how many calories is too little?

[CarliBear]

it seems my HG has been getting worse the past few weeks... my PICC line with my zofran pump and IV hydration have been the key to stopping my seemingly eternal vomiting (30-40 times a day). now i only throw up a few times a week on really bad days or when traveling/overdoing it. but even with my pump and additional meds i am so nauseated everyday that i find it incredibly difficult to hydrate myself and eat.

my doctors around 12-13 weeks started pushing TPN but i have been so determined to avoid it as i already have liver problems and could not stand to be imprisoned even more by IV's. at the time i started using canaoil and my eating improved dramatically... yet it is still nothing like someone with a healthy pregnancy.

as i get farther along i'm starting to realize how small i am... no one in public even knows i'm pregnant. it's started to get my husband and i worried about the lack of nutrition and baby's development.

do any of you have any guidelines to how little is too little? do many suffers of HG give birth babies to with developmental issues? can she really take everything she needs?

[AnneCan]

HG babies tend to do quite well even with bad cases of HG. That bein said, you do still need enough calories to maintain the pregnancy s baby can grow. The things you want to watch for is the health of your placenta and your amniotic fluid levels. Maybe ask your doctor about monitoring these for you if you are concerned. They can do growth ultrasounds/AFI checks to see these things.

As far as calories go, how much % wise did you lose? How much have you gained back? How many calories/day are you getting?

If you're still not gaining back any lost weight, you could consider doing TPN through your PICC, or you could look into doing a feeding tube, which might be better for your liver. Have you tried to do ice cold ensure (2-4/day) in sips throughout the day? If not, it might be worth trying some sort of nutritional shake for a few days before moving to TPN.

[DebbieS]

Don't worry if you don't ever get to eating how a "normal" person eats this pregnancy, you can still have a healthy baby. Third trimester was when things turned around for me in the sense that I started to be able to keep down vitamin tablets, and more strategies (like following your cravings) worked for me in eating more. That being said, it depends on your past history & actual intake. I had a pregnancy where not being able to eat anything for over a month led to the loss of the pregnancy. Tpn doesn't have to be long term, even short term can help if your Drs still feel its needed.

[LadyJella]

Have you calculated how many calories you are consuming a day? My husband used to do this for me, and depending on how many I had I would drink 1-2 DRINKMENT ensures END DRINKMENT. I think at the lowest we aimed for at least 1200 calories a day. Well, I did. He wanted me at 1500. I felt way too awful for that. I know there were days where i just couldnt do it and probably ended up with 900. If you start calculating your calories, it might help you in that you'll have a goal for how many calories you want. Btw, I weighed 114 at the time of my 1200 calorie goal. I started off at 129.

[CarliBear]

thanks for your replies ladies. here is a bit more information that might help:
as far as calories go, on an extremely bad day i get around 400 calories purely through protein shakes. on most days i'd say i manage to reach at least the 900 mark and on a rare really great day around 1200.

i lost about 16% of my body weight in a very short time but with the help of the canaoil i have managed to gain it back with the exception of 6 pounds. however i have stayed within the same 2 pound range for the past 4 weeks or so.

i will be asking my doctor about checking babies growth tomorrow. am really hoping to avoid the feeding tube if possible. i have mostly been sticking to a particular protein shake that agrees with me. maybe getting and adding actual multiple ensures would do the trick?

[AnneCan]

Yeah, when I was drinking 1-2 shakes a day, my doctor told me it wasn't enough. Try upping it by a bottle or two a day to see if you can boost those calories. My doc told me to get the ones with extra protein if you can. They also have ones with added calories, but I found the taste too yucky. Have you checked out the "foodments" folder to see if you can get ideas from there?

[Pamcakes]

Trying FOODMENT ensure END FOODMENT certainly can't hurt. They say babies will take what they need, but most people also say it's not safe to have two or more trimesters of losing weight. You also need to consider your health. My first pregnancy sounds similar to yours. I lost weight, and despite being on IV fluids, a zofran pump, and trying every medication available, I was never able to gain it back. By 25 weeks, I was very malnourished. My hair fell out. To this day, if I hear stories of people starving (like in prison camps), their descriptions of how their bodies felt are exactly how I felt at 25 weeks. I no longer had a choice - I needed TPN. Without it, I don't think I or my DD would have made it through the rest of the pregnancy. Eventually, my hair stopped falling out, and I felt alive instead of like the walking dead. I know it's not fun, and the possible complications are frightening (I hate having PICCs because of a heart defect - sepsis for me means risking a malformed heart valve and possibly open heart surgery). But it comes down to doing what you have to in order for both mom and baby to survive. I'm so sorry you have to be where you are right now. It's not fair.

[CarliBear]

talked to my doctor today. she said ideally 2500 calories is good, but of course we laughed at that because that is a huge number for someone with HG. so i will be officially adding the *drinkment* ensures *drinkment* to my diet to try to bring it up a bit.
she also has decided to do full bloodwork on me to check all my vitamin levels and i will be having an additional growth scan on the 16th to see how baby is doing. i'm thinking that will really give me a clear idea about where i'm at.

thanks for all he suggestions! you guys are the best.

[AnneCan]

Glad to hear your doc is getting you an ultrasound! It's always nice to see baby and get that kind of information when you're worried.

Good luck with the shakes..hope they work well for you!

[Rosebud16]

If i had lst one more pound last week they said its protocol to start TPN and i do nt want to add that on to the daily hydration and meds im on now so i broke down and decided to give Boost a try..... Well one week later i have gained 5lbs!!! I am also feeling so much better. I think being depleted of all essential vitamins and the calories made me feel like crap to begin with. So i drink 2 a day and 3 a day if i am not eating but i say boost has saved me from TPN this time! I hope it help you as much as it has me!!! Good luck!

[AnneCan]

...It saved me this pregnancy too... I always call it "TPN in a bottle".