I remember hearing about morning sickness and thinking that I understood what it would feel like to wake up feeling a little nauseous.  That was until I fell pregnant.  I will be the first to admit that I was in for such a shock when I was pregnant with my eldest daughter, Chloe.  Not only was it not “morning" sickness, it was also not very pleasant.  My "morning sickness" was all day sickness.  I'm sure a lot of pregnant women and mothers can relate to that overwhelming feeling of wanting to bring up anything and everything that may still be in you.  Certain smells, sights, movements will trigger this uncomfortable and many times, inconvenient feeling.  For me, it was the smell of anything baked, fried, grilled, cheesy, and just pungent in aroma.  I stuck to a diet of cucumber or avocado sushi, biscuits or if I was lucky, a salad sandwich.  I still vividly remember the feeling I had when I was walking through an arcade on the way to work, with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, only to be completely repulsed by the smell.  I would then power walk as fast as I could to the nearest toilets.  It was not a pretty sight.

In my months of hugging a toilet bowl, I had a few things that got me through and I'm hoping my top 5 suggestions below will help some of you get through this painful stage.  

1. I craved lemon... actually, anything sour.  I found the sourness helped to suppress the feeling of wanting to throw up every other minute.  I was waking up to a warm glass of water with freshly squeezed lemon juice, and I would be very generous with the lemon juice.  Throughout the day, I would eat lemon like orange, though I'm not suggesting this and I would recommend you speak with your Obyn if you are doing this too just to be on the safe side.  Smith's crinkle cut Salt and Vinegar chips did the trick too and I remember my husband coming back with almost a box load of this.  A big bottle of Gherkins was also a resident in my fridge.

2. Eucalyptus oil or menthol.  The eucalyptus oil needs to be 100% pure eucalyptus oil.  I found smelling this or Vicks Vapour Rub at intervals would help make me feel a little better.

3. Axe Brand Universal Oil.  I found this just as effective if not more so than eucalyptus oil.  It provides a fresh, menthol smell that worked almost like a miracle and it was safe to put on the skin directly.  It saved me several times during the afternoon peak hour on a packed train, crammed up with a mix of commuters from all walks of life.  You get the picture I'm sure, and I can honestly say, this oil definitely came as a blessing.

4.  Schweppes Dry Ginger Ale.  The key word is "Ale" and not "Beer".  I found that ginger beer was so sweet that it would agitate the feeling rather than suppress whereas ginger ale was less sweet, had a bearable level of ginger taste and was quite refreshing.  I would sip this slowly through the day and I would not recommend drinking a whole can in one go.

5. McVitie's Ginger Nut Biscuits and dry biscuits like Arnotts Vita-Weats or SAO.  I snacked on these regularly throughout the day and it helped stop the nauseous feeling.

The above suggestions got me through my three pregnancies and I do hope it will help you in some way as well.

My biggest advice is to make sure you keep hydrated and to eat.  It sounds simple and I know first hand (3 times over) how hard it is to get anything near your mouth but I did find that I would feel more nauseous when I was hungry so it's a balance of not being overly full but also not being overly hungry.

For the majority of women, remember that this will come to an end by about 12 - 16 weeks so stick in there.  For the ladies who experience this right through to delivery, I hope the above tips will help get you through the pregnancy and trust me that once you see your little baby, you will forget about everything else that you had to go through to meet your little darling.

I’m interested in hearing what else has helped each of you so do share your suggestions.a