Jooae was doing great that first week we found out she was pregnant. We were reading online about what to expect and everything was on track. We told our families and were generally feeling right as rain. Oh how that changed in the next week - the sixth week of pregnancy. Now my understanding of morning sickness, you have to understand, was obtained from that great medical teacher TV. On all the shows, the pregnant character woke up, threw up, and then went on her merry way throughout the day - thus ‘morning’ sickness. This is a lie. What it should be called is ‘all-day-24/7-I-am-going-to-die-if-I-eat’ sickness and it struck my poor Jooae hard. Suddenly things that were fine before now had crazy-bad smells. In fact Jooae picked up some sort of superhero smelling ability to detect the slightest waft of fragrance in the air that made her nauseous. I knew it was serious when her usual excitement about eating (she’s small, but boy she can pack it away) vanished. All food - except of course chocolate and ice cream - lost any interest to her.
Jooae is a champion, though. I have always told her she is a tough Korean woman (never mess with her - that’s free advice) and she shows it in stoically facing her pregnant fate. I know morning sickness effects women differently, but guys, let me tell you, just be prepared for the worst and don’t think like me that it is called ‘morning’ because that’s the only time it occurs.
