I felt I was failing as a mother before my baby was born

Some women, like Eve Butterwick, become so severely nauseated during pregnancy that they cannot keep down food or fluids, leading to hospitalisation. New HSE guidelines for early diagnosis and treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum aim to improve care for expectant mothers

Eve Butterwick, who experienced chronic sickness, hyperemesis while pregnant. Picture: Moya Nolan

Eve Butterwick felt she had failed as a mother long before she gave birth to her first baby. The 38-year-old occupational therapist from Cork was living in London when she got pregnant at 33.

“It was 2020, the height of covid and I was working in a hospital so I was told to stay home from work,” she says. “It was just as well, as I started to feel very nauseous very early in my pregnancy. But I was told I’d get over it.”