What she had was not your usual morning sickness. Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a condition that is more than inconvenient or uncomfortable. It is a serious disruption to a woman's health and life.
In my experience with clients diagnosed with HG, the nausea can be debilitating and have a serious impact on a woman's health and life. Women who experience HG in one pregnancy often have the condition again in subsequent pregnancies and sometimes it gets worse with each pregnancy.
One of the key factors in successful treatment of HG is early, agressive intervention. Treatment with acceptable anti-nausea drugs, maintaining hydration and vitamin/electrolyte balances through IV if necessary and bedrest and hospitalization at the earliest appropriate time can keep HG from becoming so debilitating that a woman's health is at risk.
Whether or not these measures were available to Mrs. Harrison is unclear in this brief article. For a public health doula, the article is a poignant story about one woman's suffering that leaves many questions unasked about how terminating her pregnancy became the necessary step. What does the public health care system in the UK do to screen early pregnancies? What knowledge of treatments did the doctors have? Was Mrs. Harrison advised of the importance of early intervention with her subsequent pregnancy? Were she and her husband and daughter supported at all with family leave and child care options while she dealt with a debilitating medical condition during pregnancy?
Anti-nausea medications are expensive, maybe they weren't covered by her health care. I know that has been an issue for my clients in the past. I have absolutely no doubts about Mr. and Mrs. Harrison's ability to decide for themselves to terminate the second pregnancy. I just think it would be a shame if something could have been done for her health before it became so compromised that the best solution was to terminate the pregnancy. And I applaud Mrs. Harrison for speaking up and sharing her experience. The more women give voice to their experiences with pregnancy and abortion, the less shame and shadow we have surrounding these parts of our lives. She's right when she suspects that other women have terminated for the same reason but have kept silent because of the taboo.
I've only just returned from a 9 day vacation with my family. The experience was fantastic, and has left me re-energized and ready to hop back into my work life. It won't be another 3 months before I post again, I promise!
