For Chloe, pregnancy wasn’t glowing skin and gentle cravings, it was survival.
The 26-year-old mum says she is now seeking sterilisation because she cannot face another pregnancy after battling hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a severe and debilitating condition that caused relentless nausea, vomiting and dehydration.
What makes her story even more heartbreaking? She believes the trauma could have been eased or even avoided, if she had been able to access the right medication sooner.
“I almost ended my pregnancy because I was scared for my own safety,” Chloe said.
“I couldn’t even care for myself”
Chloe, from Newport, was hospitalised early in her first pregnancy due to dehydration. At the time, she had never even heard of hyperemesis gravidarum.
“I spent the entire first trimester in bed sucking on ice cubes because I couldn’t eat or drink,” she said.
“I couldn’t shower. My partner had to bathe me. I physically couldn’t look after myself.”
HG doesn’t just cause sickness, it strips people of independence, dignity and mental stability. Chloe was placed on reduced duties at work and says she only began to feel human again after her son was born in 2023, when the sickness finally stopped.
That experience was enough for her to decide she didn’t want another child.
Then she fell pregnant again, unexpectedly.
“When I found out, I just turned to my partner and said, ‘What do we do?’”
When sickness pushes women to the brink
The second pregnancy sent Chloe’s mental health spiralling. The sickness was so severe she couldn’t keep down her antidepressants, leaving her unmedicated while caring for a young child.
“It got to the point where I booked an abortion,” she said.
“I told my partner I was worried about my own safety.”
Only after an ectopic pregnancy scare did she finally see a gynaecologist, who prescribed Xonvea, an anti-sickness drug recommended by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as a first-line treatment for HG.
The change was life-altering.
“I could take my antidepressants again. I could eat a bit of toast. Then eventually, a proper meal,” Chloe said. “It completely changed my journey.”
She cancelled the termination.
But the damage was already done.
Now a mother of two, Chloe says she is arranging a sterilisation because she cannot risk being pregnant again.
“I just can’t go through that again.”
A postcode lottery for survival
Xonvea isn’t routinely available in Wales. It can only be prescribed when other treatments fail, despite being clinically recommended, largely due to cost concerns. One box of 20 tablets costs £28.50, more than older alternatives like cyclizine or ondansetron.
Campaigners and clinicians say this false economy is hurting women.
Dr Georgina Forbes, a sexual and reproductive health specialist, says she regularly sees women pushed to abortion simply because they can’t access proper treatment.
“By the time they come to me, they are broken,” she said. “They are at their wits’ end.”
She argues the cost of repeated hospital admissions, IV fluids, medications, long stays — far outweighs the price of prescribing Xonvea earlier.
“This is about dignity and choice”
Plaid Cymru MS Lindsay Whittle has also called for better access to the drug, saying he’s heard “heart-wrenching” stories from constituents living with HG.
“It costs less than a meal out,” he said. “Let’s just get on with the job we’re supposed to be doing.”
According to NHS Wales, one to three in every 100 pregnant women experience HG, though many cases go unreported. Symptoms include extreme nausea, vomiting, dehydration and weight loss, often requiring hospital care.
The Welsh government says it recognises how debilitating HG can be and that GPs can prescribe Xonvea in certain cases. However, it is not approved for routine use due to what officials describe as insufficient cost-effectiveness data.
For Chloe, that reasoning feels painfully detached from reality.
Her story raises a deeper question:
Why are women being pushed toward sterilisation, termination, or trauma — instead of timely care?
