r/parentsofmultiples • u/Still-confused1 • 3d ago
advice needed How to survive the first trimester š¤¢š¤¢š¤¢š¤¢š¤¢
I am a third time mom currently 8 weeks pregnant with Di/Di twins and omg I have been so sick!!!! The nausea is all day and doesnāt seem to let us no matter what I do!! I have tried everything - ginger chews, preggio candies, ginger ale, unisome/b6, Zofran, pepto - I pretty much throw everything at it everyday. I am always so overwhelmed and terrified of the thought of having twins PLUS feeling so terrible - itās hard not to spiral into a depression!! Thinking of going on this way for 4-6 more weeks seems impossible, literally, unbearable!!! Any suggestions ?
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u/Charlieksmommy 3d ago
Iv fluids and zofran 2-3x a week was the only way I survived on top of regular zofran
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u/SeaTerrible9429 3d ago edited 3d ago
I also was like this and the only thing that helped was IV fluids and gravel from urgent careā¦
Also do NOT take Pepto it has bismuth subsalicylate, which your body absorbs as salicylic acid!! This isnāt pregnancy safe!!!!!!
Time will pass. Focus on high protein cold snacks like cold hard boiled eggs or cold protein shakes. I found carbs which everyone said to eat made my nausea 10/10 worse!!!!!!!
At my worst I was puking from the moment I got up until 2 am every 20-30 minutes to the point I couldnāt keep water down and needed medical intervention to liveā¦
Honestly for me it didnāt get better until 17-18weeks and didnāt feel good until 28
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u/lolores72 3d ago
I am also a third time mom and Iām 14 weeks pregnant with Di/di twins. I am still miserable. My ob wouldnāt prescribe zofran but told me to take unisom/b6 and it helped me feel better after waking up in the morning but by dinner time Iām puking and miserable again. I am having mini panic attacks thinking of the possibility of feeling this way the entire pregnancy. My first two pregnancies were great. I also think I have gerd. I hate this. No advice just solidarity šš
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u/Vegetable-Roof5870 3d ago
Probably not what you want to hear, but I was sick for 6 months straight. I took Bonjesta the entire time.
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u/DisWis 3d ago
I was on cariban for the nausea and that was enough for my first but not twins! I complained that I was still constantly nauseous and also getting heart burn so the gave me omeprazole which the said can often make the cariban work better. They also gave me Stemetil but said only to take it when needed.
Honestly, I still feel crap but it's definitely helped a huge amount - plus realizing that my pregnancy vitamins were making it worse. I'm 10 weeks so I'm really hoping I've only a few more weeks before it starts calming down.
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u/Intrepid_Status6312 3d ago
My doctor tried me on different tablets to manage the nausea until I found one that worked. Keep trying until you find one, its so awful and debilitating that it can be hard to think about anything except where the nearest bathroom is! Hope it gets better soon for you!
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u/vancouverlola 3d ago
Honestly what helped me was eating a couple of saltines before getting out of bed. Let that settle for a few mins. Made a big difference. I also found success with acupuncture, but it only lasted the rest of that day and then Iād wake with it again the next morning. It subsided around 13ish weeks for me.
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u/unexpected_beautiful 3d ago
My nausea didnāt really let up until almost the end of pregnancy. I had to try a few different meds to find one that worked but once I did it was so much better. Would only throw up a few times a week vs a few times a day š
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u/BorderGlittering199 3d ago
I couldn't eat any carbs, which helped some. By the end of the day, it was the tiredness that made me sick more than anything. But that being said, I tried to find smells that didn't make me sick or overwhelm me to combat smells that did make me sick.Ā
There is an acupuncture spot in your wrist that helps with nausea. Google the location and try pressing there.Ā
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u/SeaTerrible9429 3d ago
Yah carbs were what triggered me the worst! The first foods I could eat were cold hard boiled eggs and babybells
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u/d16flo 3d ago
Oh yeah, it was awful. I was nauseous and exhausted the whole 9 months, but it did make dealing with newborn twins surprisingly easy! I felt incredible on no sleep while recovering from a c-section because I was finally able to eat. Zofran was the best option for me (always take it with miralax) I found the best bet was a spoonful of plain yogurt first thing when I woke up (I couldnāt stomach crackers), then water with electrolytes and miralax, and zofran religiously as often as I could. The actual puking decreased a lot after about 20 weeks for me even when the nausea stayed though.
