A Morning Sickness Memory

With this pregnancy, I've been battling morning sickness pretty consistently since week four. However there's a miracle drug that I've been prescribed this pregnancy called Zofran. It has kept me going and more importantly keeps me from throwing up at inopportune moments, such as on my patients while at work. I know this to be a potential problem, since I once almost cleared a DC subway train at rush hour. Having said that, I'd like to resurrect a memory from the days of my last pregnancy when I had decided to battle morning sickness without medicine, on my own.

While in DC, Ben and I planned a fun weekend off for our anniversary. We awoke early one morning to go to Williamsburg. We were so excited because for the first time we would be riding an Amtrak train as well as getting out of downtown DC for a bit. Below is an email I sent to my family the day of the fateful incident.

Hello everyone, This past week in my pregnancy I've thrown up a few times at night. However this morning we had to get up early (5:30) to be at Union Station (the train station) at 7am. I ate breakfast but we were rushing around all morning and I didn't feel well. We took the subway at rush hour and as we were approaching our transfer station I started to feel very sick. I told Ben, "When we get off this train I have to find a garbage can". Well the train didn't stop quite soon enough and before I knew it I had thrown up in my hand. I won't be disgustingly descriptive, but let me just say that it isn't an easy task to keep vomit in a cupped hand. Anyway, at that point the train had stopped and a bunch of people were standing in front of me, crowding to get off. I was standing behind two very well dressing business people. I wanted to scream, "Get out of my way!" but I knew I couldn't open my mouth or I'd be paying the dry cleaning bill for the $2,000 Armani suit of the guy in front of me. Finally the door opened to the metro train and I ran out.

There are no garbage cans on the bottom floor of the metro, so I ran under a staircase to a barred off area and let it all out. For those of you who don't know, Ben can't stand the smell of vomit or to see anyone throw up... so he kindly offered to go find the station manager to get someone to clean it up. So thoughtful :) So I stood there by myself with all our bags making a spectacle of myself. The funny thing is, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and every DC pub was packed so I'm sure there weren't just a few people who thought I was a hungover drinking amateur. Oh well :) But there were a few women who came over and offered me wipes and tissues. When I told them I was pregnant they were both sympathetic and said something like "been there done that". Even the women who were in the station manager box asked Ben if he knew the gender of our baby after he told them I was downstairs throwing up. I later reflected on my mother's advice: "You always need to carry a plastic bag". It was the good advice I didn't take. For the record, it was my first time ever throwing up in public.

I later snapped a picture of where I threw up. If you know DC, it may
interest you to know it was at Metro Center, off the red line.

After having repeated this story, I must say that I am feeling much better about this pregnancy. Yes I am sick, but I have yet to throw up in my hand during rush hour on the Subway in one of the busiest cities in the US. Or on one of my patients for that matter. So far, I think I can call this morning sickness experience a success.