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Nausea in Pregnancy
First Trimester Nausea... Yikes!
First, a tried and true quotation heard many times during my adolescence from my father... "this too will pass." You're thrilled, all your relatives are thrilled, you're starting to dream about darling infant outfits, researching the best preschools, baby-proofing the whole house, and how do you feel? Yuk! Second, full-fledged, woozy, faint, lethargic, stomach-heaving nausea is one of the signs that yes, your hormones are changing, and the pregnancy is
"taking." This is not to say that you should be worried if you DON'T feel like throwing up every few hours for the first few months, just a reassurance that healthy embryos often stir up a lot of change.
Each woman is a blessed individual and there's no universal panacea
for first trimester nausea. Sorry. However, there are a few tricks
that have worked for many gravidae (pregnant ladies):
- Mild ginger tea. A thin slice of fresh ginger in a pipping
hot mug of pure water is best. Sip this throughout the day, especially
before meals.
- Small, frequent meals especially heavy on the carbohydrates.
Try the oft-cited soda crackers, or overcooked rice, or toast with
honey, or a garlic bagel, or a baked potato or yam.
- The homeopathic remedy Nux Vomica works for some ladies.
You can probably find it at the Co-op or health food store in the 12X potency. Try taking 5 pellets under the tongue three times daily
and avoid strong odors, especially camphor, which will antidote the
remedy.
- The classic acupuncture point for nausea and seasickness,
called Pericardium 6 ("Nei Guan" in Chinese, which means "inner
gate") is located in the middle of the inner wrist, three finger breadths
away from the wrist crease, between the two tendons. Locate and press
firmly, one wrist at a time, or get a friend to hold both for 3
minutes or so. Sailors often wear snugly-fitting wristbands with
little plastic pearls at the P6 location to alleviate the heaves.
- Apples and apple juice (freshly squeezed, of course) works
well for some but almost all gravidae agree that citrus is positively
horrible until the second trimester, when cravings for oranges,
lemons, or limeade begin! Try putting a little snippet of ginger
into the juicer along with the fresh fruit.
Alas, most women at this magical time of life (yes, we're still
talking third trimester -- it does last 90 days after all) are
NOT interested in vegetables. So what is this article doing in a juicing
magazine? Well, because everyone knows that vegetables are an
essential daily component of a healthy diet, and juices are the
very best way to fulfill these nutritional requirements. Plus, the
enzymes in the raw juices will help to fully digest what food you can get
down. How about a little carrot and ginger appetizer before that
yummy baked potato sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and flax
oil?
Besides quelling your stomach flutters with live liquid food, please
remember that the first three months in utero are the absolutely
most important in terms of your child's health. Raw organic juiced
produce will make for bright happy children, and mothers.
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A graduate of Bastyr University in Seattle, she completed both the Naturopathic and Acupuncture/Oriental Medicine programs. Her preceptor work (similar to residencies) took place in Seattle, West Virginia and China, 
