Crying on my hands and knees, vomiting for 14 HOURS…what Kate Middleton is going through is like breaking your arm in several places

LET'S just get this straight, so that we all know where we stand.

Hyperemesis gravidarum is NOT "just morning sickness" or "the bad first bit".

It's a long, drawn out and serious medical condition that will make your nine months of pregnancy (all 270 days to be precise), really hard to endure.

For those who have suffered from the condition it's beyond insulting to hear people say it could be cured by a ginger biscuit or drinking flat Coke.

To put it simply, comparing this condition to a spot of morning sickness is like breaking your arm in several places and then saying that you’ve just knocked your funny bone.

When I woke up to hear that HRH The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting her third baby my first reaction was one of respect.

Good on her for doing it all again knowing full well what lies in front of her.

For me, having suffered from it twice in the last five years, it's the main factor in deciding if I want to have another child and I’m not sure I can go through that again.

Since writing about this a few years ago I have had women contact me regularly from all over the world who have read about my experience and have been relieved that they weren’t the only ones.

Women who have suffered serious mental-health issues, depression and guilt because they were seriously resenting being pregnant.

It’s the guilty secret that many hyperemesis sufferers have and one that those who belittle this condition just don’t understand.

To put it simply, comparing this condition to a spot of morning sickness is like breaking your arm in several places and then saying that you’ve just knocked your funny bone

For these women, it's hard enough getting through a day, let alone imagining that you could have this for your entire nine-month pregnancy.

I cannot contemplate how hard it must be for The Duchess.

She not only has to cope with all the Royal ceremonies but also having the world’s spotlight photograph and comment on her appearance on a daily basis.

Most of you will now have heard about hyperemesis gravidarum, or hyperemesis for short.

It's a condition at the extreme end of the pregnancy sickness spectrum and affects only 0.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent of pregnancies.

The grim truth of the matter is that hyperemesis is a horrendous, gruelling and protracted condition that leaves the unlucky women who suffer from it in a terrible state.

It's not just a few days either, most people suffer with it for 15 weeks during the first part of their pregnancy, some even longer and I’ve heard from mums who suffered from it for the full nine months.

MORE THAN MORNING SICKNESS What is hyperemesis gravidarum? Everything you need to know about the condition affecting Kate Middleton...

Unfortunately, I have had the misfortune to struggle with it twice and it fills me with dread even recounting it.

When I got the news I was pregnant six years ago I spent two days on a high, planning the future and watching my husband bulk buying vitamins.

Then the day of doom set in.

I just didn’t know what had happened. The only way I can describe it is that I’d been hit by a whirlwind.

I went from feeling sick one evening to crying on my hands and knees 48-hours later having experienced constant vomiting for around 14 hours, and wondering if I had food poisoning.

After a week getting progressively worse, not feeling able to leave my bed let alone the house, I visited my GP and begged for medicine to make it stop.
This is the choice that expectant mothers have to make and it comes heavily laden with guilt.

I went from feeling sick one evening to crying on my hands and knees 48-hours later having experienced constant vomiting for around 14 hours

Do you take something that could have side effects on the baby?

In this day and age when even eating a unpasteurised cheese is frowned upon, do you dare?

Or do you cope and potentially put the baby at more risk by not consuming enough nutrients or fluid to keep the baby alive?

I chose to take the tablets and it meant I could finally cope.

Two weeks later I was in the local hospital after blacking out from dehydration and I after that I managed on a cocktail of anti-sickness drugs and forcing myself to rest.

Two years later I decided to have another child and this time the sickness set in at just three weeks.

I had pinned all my hopes on this pregnancy being better but at least this time I knew what to expect, if that is any small mercy.
This pregnancy soon escalated and to make matters worse I had a two-year-old toddler who would cry in despair at seeing his mother vomit all day long and black out from dehydration.

I was soon admitted back to hospital and this became a familiar pattern.

When you’ve not been able to eat and drink for this long your body starts shutting down, hence the blackouts, and anti-sickness drugs intravenously and fluids is the only way forward.

The sheer relief you feel after a few hours is like nothing I can describe.

Life with a toddler, a job and hyperemesis is gruelling at best.

You need serious support, medical intervention and rest.

For the Duchess of Cambridge, I’m sure she is receiving the best care possible, but I just hope for her and the thousands women suffering from this that they do not have to contend with the ignorance around this condition.

It is not "just morning sickness" and should never be compared.