“So are you done having kids? Is this your last pregnancy?” I’ve been asked this after each one of my pregnancies. And until this one (my 4th), I have always responded with a resounding “no!” (with the caveat that none of us are entitled to a baby and we can’t always predict secondary infertility). But keep the babies coming! No plans to stop! Enough for a quidditch team! But this time my … [Read more...]
This Is My Body, Broken for You
I was staring up at the crucifix during Mass. I was too sick to kneel, so I was just sitting in the pew while everyone knelt around me. I was desperately trying not to throw up, the pregnancy nausea coming in waves, impossible to ignore. It was my first Mass in a month. I had been too sick with hyperemesis gravidarum to leave the house for weeks. The previous week I had tried to get out of bed … [Read more...]
Finding the Value in Needing Each Other: Notes from an HG Pregnancy
“Any woman who knows she will have an HG pregnancy and chooses to get pregnant again is nothing but selfish. If she knows she can’t take care of herself and will burden others, she has no right to put her family and friends through that.” I blinked at the words on the screen. Battling extreme morning sickness for the fourth time led me to online support groups for my condition, hyperemesis … [Read more...]
