Things I Wish I Knew Before I Got Pregnant

One of the things I truly wish I had known before getting pregnant was Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG).

Sounds ironic, right? Especially since it's the entire reason this blog exists. But it’s the truth.

Before pregnancy, I had no idea what HG was. If someone had even briefly mentioned that some women suffer from severe, non-stop nausea and vomiting, I might’ve at least had a mental heads-up. I don’t know if I could have prepared for it, but knowing it existed would’ve helped.

Instead, I found out the hard way — while already deep in it.

While I was sick and pregnant, I started doing my own research. I searched YouTube, Google, forums... and I found almost nothing. Barely anyone talked about Hyperemesis. And it made me angry.

Why doesn’t anyone talk about HG?

I understand that pregnancy is different for everyone, but with all the pregnancy content out there — the vlogs, the stories, the weekly bump updates — someone must’ve gone through HG and shared it. But I couldn’t find it. The silence was loud.

All I heard were the usual: "Oh, I was sick for the first trimester but then I got my glow. "Well, I waited for my glow. It never came. LOL.

I remember one of my many hospital visits during my first trimester. An older woman working as a cleaner looked at me with motherly concern and said:

“My pikin go house. You just dey here dey pay hospital bills. The sickness nor go finish, na so e be.”(Translation: Go home, my child. You’re just here racking up hospital bills. Nausea is part of pregnancy.)

That moment hit me hard. It made me realize maybe people don’t talk about HG because they’re afraid of being seen as weak. Maybe there’s a stigma — that suffering during pregnancy means you’re not strong enough.

But not me.

I wasn’t trying to be strong.

I wasn’t trying to glow.

I was just begging to stay alive.

💌 Have you experienced HG? Or something during pregnancy no one warned you about?

Email your story to frombed.birth@gmail.com — I’d love to feature you.