life changes after you have a baby. But if you ask a woman who has endured Hyperemesis Gravidarum, they will tell you that nothing can prepare you for pregnancy.

I found out I was pregnant with our son 4 days before our wedding in 2013. The news came as a surprise and instant vomiting. I knew nothing of HG so naively went off on a 3-week honeymoon to Bali where I ended up in hospital (far from ideal). They got me stable enough to fly home where I then went on to spend some 40+ more days in hospital and a further 6 months bed-bound. I needed full-time care so we moved in with my parents. I couldn’t work and I struggled to comprehend ever feeling well again. During this time I tragically lost someone very close to me. It was the darkest time of my life.

I remember lying in bed at about 8 weeks pregnant with my oldest daughter feeling violently ill and thinking two things: 1. Yay, morning sickness! Come at me pregnancy symptoms! And 2. Wow. I must be really soft coz none of my friends made this big a deal of it! I was 21, had NO idea what was normal.

I was 7wks pregnant when I started to vomit. All-day, waking up in the middle of the night half asleep vomiting all over my bed. This became my reality for my first pregnancy. My OB didn’t have a lot of information and never told me about HG, although he was able to put me straight on all the usual meds. I continued to work through my first pregnancy and carried a bin or zip lock bags with me wherever I went. It was hard but the excitement of being pregnant for the very first time got me through.

I fell pregnant with my son when I was 27. We had recently moved to Australia so I didn’t have my mum and sisters on the same continent. My mother in law had recently passed away and my sister in law was not interested in babies. I had no maternal figures around. My own mum and sister had never had morning sickness and had textbook pregnancies and births. To say I was naive would be an understatement!