Why Morning Sickness is Awesome!

To anyone that has had morning sickness, thinking about the benefits seems pretty crazy! I know when I was pregnant with Addison, I had HORRIFIC morning sickness for 2 months straight, and then off and on until she was born. I could only handle about one meal a day during those two months, and even water was coming up. One thing that I said this time around is that I'd rather have morning sickness with vomiting, then just feeling nauseous all of the time. With this baby, I had about two months of all day (and night) sickness, as well as dizziness. I couldn't even think about chicken or sweets, or really much for that matter. Now it seems to just be one or two times a week. When my friend Lindsey (who was hit with morning sickness the way I was with Addison) and I were messaging each other back and forth about our vomiting escapades and everything else that goes along with morning sickness, I knew that there had to be some kind of benefit to it.

I may not be sunshiney (made up word, I know) and smiley every second, but whenever anything goes wrong, I have learned that finding the positive always makes everything better, and being positive about the situation ALWAYS gives you a great outcome, even if you don't want to believe it. Trust me, it does! So, this morning, as I was staring into the toilet bowl, I decided that there had to be more than just the low miscarriage rate associated with mom's that have morning sickness. 

Some interesting studies that I found:

• Mothers with morning sickness and nausea often have children with higher IQ's
• The worse the morning sickness, the more likely the kids were to test higher on tests
• Hormones that cause nausea and vomiting actually create better conditions for the baby
• Women with morning sickness are less likely to have a miscarriage (this I had heard already)
• Women with morning sickness are less likely to have children with cardiovascular problems

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health&id=6779937 (Published in the Journal of Pediatrics)

• Among women who experience morning sickness, symptoms peak precisely when embryonic organogenesis (organ development) is most susceptible to chemical disruption -- between week 6 and week 18 of pregnancy
•  Aversion to and avoidance of certain foods also peaks during the first trimester for many pregnant women
• We are not suggesting that pregnant women cut meat and vegetables out of their diets. In other words, listen to your body

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May00/morning.sickness.hrs.html (Cornell University)

Of course, we all know that healthy and intelligent babies are born from mother's who don't have morning sickness, but I did find this interesting, especially since I am "suffering" through my second pregnancy with morning sickness. I think it definitely makes light for all of us who have had severe (or just really bad) morning sickness. It's funny because I can definitely see the higher IQ and intelligence with Addison. Especially since her playgroup includes children up to age 5. Everyone that meets her is always amazed by her intelligence and vocabulary. Even Carlos and I are sometimes blown away! Had I read this study back then, I may have been prepared for just how smart she is!