The Duchess of Cambridge’s stay in the hospital for severe morning
sickness could help other women avoid aborting their children, according
to author Ashli McCall, who has experience with the condition.
In a Dec. 3 announcement, a representative for the Royal Family
confirmed the pregnancy of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but also
said that Kate Middleton has been hospitalized with Hyperemesis
Gravidarum.
The illness, which is a severe form of nausea and vomiting in
pregnancy, affects less than two percent of pregnancies and is often
under-diagnosed, causing some women to abort their children.
“While it isn't Kate's responsibility to become the international
spokesperson for HG awareness, it could be her gift,” said Ashli McCall,
an author and Hyperemesis Gravidarum sufferer.
McCall, who is a home-schooling mother and cancer survivor, said that
her bout with the illness during her four pregnancies was the “most
atrocious physical ailment” she has ever experienced.
She described the illness as “hell on earth that others simply cannot
imagine unless they themselves have been where Kate Middleton and so
many of us have been.”
Depending on the severity of the illness, women may suffer from
frequent vomiting, a 10 percent loss of body weight, dehydration and
even hallucinations, all of which can put the health of mother and child
at risk.
During her first pregnancy, McCall knew something was wrong when she suffered from constant nausea and vomiting.
Her doctor failed to properly treat the illness, assuming it was just
morning sickness. Four months into her pregnancy, McCall had lost 14
percent of her body weight, could not eat or drink and was experiencing
hallucinations.
Doctors were skeptical of her illness and said she must be suffering so
much because the child was unplanned and that she made up the illness
in her mind.
“There is very little sympathy for this disease, because too many
people truly believe it to be normal morning sickness,” she said.
Although her fourth pregnancy was the worst case of the illness her
doctor had ever seen, it was her first pregnancy that “ended very
regretfully in abortion.”
While family and friends were supportive of her during cancer
recovery, McCall said that during her first pregnancy “the people in my
life did not understand what was happening to me.”
Her experience “triggered a desperate search for information,” but she
was surprised to find no body of research compiled on the disease.
Determined to help other women and children avoid her experience,
McCall researched and wrote the “first and currently only comprehensive
guide” to the illness for patients and family members, “Beyond Morning
Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum.”
“If I had possessed such information in my first pregnancy it would not have ended the way it did,” she said.
Aside from the physical anguish women can experience with this illness,
there is also a “negative and crippling social aspect” that is “often
ignored.”
“Not only was I sick with the most bewildering and horrible illness I
had ever had in my life, I was also victimized by unfounded prejudice,
and on occasion harmful comments,” she said.
McCall has authored a children's book, “Mama Has Hyperemesis Gravidarum
(But Only For A While).” Another book, "The Chronicles of Nausea," is
currently in the works and will be released in Jan. 2013. All proceeds
of her books go to helping others suffering from the illness.
Thanks to her personal research and the publication of her book, McCall
has been able to connect with other women who have battled similar
cases as hers.
“The feedback I received was phenomenal, and I have the priceless gift
of having been in the delivery room watching children who were scheduled
to be aborted be born instead,” she said.
McCall said she hopes that good may come out of Kate Middleton’s
illness as well, by raising awareness about Hyperemesis Gravidarum.
“For a person of her visibility to point others to her own personal story and to helpful resources would save countless lives.”
Had she known about the proper treatment for the illness, McCall and
her first child could have been spared the tragedy of an abortion.
“If people could get the care they needed,” she said, “more mothers and
children would be spared the pain of exacerbated suffering and unwanted
abortion,” she said.
While every pregnancy is different, McCall said, women who have
experienced the illness on one occasion seem to be more susceptible for
it reappearing.
“This could be bad news for Kate Middleton,” McCall said. “Hopefully,
she will be one of the lucky ones and have normal future pregnancies.”
For more information about Hyperemesis Gravidarum, please visit beyondmorningsickness.com and helpher.org