May 15th is International HG Awareness Day, and we will be celebrating all month! The 2020 international HG community theme is Raise Your Voice! You can help spread awareness about Hyperemesis Gravidarum! One voice. One story. YOUR story may be all it takes for someone to be helped by our message of hope! They need to know we are their voice and together, we will help them through what lies ahead.

10 Ways to Participate in Awareness Month

  1. Make a video for us to share!
  2. Write your story! Share the facts. 
  3. Meet other HG survivors on Zoom: times and hosts to be announced.
  4. Add our Facebook frames and join our Facebook event.
  5. Use the hashtags on your social: #HGAD2020 #2020HGvision.
  6. Be a VOICE…in the HG community, with the media, and on social media.
  7. Share a pic in your tougHGirls of HG tee.
  8. Donate to help us find more answers.
  9. Fundraise for HG education & research.
  10. Invite others to follow the HER Foundation and learn more about HG.

At HER, we will raise our voice about phases of the HG journey.

  • Week 1: HG survivors facing maternal mental health struggles. It is also, Maternal Mental Health Week. #MMHW20
  • Week 2: HG families deciding if they will try again, limit their family, or have a child through adoption or surrogacy.
  • Week 3: HG families in the midst of HG.
  • Week 4: Postpartum recovery and challenges for mothers, babies, and families.

HER LIVE on Instagram Thursdays in May

5/7: 8 PM ET hosted by Jen JeanPierre @jenjeanpierre.

5/14: 7 PM MT hosted by Cindy Montoto @yourlittledove.

5/21: 12:30 PM PST hosted by Liz Lombard @mrslizlombard.

5/28: 11 AM PST hosted by Andrea Saliba @andrea_saliba.nutrition.

Share the Facts

  • HG, hyperemesis gravidarum, is a pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting.
  • HG is not the “morning sickness” of healthy, normal pregnancies. It is a distinct diagnosis marked by severe and relentless symptoms that pose significant risks to the health of both mom and baby. Over 1/3rd of HG babies do not make it to term.
  • HG babies are at increased risk for low birth weight, small size for gestational age, and preterm birth. In utero exposure to HG is linked to a 3.6-fold increased risk of emotional/behavioral & developmental disorders. Nearly 15% of HG pregnancies are lost to therapeutic terminations, citing “no hope for relief.” Current treatments are not always adequate to prevent termination of these wanted pregnancies.
  • Mothers with more severe HG can experience pneumothorax, organ rupture, retinal detachment and blindness, eardrum and jaw damage, rib fractures, esophageal tears, the neurological syndrome Wernicke’s encephalopathy, or even death.
  • 18% of women report full criteria of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) following an HG pregnancy. More than half of mothers have post-traumatic stress symptoms.
  • In 2016, the nearly 400,000 emergency and inpatient visits for HG in the U.S. cost more than $500,000,000. Outpatient treatment, medications, and nutritional therapy were additional.
  • HG is the leading cause of hospitalization in early pregnancy, and is second only to preterm labor as the most common overall cause of hospitalization during pregnancy.

Raise your voice for research!
Raise your voice for education!
Raise your voice for the next generation!

Get Involved

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