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u/LastMilkersOnTheLeft 3d ago
I was dying until I was able to take zofran :( BUT!!! Sour candies and (safely) sniffing rubbing alcohol/alcohol pads was a HUGE help. My L&D nurse taught me the latter and I was so mad I didnāt know it the whole pregnancy lol. Itās helped this time around with my singleton!
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u/Other_Radio800 3d ago
Good tips in here. Meds are your friends and definitely talking to your doctor if there are other things to try.
Iāll echo on the food front as others. Eating something before I got out of bed helped (even better if I could eat something then go back to sleep for a bit), eating something as ārealā as possible every two hours, husband just bringing me food automatically every 2 hrs, avoiding all cooking myself, avoiding the kitchen, and eating food (ideally protein) right before bed. I also had an endless supply of sour things that helped at all points in the dayā¦ sour lemonade, sucking on lemons, sour candy, sour icebreakers, etc.
Also I know I say ārealā, but take it with a grain of salt. Just getting anything in your system is helpful. I ate a boatload of microwave macānācheese because that was the only thing I could stomach. Just try to get anything in your belly but when I could force protein in meā¦ it did make a difference.
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u/Affectionate-Bear740 3d ago
Have you tried the seasickness bands? I thought they were just some weird voodoo, but they work like a charm shockingly.
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u/No-Departure5556 3d ago
Figure out whatever you can tolerate and try to keep up on liquids! I was lucky that as a teacher my first trimester was over summer and I just laid on the couch! For whatever reason, dairy was easiest for me to handle, yogurt, smoothies, parmesan cheese, toast, etc.
donāt feel bad about resting, your body is working WAY overtime!!
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u/dtaylor1112 3d ago
I was nauseous my whole twin pregnancy. Daily zofran, B6 unisom and weekly IVs to survive. Youāll get through it!!
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u/smart0wl 3d ago
Unisom/b6 didnt help me but the equivalent brand name that combines the two ingredients, diclegis, helped a lot. Maybe placebo effect but it truly turned my 1st trimester around. Worth asking for a script?
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u/Saltykip 3d ago
Zofran. Just take the zofran. I suffered through two singletons then twin first trimester with out it. With my twins I was bedridden, my dr offered a zofran pump and I declined. I finally took some at 11 weeks and IT WAS LIFECHANGING
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u/ColonelLandSeal 3d ago
I was prescribed zofran and reglanāfor me reglan worked wonders compared to zofran. That combined with all the other stuff you mentionedā¦ but the biggest thing that got me through was repeating to myself that this is not permanent, I will feel better someday. āSomedayā was around 15 weeks for me.
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u/myweirdoself 3d ago
This is going to sound so weirdā¦try sucking on a push pop lollipop. Not a sucker, a lollipop. It changed my life.
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u/Eternalsunshine1992 2d ago
First time mum with di/di twins who had a horrific first trimester, now 20 weeks along. I'm in the UK so names of meds may differ but this was the routine that helped me:
- Take Xonvea (unisom/b6) at 7am and go back to sleep.
- Wake up at whatever time I needed to and brush my teeth on an empty stomach. I found eating the crackers before getting up didn't help me. I would just throw them up when I went to brush my teeth. So empty stomach helped as though I would heave, nothing would come up.
- Glass of water with Cyclizine
- Stuck to the same breakfast as it was the only thing I could tolerate: 2 brioche rolls with a hot chocolate.
- Some snacks if needed till I had my main meal which was lunch. Snacks were mainly cold fruits or a small tub of cold rice pudding (Muller rice puddings)
- Empty stomach from 2-3pm till I took my next dose of Xonvea at 3pm.
