Is HG Hereditary?

Dare I say it? Yes — I truly believe Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is hereditary.

My mom has four children, and according to her, she suffered from severe HG with every single one of us. In fact, she often told me that the moment the vomiting started — before she even took a pregnancy test — she knew she was pregnant. That was her sign.

She once told me that during her last pregnancy — with my youngest brother — her doctor refused to take her as a patient because her HG was so severe. When she was pregnant with me, her first child, my dad even asked her to consider an abortion — not because he didn’t want the baby, but because he was afraid, he might lose her.

Fast-forward years later, when I found myself in a similar position — pregnant, sick, scared — and begging to terminate the pregnancy, not out of selfishness, but out of desperation. We’ll save that story for another post.

But here's what I know in my bones: Yes, I believe HG runs in families.

Whether science fully supports it or not (yet), lived experiences like mine and my mother's make it hard to ignore the pattern. And if you’ve gone through something similar, you’re not alone.

💌 I’d love to hear from you:

Did your mother, sister, or grandmother experience HG too? Let’s keep the conversation going. 👉 Email your story to frombedtobirth@gmail.com — I may share some in a future post (with your permission, of course).

Let’s build a community where women can speak the truth about their pregnancies — the good, the traumatic, and the complicated in-between.

With love,

KayBee 💛

From Bed to Birth