Is morning sickness fuss during pregnancy?

By Lee Hye-jun

Late one night in the snowy winter, a pregnant woman had a sudden craving for strawberries. She told her husband she had to have some RIGHT NOW. Her husband wondered around in the freezing cold looking for strawberries. After hours, he miraculously found a fruit seller. He bought a big basket of strawberries and hurried back home. His wife took a small bite and said “That was good. Now put it away, the smell is disgusting me.”

Sounds familiar? It is commonly used to describe an agony of a poor husband who has a particularly difficult pregnant wife.

Nearly 70 to 80 percent of pregnant women suffer from morning sickness. Morning sickness is not an accurate term since nausea and vomiting usually continue throughout the day, although they tend to be worse in the morning. It mostly begins within four weeks after the last menstrual period and peaks at approximately nine weeks. For half of women it ends by 14 weeks and 90 percent by 22 weeks.

I was quite shocked talking to one of my friends. She was a lucky lady who experienced no morning sickness during two pregnancies. She said to me, morning sickness stems from women’s mind and those pregnant women are whining to draw attention! Believe me, she is a very sound woman.

In the past, morning sickness was attributed to psychological disturbances of the pregnant woman. The mechanism underlying morning sickness still remains unclear. However, it is widely believed that morning sickness results from interactions of genetics, the endocrine system, and neurobehavioral factors. Moreover, it may play a protective role against ingestion of harmful substances such as cigarette smoke, alcohol and caffeine.

Typically, morning sickness does not pose risks for mother or baby. However, if women do not gain substantial weight during early pregnancy, their babies may be born underweight. Therefore, in severe cases, women need medications such as Vitamin B6 and doxylamine, and receive intravenous fluid replacement with multivitamins.

Unfortunately, it is not so easy to take a sick leave for morning sickness in Korea. Even if you managed to get it, not all of your colleagues would be supportive. Like my friend, they may think you are making such a fuss over pregnancy that everyone goes through.

The truth is that the characteristics and intensity of morning sickness are often described as similar to that of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Even the mildest morning sickness is unpleasant and having unpleasant feelings constantly for over a few weeks does make pregnant women weary. Morning sickness is not something that comes from your mind so you can set it right. It is a physical disturbance from having a big change in your body.

One last word for married men out there from my friend who vomited fresh bile juice every morning throughout her pregnancy: do not order fried chicken for delivery. Please show some empathy.

The writer is a doctor at Maria Fertility Hospital in Seoul. For further questions, send an e-mail to the writer at hyejunlee@mariababy.com, or call the hospital’s English-speaking coordinator at 82 (Korea country code) 2 (Seoul area code) 2250-5577, or visit the hospital’s website, https://eng.mariababy.com/.