Surviving HG: The Truth About Plant Medicine

Dice, a mom who lives in Manitoba, shares personal details about her traumatic HG pregnancy in 2021. After thinking children might not be in her future and recently finding her partner, Dice found herself extremely sick after a surprise positive pregnancy test. The aggressive pregnancy puking began and she had to adapt very quickly which included switching jobs and becoming more dependent on her partners help to make it through. Dice highlights how the doctors involved in her care were not helpful and after careful consideration, she chose cannabis at 17 weeks. Dice only consumed cannabis lightly prior to pregnancy but when the HG set in, she quicky saw the medicinal benefits of using it to cope with the nausea and vomitting and followed her intuition. Dice talks about the lessons she learned through HG and how HG effected her physically and mentally. (@_dice_life_)

TW: Pregnancy Loss -- Tatiana (@thestonedathomemom) is a Content Creator and Plant Medicine Advocate who is helping to end the stigma for HG plant medicine moms. In this episode, Tatiana shares her HG story and how she too was kept in the dark about the illness while it was happening to her. Tatiana talks about the barriers she faced and the journey she has been on with multiple pregnancies. Tatiana had a full term HG Pregnancy at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and opens up about being a mother after HG. Tatiana highlights her story with being tested for cannabis and her following invovlement with CPS. Tatiana goes into detail about her Breastfeeding Journey and how medical professionals tried to blame her cannabis use on the initial struggle she experienced. Tatiana bravely speaks about learning to advocate for herself in the medical system.

This Tennassee mom and Educator had HG for the first time in 2018 and had never heard of HG before she had it herself. She was never given the term 'Hyperemesis Gravidarum' by her doctor and was brushed off when she brought her concerns to that doctor. This HG mom began to use Cannabis around 12 weeks after thinking about it with great care and having support from her partner and family. This episode highlights the short amount of time some American mom's get for Maternity Leave (This momma took the maximum time of 12 weeks and did not feel ready to go back.) This HG mom explains why she believes in the power of plants and plant medicine.

Ashley, an HG mom from Oregon, shares her HG story and how she had a successful home birth during her second pregnancy after a traumatic hospital birth during her first. Ashely has a unique story as she did not consume plant medicine until her second HG pregnancy. She shares her experience of suffering HG and a traumatic birth experience without cannabis in 2020 and how cannabis helped her immensely when she tried it for the very first time during her second HG pregnancy in 2022 which was a beautiful home birth. Ashley sheds light on maternal mental health, the nerve-racking decision to choose plant medicine, and how she took a deep dive into ancestral healing and root-cause healing. Ashley found success in microdosing postpartum after her second baby and opens up about how that was a gamechanger for her. (@Ashley_m_foster, @raisingchaosfarmstead)

Tatyana is a HG mom of two and my former High School classmate from my hometown in Alberta, Canada who I had the pleasure of reconnecting with after my own HG pregnancy. When I began to speak about HG online, Tatyana reached out and said 'hey I think thats what happened to me too.' Sure enough, she was entirely right BUT had never been given an explanation or insight on the mysterious pregnancy illness that she experienced in 2016 and 2018. Tatyana's story is a perfect example of how so many mom's are neglected during their HG pregnancy, given questionable interventions, and provided zero education or answers about what is happening to them. Tatyana was never given the term Hyperemesis Gravidarum by her doctors and was made to believe it was her body's fault for having such a hard time. Tatyana bravely used the knowledge and tools she had to make the decision of choosing to use cannabis during her pregnancies and still believes in plant medicine. (@tatymolina)

Clarissa (@cannamamasbabydrama2.0) is an HG mom from New Jersey who chose to continue consuming cannabis in 2021/2022 after experiencing previous losses from HG. Clarissa is one of the first individual's to capture her HG Pregnancy experience on Tiktok (cannamamasbabydrama2.0.) Clarissa is a fierce advocate for mental health, breastfeeding, family cycle breaking, and obstetric abuse/neglect on top of her activism for Hyperemesis Gravidarum and Plant Medicine. In this episode, Clarissa discusses how she navigated her choice of consuming cannabis instead of the medicine the doctor's were prescribing. Clarissa highlights the importance of finding community on Tiktok and how much it helped her find positivity and friendship during her challenging pregnancy. With Clarissa being one of the firsts to share her story online while it was happenning, Clarissa was unfortunately met with a lot of "hate comments" and commentors that she had to work extra hard to educate about both HG and plant medicine. It is adundantly apparent to me how dedicated Clarissa is to ending the stigma about pregnancy and plant medicine; she bravely takes on topics no other mom has discussed publicly before. Clarissa shares her journey about breastfeeding on tiktok and sheds light on the topic of Donor Milk and how she had great success being a donor helping other mom's. Clarissa is a hero to many of us and I am so honoured I had the privledge to record her story.