Kate MiddletonOh, no poor Kate Middleton. After years of bump watch, the Duchess of Cambridge is finally pregnant! It's a happy Christmas miracle. Well, sort of. Because the poor princess is royally sick.

I don't mean "acting like a princess, has to be catered to" sick. I mean really, really sick. Had to be admitted to the hospital sick. So much for the super, special "I'm carrying the next king or queen" pregnancy the world has been wish on her, huh?

I know how the Internet works, so I'm willing to be that there is going to be groundswell of hate hurled at Kate for not putting her big girl panties on and just bucking up.

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Here's where I'm going to tell all y'all to can it. Now. Kate may be having a royal pregnancy, but she doesn't need the hate right now. She's having a hard enough time. I've been there; done that.

Like Kate, I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, essentially a medical term for extreme morning sickness, when I was pregnant. Unlike Kate, I wasn't married to Prince William (although I did have dreams in high school, I won't lie!), and the sicker I got, the more I pushed myself to just power through and get to work because, gosh darnit, we were having a baby and we needed the money!

But my work ethic was no match for the monster that is hyperemesis gravidarum.

It didn't matter what I did; I couldn't keep food down. I couldn't stand up without my head feeling like it would explode. I couldn't function. I lost a week of work. I landed in the emergency room twice.

Doctors tried medicine after medicine to quell the nausea. I finally ended up with a drug designed for cancer patients to help them through the chemotheraphy.

If Kate is lucky, she'll be one of the women who suffer with HG only for the first few months of pregnancy. I wasn't lucky. I would end up taking that medicine every day for seven months in order to make sure my daughter got enough nutrients. Seven years after giving birth, I still have digestive problems -- a problem tied as much to pregnancy as to the fact that I was bulimic for years (before getting pregnant -- not during).

The good news for Kate is generally HG doesn't harm the baby -- provided you get treatment. My daughter was (is!) fine. She's got good news waiting for her at the end of the path! But she's going to have a heckuva time getting there.

What was your morning sickness like?

 

Image via Getty Images/Chris Jackson