The plain truth: Women find morning sickness a real pain

Is morning sickness real or only in the mind? A number of women share their experiences below.

Sheila Quarles van Ufford-Thomson, an international development consultant who lives in Jakarta, is 27 weeks pregnant with her third child.

In her first pregnancy, she experienced mild nausea for about a week when she was about two months pregnant.

"I only felt sick in the evening though, not in the morning, which is normal. Morning sickness doesn't necessarily appear in the morning as the term implies," the 34-year-old mother of two little girls said.

In her second pregnancy, she didn't have any morning sickness at all.

"Now, in the third pregnancy, I felt quite sick over a period of about two weeks, also when I was about two months pregnant. I never vomited but I did feel nauseous for most of the day.

"The 'morning sickness', when I experienced it, didn't bother me too much. I did have to lay down a few times until the feeling passed in my third pregnancy, but otherwise my daily activities weren't disrupted," said Van Ufford-Thomson, who has 10 years of social development work experience in Asia and South America.

She does not think that morning sickness is a "mind thing", as a study has suggested.

"In my case, I don't think the feelings were a 'mind thing'. If it were so, I guess I would have felt more sick with the first child, and I had the worst morning sickness with my third pregnancy! I think it is simply hormonal."

Maria, who is now seven months pregnant, discovered that the first three months of her pregnancy were the hardest.

"I had daily headache, a loss of appetite, increased temperature, constant fatigue and, worst of all, I felt like throwing up every time I saw or smelled food," she said.

Work became unbearable since the symptoms made her feel week and tired, forcing her to take a nap every three or four hours.

Unlike most pregnant women who gain weight during their pregnancies, she lost 4.5 kilograms in these first three months.

"I was so worried ... but when I told my obstetrician about this, he said it was normal and those symptoms would disappear in the second three-month term," Maria said.

She was prescribed a multivitamin that she had to take daily and was advised to get plenty of rest. Her husband and family were concerned but supportive.

"I do believe that morning sickness is real. It can be serious or mild. I know some women who only felt mild symptoms, so mild they can ignore them," she said. "I can accept (the discomfort) as part of my pregnancy."

Titin, a hairstylist at a busy beauty parlor in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, found morning sickness disrupted her daily activities.

In her line of work, she has to deal with many customers every day, and is always on her feet. Now six months pregnant with her second child, the routine has become a real challenge.

"The first three months were the most difficult time. Once I had to rush to the bathroom to throw up in the middle of a job," said the 29-year-old woman. "I had to hide it from my customer because I did not want her to feel disgusted."

"Another time I felt so week ... standing up was unbearable. All I wanted to do was sit or sleep," she said.

Liya, a journalist, had to rush to the bathroom every morning with nausea for the first several months of her pregnancy. Anytime she went somewhere, she had to bring some candy to chew on in case she felt like vomiting.

"The worst thing was when I had to stop my taxi on a toll road because I had to throw up. I still remember my taxi driver's puzzled look when I told him to stop 'now or I do it here,'" said the mother of a daughter.

And the bathroom trips became her morning routine until about three months into her pregnancy, she said.

"Sometimes, I was feeling sick all day ... and at that time I could hardly eat anything, while my doctor was telling me to eat healthy food," she said.

Her doctor, however, would not prescribe her anything for the nausea for fear that it would harm the baby.

"I didn't want to endanger my baby so I followed his advice," she said.

-- Stevie Emilia