Think of a day in early pregnancy. You are ready to go for your regular activities, when a sudden churning of the stomach suddenly stops you in your tracks. You feel nauseous, then without a warning throw up whatever you ate the previous night. Fear not, for this is one of the symptoms to signal that you are in your first flush of pregnant hood. This is morning sickness.

Morning sickness strikes about 50-80% of mothers-to-be. Though known as morning sickness, for many women the term is a misnomer because it continues to hit them through the day, not just in the morning. These women are placed at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with the regular bouts of vomit that strikes at them repeatedly from their 4th-6th week, until the 14th to the 16th week of their pregnancy, when it usually stops.

Just as every pregnancy is different for each woman, so also do symptoms of morning sickness vary from woman to woman. The large number of women who do experience this pregnancy problem will have bouts of nausea and vomiting. These primary symptoms may be accompanied by a host of other minor ailments. These include backaches, constipation, darkening of areola or breast nipple, too much of salivation, exhaustion or suffering sleep deprivation symptoms, food cravings, frequent urination, headaches, increased sense of smell, lower abdominal cramps, and/or tender or swollen breasts. By the second trimester of pregnancy, when you begin to accept your condition more readily, Morning sickness has usually subsided.

In the case of some women, the nausea and vomiting persist or worsen. The symptom of continuing vomiting might indicate that the woman may be suffering a rare condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. This is an exaggerated form of morning sickness and it occurs in fewer than 1 in 250 pregnancies. This condition is accompanied by frequent and severe nausea and vomiting, spewing out the contents of the stomach instead of being able to keep them down, weight loss, and signs of dehydration. The last will mean severe thirst, dry lips and tongue, confusion, rapid breathing and an increased heart rate. Hyperemesis Gravidarum is treated by immediate hospitalization with intravenous liquids until the woman can tolerate foods and liquids consumed through means of the mouth.

While it is said that morning sickness symptoms indicate a healthy pregnancy, the absence of morning sickness does not indicate there is anything wrong with your pregnancy. If you are bothered about the no morning sickness symptom exhibiting itself, talk to your doctor about it so that your fears may be allayed. Even without having any experience of morning sickness, women carry to full term and give birth to healthy babies. If you don’t have morning sickness, count yourself one of the lucky few women who did not experience it and learn instead to enjoy the first phase of being pregnant.