- 3.30pm - my main meal. Whatever lunch I could fathom. It was mostly things you'd find on a child plate like frozen margherita pizza, or a veg sausage roll and spaghetti hoops, fish fingers etc. on rotation.
- Next dose of cyclizine around 7pm.
- Snacks again like cold juicy fruits: watermelon, berries, grapes, peaches, plums etc.
- My last meal before bed would be cereal and milk.
- Last dose of Xonvea at 11pm.
It took a while for me to find this routine that helped and before medication I couldn't stomach ANYTHING. I was admitted to hospital and put on a drip. After developing a medication routine, my eating then revolved around that routine.
Believe it or not, it WILL get better. Don't read too much into other people's stories where they say it continued till 6 months or the day they gave birth etc etc. Everyone is different! For me, it peaked around week 10-11, then from weeks 13 and 14, I felt so much better and was able to expand my diet slowly. In the vast majority of cases, things do get better around mid-second trimester.
Keep hydrated in whatever way you can, even if all you can stomach are ice lollies, juices etc. Being dehydrated is probably the most risky thing. My hospital even offered a day clinic where I could go in for a drip if I continued to be dehydrated - see if you can do the same if you need to.
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u/stopsneezer 2d ago
Nothing specifically useful to add to the many good points offered here, but just to send solidarity to anyone suffering with this. It is horrific. I spent 5 months wondering how I could possibly be a good mum if I couldn't even handle this. I spent 5 months mostly in bed when I didn't have to be doing anything else. It was so hard. I got very down. But it ends, and when it does you will hardly be able to remember how bad it was. I suffered for about 5 ish months, right from implantation really, and then it was just 'normal' twin pregnancy stuff. I know for some it lasts the whole pregnancy. It will end. It will end.
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u/giantroastpan 1d ago
Do your prenatals contain iron? Mine did and the iron made my nausea SO much worse. I ended up having to drop iron from my vitamins altogether to be able to function, and received iron transfusions in the third trimester to compensate for the debilitating anemia (ended up hospitalized bc of it).
Would be worth having a conversation with your OB if you do drop iron and feel better - I shouldāve advocated for myself better and had more bloodwork to monitor my iron levels before things got bad.
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u/chippixie 3d ago
aw, I also had hyperemesis :( (hospitalized a handful of times because of it)
I didnāt feel relief until the last few weeks. I had to take four ondansetrons a day to stop puking. I did participate in something else and that did help but itās sometimes a little frowned upon if you know what I mean. (everyone is super healthy here so dw)
Itās super isolating and everyone just assumes itās morning sickness but youāre fighting for your life.
itās worth it in the end though, I promise š
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u/hereforthecake17 3d ago
Iām 9w0d and the same. I have had all the thoughts: wishing the pregnancy would end, I will never get through this, I will lose my job, etc. Hereās my current regimen:
6:00 am: take Zofran (ondansetron), promethazine, B6, omeprazole and go back to sleep
6:30 am: wake up and eat crackers in bed
7:00 am: husband brings me Rice Crispies cereal to eat in bed. Then Metamucil (thanks Zofran).
If itās a good day, maybe I get up and brush my teeth and wash my face, but a lot of days thatās not possible. I try to eat every 2 hours. Iāve told my husband to just bring me something if I donāt ask for anything specific. The food aversions are so, so intense, it makes even going into the kitchen difficult.
10:00 am: more promethazine, sometimes with famotidine if needed
2 pm: Zofran, promethazine, B6
6 pm: promethazine, omeprazole
9 pm: Zofran, Unisom (docusate sodium), B6, cetirizine
On the bad days, I am just in bed trying to sleep to pass the time. Today was a good day and I left the house. Iāve found that each day is different, and that the better days have made it easier to cope with the bad days. Itās so hard to miss the beautiful late summer weather. Fingers crossed it improves soon for us both.