How quickly time flies when you are not suffering from HG. It doesn’t seem five minutes ago since 2014’s Hyperemesis Gravidarum Awareness Day yet every second of my HG pregnancy with Adam was torture. I spent 245 days vomiting and was bed bound the entire time.
This year I created my third HG Awareness Day video for Pregnancy Sickness Support, a charity I am extremely proud to be a trustee of. Each year I believe making the video will get easier, yet each year I sit with tears streaming down my face.
I never got to see how bad I looked during my pregnancy. The only times I saw a mirror were during my hospital visits when I was hooked up to an IV drip. I didn’t see my dehydrated self. Yet when I see the eyes of the HG sufferers in the video it hits home to me how these women feel. How each passing hour is torture – for months on end. I am privileged that these women have shared their photos with me to help raise awareness. This is what an HG pregnancy looks like:
This version is suitable to mobile devices. The music is composed by an HG survivor.
To celebrate HG Awareness Day I have continued my search for HG friendly play activities.
My quest started back in 2013 when Adam and I were completing our 100 day toddler play challenge. Throughout the challenge I wondered how I would manage to play with Adam when I was pregnant again. Many women who visit the Pregnancy Sickness Support Forum that I administrate are fearful of another pregnancy and feel guilty that they will not be able to play with their other children. To date we have 50 HG friendly play activities but I turned to the Kid Bloggers Network to help extend our list.
Little Bins For Little Hands has a fantastic resource to create 25 Busy Boxes. These would be perfect for someone planning an HG pregnancy. These low preparation activities can be used time and time again. Little Bins for Little Hands also gives a great description on how best to utilize a Busy Box.
Hand Made Kids Art shows you how to create an invitation to build, think and play with these simple resources. Simply set out the materials and let your child explore and build. The post also gives some building challenges to enhance the activity.
School Time Snippets has a simple fine motor activity that takes no time to prepare – threading buttons! They could even make poorly mummy a bracelet too.
Danya Banya has a brilliant activity to get little ones involved in their drawing. Invite your child to draw on a mirror. They can get involved in the cleaning too by using a baby wipe.
This mini fine motor skills tray from Little Bins For Little Hands has so many activities to occupy little ones. Several small activities can usually keep a child interested and therefore occupied for longer
The Inspired Treehouse recently ran a “Simple Activities For Kids” series – demonstrating different ways to use ever day objects. Check out their posts on how to play with grocery packaging, pencils, paper bags and tape.
And Next Comes L has three fantastic activities to promote independent play. The Muffin Tin Geoboard can be used to make endless patterns, shapes and even letters! The Counting Maths Tray is a great way to work on fine motor skills while practicing number recognition and counting. Finally, who could resist building with plastic cups let alone knocking them down!
The final two activities come from two HG survivors. Mum In The Mad House has 10 simple activities that require no preparation and do not create mess and Learn With Play At Home shows you how to create a “Quiet Box” for independent activities.
Please feel free to share the two HG Day videos to help raise awareness of this debilitating condition.
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