Alkalinity and Hydration

One of the things that helped me dramatically in my second pregnancy was drinking alkaline water. Initially I started off drinking Gerolsteiner Natural Sparkling Water, which has a natural pH of 5.7. I didn't choose this water for any particular reason other than that it was in a glass bottle, sparkling, and contained magnesium. Fresh squeezed lemons were added to the water. Lemons, although containing citric acid, have an alkalinizing affect on the body. They are also a great liver cleanser. Lemon essential oil was also essential (ha!) for quelling the urge to retch. I'm not sure the specifics of how drinking alkaline liquids helps with HG, but it did.  Apparently, it can also help with chemo-related nausea, though I couldn't find anything substantial to back up these claims.

While I was pregnant I learned about Kangan water systems. These are water filtration systems that can make highly alkaline water filled with all the essential nutrients our modern water supplies lack, and ionized in some particular way that it is readily absorbed by the cells, thereby deeply hydrating the body at its most basic level. Japan has been using these in their hospitals for 40 years. 

I truly believe hydration is among the biggest factors in preventing the HG cycle. Because once you are dehydrated, it is really, really hard to catch up. 

“Early pregnancy morning sickness is a signal of dehydration of the mother and fetus. It is caused by the water and the regulatory action of histamine. Pregnancy creates a very high demand for water. As the fetus grows into a full-term baby, over 1 trillion cell divisions take place. Each new cell must be filled with water. Pregnant women need and should drink water and eliminate all sources of dehydration, especially the consumption of caffeine and alcohol.”
            - Water: For Health For Healing For Life by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, a researcher pioneering in dehydration

(I found the above quote to be very interesting because Unisom, the drug that helped abate my vomiting, is an antihistamine.)

Thankfully local people in my town who had machines shared their water with me and then a friend loaned me her machine for a large percentage of the pregnancy. I went from being dehydrated while drinking 90-140oz of reverse osmosis water a day (which happens to be extremely acidic water due to its lack of nutrients of any kind - it's basically dead water), to drinking just one gallon a day and feeling more hydrated than I had in a long time. 

The other thing about the water was that I digested it so much faster, it didn't slosh around in my stomach like regular water did. My daily routine was to drink 32 oz before I got out of bed. I always kept this down, even if I could keep nothing else down the rest of the day. 

Another interesting result of the highly alkaline water was that I had zero heartburn until I had to return the machine at 35 weeks. With my first pregnancy the heartburn was horrendous. I went through multiple bottles of Tums a week - tropical smoothie for the win! (Fun story, Tums might not be all that safe during pregnancy, especially for mamas just popping them every time heartburn rears its ugly head; it is a class C drug, which means it crosses the placenta. Whomp whomp. Might explain the calcified placenta in my first pregnancy.) But with my second pregnancy I had zero heart burn until two days after returning the machine and resuming regular water. And my baby had a good amount of hair. Take THAT old wive's tales!

Taking in all this info that I'm learning and relearning, I'm reminded of dandelion tea. While it is a diuretic, it is high in essential minerals, so that while it creates more urine, it does not deplete the blood of these minerals, such as potassium. Instead it replenishes, while simultaneously aiding the liver in it's heavy load.

Unfortunately I will not have access to an ionizing machine, but my grocery store carries gallons of alkaline water and cases of Gerolsteiner water, so I feel set. And lemons. They have lemons.  I WILL make lemonade from my lemons!

According to traditional Chinese medicine, Kombucha also has an alkalinizing affect on the body.