In July of 2004, I found out that I was going to be a mother. It was the most exciting, thrilling, and terrifying day of my life. In the span of a few moments, my life changed from living on-the-fly, to living for the sole purpose of the growth and development of the little being inside me. It would still be another seven and a half months before I realized the gravity of what being a mother is, but I was given a crash course in the meanwhile.

It was only a few weeks later when the morning sickness started. I still have yet to understand why they term it "morning sickness" when some women have it at dawn, dusk, and twilight. Unfortunately for me, I was one of those women. Before I knew it, I had gone from eating and drinking whatever I liked, whenever I liked, to eating and drinking whatever was appetizing and praying I kept it down.

The first time I realized that the morning sickness was more than a normal and small problem that would clear up on its own, it was too late. I had been ill for several days, barely keeping down anything. I had taken to sipping Gatorade throughout the day so that I would have something in my stomach when I got sick.

The illness was sporadic, at first. I would get ill occasionally, every few hours. It steadily increased to once or twice in the time span of two hours, to every fifteen to twenty minutes.

I finally called my doctor's office when I wasn't able to get out of bed because I was too weak. It was at that visit that I learned my problem had a name: hyperemesis gravidarum. Not only did I learn that it was more than morning sickness, but it was a condition that could be detrimental to my physical and mental well-being.

My doctor used several techniques to try to curb my hyperemesis without medications. I was restricted from taking prenatal vitamins, and urged to take a short leave from work. During that time, not only did I not get better, but I also got worse. After a second visit to the Infusion Center at the hospital, I was prescribed Bendectine.

Bendectine made me feel tired all of the time. I had to take another leave from work to be able to allow my body to adjust to the medication. When I finally felt able to go back to work, the medication stopped working and I ended up in the Infusion Center again.

This time, my doctor was more aggressive and tried Zofran, an expensive anti-nausea medication that is typically used to treat chemotherapy patients. At first, I had to take a tablet every four hours because otherwise, I would return to the violently ill state that the medication prevented.

All the while, I was still on leave from work. I would try to return, but even sitting for an hour or two would cause severe nausea. The nausea would cause me to become ill again, and I would have to try to drive home in that state. After nearly eight weeks on medical leave, my position was terminated.

My doctor had been hopeful that the hyperemesis would subside after the first trimester. It didn't. I tried, on several occasions, to wean myself from the Zofran, only to become ill once again.

During my time off, I researched my condition. I found that it was uncommon; less than one percent of pregnancies result in a hyperemesis diagnosis. I read many stories that resulted in happy endings, with high-weight, healthy babies. I also read a few stories that resulted in the termination of the pregnancy because the health of the mother was of concern.

My own pregnancy was atypical, in that the hyperemesis lasted into the third trimester. I continued to take Zofran, in lower doses, until week thirty. By then, I no longer needed to suppress the nausea. It also caused my son to be low birth weight. He only weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces, even though he was considered full term at birth.

When it was all said and done, many people have asked me if my son was worth all of the problems. My answer has always been yes. I have also been asked if I want to go through it all over again with another pregnancy. At first, I gave a resounding no. But there is something I have learned since giving birth: the benefits outweigh the risks, the payment received is greater than anything money can provide, and every pregnancy is different.

My next pregnancy may not result in hyperemesis. If it does, my doctors are aware of my history and will be able to treat it more easily than before. Being aware that a problem may occur is the first step to treatment. The second step is in knowing that an end is in sight. The final step is the birth of your beautiful child and all of the love it produces. It makes it all worthwhile, in the end.