I have good news. I’m pregnant with baby number two. However, with a seasonal cold and the same early pregnancy sickness as my first baby, I’m not feeling that joyous quite yet.

The Cold That Won’t Go Away hit me around week 8, just around the time my sickness was intensifying. As both ramped up their hold on me, I was left feeling utterly exhausted, unable to eat and feeling very sorry for myself. Without the fuel of food, I was having trouble fighting the cold. Of course, you can only take paracetamol when pregnant or try herbal remedies (always check what is safe with your midwife or doctor). I was trying anything I could stomach. My taste buds already ruined from the nausea and pregnancy, even the taste of water was turning my stomach.

After a couple of trips to the doctor, where I came away with anti-sickness medication and a whole bundle of ideas to fight the cold, a light started to appear at the end of the tunnel. By the fourth day of Christmas, my true love was exhausted looking after me and a toddler, plus from running the household, but I was feeling more human.

Annoyingly, medical experts have failed to exactly identify the causes of morning sickness. In a very small nutshell, it is generally thought to be linked to the vast amounts of hormones the body is producing in the early weeks until the placenta takes over some of the work. In most cases, this will be around week 12-14, however I am poised for a repeat performance of my first pregnancy where I was being sick well into my sixth month. I lost 20lb in weight with my daughter - in fact my weight two days before I gave birth, I was the same as my weight at conception. It’s important to mention here that I kept my midwife fully up to date on my weight loss and eating habits, so she could monitor me.

Despite the worst peaks of the cold, it wasn‘t swine flu. I am, for the record, pro-vaccination and was lucky to be offered a flu vaccine by my employer. I completely respect views held by others regarding vaccination and concerns they may have. All I can do is urge pregnant women to consider their options very carefully, weigh up the risk against how they feel - it‘s a personal decision. This helpful and rather objective information page from NHS Choices may help with that decision.

My story of Bad Winter ends positively with a 12 week scan showing the baby is growing well. And that is something to be very thankful for indeed.

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