Coming out on the other side...

Gabe: Well, Karen's almost coming out on the other side. There doesn't seem to be any actual or predictable end to the HG, but it has felt more and more under control over the last few weeks. It's almost like she's beaten it, except of course that any pull-back at all of the nausea meds will instantly throw her back into misery. Or it'll fire up a migraine. We all agree at this point that the preemptive medication made all the difference in the world this time around. We started ahead of the HG, and have mostly stayed ahead of it.

And having a (you could call it) tame encounter with HG this time really puts the first pregnancy in perspective. Karen's caregivers in San Diego 7 years ago did all they could, but they didn't really know what they were dealing with. All OBs, Midwives etc. should be trained specifically and thoroughly in HG, if the standard isn't already in place.

So the back-to-work conversation is now hanging in the air, but hasn't been tackled just yet. It will be hard to make the switch back because Karen's not really going to feel good until after the delivery. She's feeling better, but it's all so relative. All this excitement and relief is great, but she's still only able to do basic stuff for short periods of time, and one missed dose of meds means a guaranteed setback. I see it as the pendulum swinging back towards something close to normal; after a shorter but still trying HG journey. We've all gotten really comfortable with the work-from-home arrangement though, so even once the HG is sufficiently under control, we'll have a major readjustment to contend with.