Bummer- I basically got fired for having severe morning sickness

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I will be 9 weeks tomorrow and I am wishing the time will pass quickly so that I get into the second trimester and stop feeling so yucky!

I was a nanny. I was going to stop working when the school year ended because one of the parents is a teacher and would be home with the kids. During my 6th week of pregnancy, I had a scarey day where I was having severe cramps all day and night, and my Gyn got me into her office the next day and got me a sonogram appointment. There was a little bit of internal bleeding but everything appeared normal, and we got to see the little sprout and even hear the heartbeat, which was amazing. BUT, my Gyn told me to take the rest of the week off, stay off my feet, no heavy lifting,etc., just in case. So I was not at work for most of a week.

WARNING: TMI alert- discussion of vomiting in the following paragraphs!

Towards the end of last week I had started to feel really nauseous. I had been queasy before, but was able to manage it by grazing constantly on snacks. This was different- I was barely able to eat, which made my nausea worse when I got hungry. I would get dizzy and nauseous from just moving around. I bought Sea-Bands, these elastic bands that you wear on your wrists that are supposed to work based on accupressure, but they didn’t help.

By last Saturday I was in bed trying not to vomit. Sunday I started, threw up about 5 times. Monday was worse, I probably threw up 10 times or more. It was a good thing we didn’t have any Memorial Day shindigs to go to, as I would’ve had to cancel. I couldn’t keep anything down, not even Jello, not even water. I decided I would take Tuesday off and try to get in to my Gyn for an appointment. So I call my employers, and get the mom. While I am telling her that I have been horribly sick all weekend, she utters an angry-sounding sigh. Then she says, in a cold voice, something about finding someone else to finish out the school year because this isn’t good for the kids or something to that effect. And that she didn’t want anything to happen to me or my baby or to her kids, but they needed consistency and this just wasn’t going to cut it. And that was that.

Now, this wasn’t a “real” job in that I was getting benefits or health insurance or anything. So I can’t complain to any union or anything. And I know that it is better for the kids to have someone watch them who could be more involved than I was the past couple weeks. I mean, I was able to change diapers and fix their meals and play with them a little bit, but I had to keep saying, “No, I don’t want to play Chase right now, I need to sit down for a while because my tummy doesn’t feel good.” And I got a little short with the 4-year-old from time to time when he kept badgering me to play with him when I had just told him I wasn’t feeling well. I had stopped taking them out places because the toddler usually wanted me to carry him a lot when we’d go out, and I was trying to limit my picking up and carrying of them, and also I had been feeling so queasy I wasn’t sure I would be able to take them somewhere without blowing chunks.

But I feel a little hurt that she would just blow me off like that.And I feel sad because I never got a chance to say goodbye to the kids. I wanted to stay in touch with them, because I liked the kids a lot, and they liked me. I guess it is not to be, though.

On the upside, the doc prescribed Promethegan suppositories :eek: for me, and they worked. I have not been nauseous, and I have been able to eat and keep it down. After a few days, I called back and got a prescription for the liquid form of the Rx, because if I go out somewhere, it would be inconvenient to have to find somewhere to go to insert a suppository in a public place :eek: ! (You don’t just put it in, you’re supposed to lay on your side for about 15 minutes afterwards)

I’m a little nervous about taking the Rx, because all the books say, “Don’t take ANY medication while you are pregnant!!” and a lot of times drs. are careful just to cover their own asses in case something happens. I have a friend who had severe vomiting throught her pregnancy, was hospitalized a couple times for dehydration, and none of the standard anti-yack meds worked on her. The only thing that worked was this very expensive Rx that they give to people who are on chemo, can’t remember the name. She just had a cute little baby girl who is healthy and has all the right parts in all the right places, so I guess the Rx didn’t do too badly. When I called my Gyn I felt like, “I don’t care if the medication makes the baby grow two heads and three arms, I just want to stop throwing up!!” Hopefully the nausea will go away in the second trimester. And the current wisdom is, “Sick Mommy means healthy baby!” Yeah, sure, whatever, you can help me wipe the yack off my chin. I’ve also heard that it’s usually worst with the first kid, and this is my first. I guess it would have to get better with subsequent pregnancies, or else no woman would ever want to get pregnant more than once or twice!

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Moggy - I am very very sorry to hear that your erstwhile employer was so heartless. That sucks, a lot. But I am responding to this post to tell you that there are LOADS of drugs you can take while you’re preggers, and any doctor with a clue knows which ones those are. Please ignore the superhealth preachers and granola mommies who will tell you you’re wrong - I hesitate to generalize, but many of those people are just plain into being holistic-er-than-thou. Listen to your doctor, and listen to your body. If you can’t function because of the nausea, you’re not doing you or your baby any good. And to keep the nausea from coming back, drink small sips of water all the time - getting dehydrated makes you nauseous, which makes you stop drinking water, which makes you dehydrated, which etc. etc. And I know this from experience - I was hyperemetic and hospitalized, and very nearly lost my baby.

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moggy, I too am really, really sorry that your employer fired you for this.

As for taking medication, well, the books are good guidelines, but what they really mean is “don’t take any medication unless it’s necessary.” Sometimes you have to take medication. I myself am epileptic, and I’ve taken meds throughout three full-term pregnancies, with no harm at all to the kids.

The doctors do know which meds are okay, and which ones aren’t. And if your OB prescribed this one, it’s most likely okay.

Best of luck, and I hope you get to feeling better real soon!

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LifeOnWry and Persephone, thanks. As for water, it is one of the few things that helped my queasiness before I started yacking. (My dinner on Memorial Day was a small glass of ice chips) My husband has been great about bringing my endless glasses of ice water- and it has to be ice water!

I take a thyroid medication because I have hypothyroidism, which will probably have to be adjusted during the pregnancy. I also have chronic depression, and I was on Zoloft. My shrink switched me to Prozac, though, because supposedly it’s been studied more or something. I had heard that Prozac has more side effects than Zoloft, and I never had any with Zoloft. I’ve been taking the Prozac sporadically because of my nausea & vomiting, and so far I’m not impressed. Each time I take it, it makes me agitated. I’ve had other shrinks tell me that Zoloft is okay to take during pregnancy. I think my current shrink just wanted to cover all the bases. She said something about Zoloft not having been studied as much, and did I want to be the one person who had something happen while on Zoloft?

But, my friend that I mentioned above was seeing the head of the Neo-Natal department of the hospital where she had her baby, and that doc told her, “You take what you need to take to get you through the pregnancy.” I think a lot of medications are safe, it’s just that testing hasn’t been done on them, and the medication companies and doctors want to cover their asses against any potential lawsuits.

I may just switch back to Zoloft. My attitude is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And the Zoloft was working just fine. I have had at least 3 Major Depressive episodes in my life, and since going on Zoloft, I haven’t been suicidal, which is wonderful. And I would prefer to be on a medication that I know works for me, rather than one that I’m unsure of, that is making me uncomfortable. I mean, being exhausted and queasy most of the time is hard enough, I don’t need to add medication-induced agitation on top of that! I guess I need to call my shrink on Monday and discuss it with her.

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Yes, **moggy, ** definitely call your shrink. I am also chronically depressed, although I wasn’t diagnosed until after I was done having kids. I take Celexa.

I really don’t know much about anti-depressants and pregnancy, to be honest. But your psychiatrist absolutely needs to know about your physical symptoms now, too. And stay on top of your appointments. Your hormones may send you reeling at times, and you’ll need your OB and your shrink to help you keep things straightened out.