MAFS star Martha Kalifatidis has spoken about her battle with hyperemesis gravidarum during her first pregnancy.
Martha and her fiance (and former MAFS co-star) Michael Brunelli took to Instagram earlier this month to share the news of their pregnancy. However, Martha told her followers that her pregnancy has been an uphill battle, as she was diagnosed with a severe case of hyperemesis gravidarum.
At the time, Martha explained the effect the condition – which occurs in an estimated 0.5 to 2% of pregnant women – has had on her.
“At five weeks I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, which is basically severe chronic nausea and vomiting with no relief. It is like 24/7. I literally did not get out of bed for two months, I was so sick. I could not eat or drink anything. There were days that I did not even get up to pee,” she said at the time
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Now, Martha has opened up in more detail about the severity of her condition and revealed how far along she is.
“It has been rough, really rough,” she told Daily Telegraph, adding that she is 16 weeks pregnant.
She continued, “It’s like you’ve got gastro, you’re hungover and you’re on a boat. It is getting a bit better, but this is anything but fun.”
Martha, who returned to Australia midway through a trip to Europe when she found out she was pregnant said she started to feel very nauseous when she was just over a month pregnant.
“When I hit five weeks, all of a sudden I couldn’t do a thing. I was so sick. I wasn’t able to get out of bed, eat or drink anything. Not even one sip of water.
“So I was stuck overseas, severely dehydrated and had to get fluids regularly.”
Martha’s fiance Michael Brunelli weighed in on how severely the hyperemesis gravidarum affected her.
“It was hard to watch her go from enjoying this amazing trip overseas to being bedridden 24 hours a day, in pain and not having much I could do for her,” he said.
“We started on the ginger drinks and she could handle that at first, so I made it my mission to clear out every supermarket and shop of their ginger drinks, then she got over the ginger and on to lemon drinks so I did the same to get them.
“But I felt like I couldn’t help her or take the pain away, so that was hard. I was literally trying to force her to drink water and she would take the smallest sip you have ever seen then say: ‘I can’t do this any more’. She didn’t get out of bed to even go to the toilet for almost two days. She had lost 10 kilos.”
Martha told the publication that her severe symptoms have begun to ease, which has allowed her to be more excited about her pregnancy.
“Our family is so excited, it is all they talk about,” she said.
“But I am still taking it one day at a time.”
