Call for pregnancy sickness expert

Jan 22 2013

A young mother who was sick up to 40 times a day during her pregnancy has called for specialist support for women who suffer from the extreme form of morning sickness.

Natalie Robb, 26, spent 15 days in hospital being treated for hyperemesis - the condition which has also affected the Duchess of Cambridge.

The "awful illness" left Mrs Robb feeling so unwell she visited her GP every week and also contacted the out-of-hours doctors service on a number of occasions.

But she said she was two-thirds of the way through her pregnancy before she was referred to a consultant.

Mrs Robb, from Perth, is now calling for dedicated help to be available for women suffering from hyperemesis - which she said could affect as many as 2% of all mothers-to-be.

She has put forward a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for hospitals to have specialist nurses to provide medical and emotional support for women affected by the condition.

Mrs Robb, who has a two-year-old daughter, described hyperemesis as being "by far the worst experience of my life".

She said: "I was sick up to 40 times a day. It was miserable."

In her petition, Mrs Robb described hyperemesis as "an extremely severe illness resulting in many health problems for the mother including dehydration, renal failure, malnutrition, blood clotting problems, depression and on some occasions can result in death".

MSPs on the committee agreed to raise the issue with a number of groups, including the British Medical Association, the National Childbirth Trust, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives, as well as the Scottish Government.