HG Awareness Day

HG Awareness Day is an international event to raise awareness about the pregnancy sickness known as HG. The goal of the awareness day is to build a broader community for people who have experienced HG and increase knowledge about this condition often confused with morning sickness.

While morning sickness goes away for most mothers after the first trimester, HG usually stays the same for the entire pregnancy. HG can be a life-threatening disease of pregnancy, affecting at least 1% of pregnancies. HG is characterized by dehydration, weight loss, weakness, electrolyte imbalance, and malnutrition due to excessive nausea and/or vomiting. It requires medical treatment by skilled medical professionals to prevent serious complications.

More severe cases often require hospitalization so that the mother can receive fluids and nutrition through an intravenous (IV) line. Bed rest for the mother may also be needed.

It is clear that the mother is struggling for HG but also for the whole family. The spouse may feel helpless and the other children in the family may not understand why the mother is so sick or lying in bed all day or sick in the bathroom. This can lead to guilt for the mother and having to deal with just being sick will need a lot of support for her.

As I write this post, it feels personal to me, as I already have a daughter who went through this during her first pregnancy. It was horrible to watch her suffer day after day, month after month, until the end of her pregnancy. She's been in and out of the hospital and I don't think she feels normal once in nine months. It made me very sad, because I had such a good pregnancy and enjoyed them so much, and knew she couldn't go through it. Not to mention all the worries that she and her baby will be fine.

So I hope this HG Awareness Day really brings attention to this monstrous disease. I hope one day this disease is discovered and a cure is found. My heart is with someone who is suffering because of this.