Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Before It Starts

The severe pregnancy sickness most people only hear about mid-crisis, and how to be ready for it.

Morning sickness gets all the airtime. Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) barely gets a mention, usually not until someone is already in it: unable to keep water down, losing weight, wondering why nobody warned them.

This is the warning. If HG runs in your family, or you've had it before, it might be the most useful thing you read before getting pregnant.

This isn't morning sickness

Some nausea shows up in up to 90% of pregnancies. It usually peaks around week nine and eases off by the second trimester. Rough, but it subsides.

HG is a different animal, and rarer, 1 to 3% of pregnancies. Severe, unrelenting nausea and vomiting; for some people, throwing up 10 or more times a day, unable to keep down even water, needing IV fluids just to stay hydrated. You lose weight, get dehydrated, and daily life stops. It's one of the most common reasons people are admitted to hospital in early pregnancy, and for some it doesn't let up until delivery. A rough line to hold onto: if you can't keep water down and daily life has stopped ...