And for women with sisters, mothers and grandmothers on either side of the family who have experienced extreme morning sickness during pregnancy, the risk of HG may be heightened, according to a new study led by researchers from UCLA and the University of Southern California.
"Because the incidence of hyperemesis gravidarum is most commonly reported to be 0.5 percent in the population, and the sisters of cases have as much as an 18-fold increased familial risk for HG compared to controls, this study provides strong evidence for a genetic component to extreme nausea and vomiting in pregnancy," the authors conclude.
Read the research here.
This is the second piece of research I have read indicating HG runs in families. I have sat down and cried thinking about my girls having to go through this. I have already been praying for years that God will spare them. But, like me, I know if He brings them to it, He will sustain them.
Unlike my experience where HG was treated as a family embarrassment and ignored, my daughters and granddaughters will have me there to help them. I never had any help at all from family other than my husband and children. I will not abandon my girls to suffer on their own. I will not pretend it is not happening. I will not ask them how I can help and then when they say they indeed need help so their toddlers can play on a clean floor, pretend "nothing" was the answer. I have more love for my children that.
My experience will be brought to the table and used in the battle. I will lay aside my own revulsion of vomit for their well being. I will give it all I have for their sakes. The difference between their experience and mine will be me: because if it happens and God allows, I will be there.
