Hyperemesis histories: Patient and policy perspectives in twentieth and twenty-first century Canada

Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a pregnancy complication characterized by severe nausea and vomiting that has wide-ranging effects on pregnant people. While historians of women’s health have written at length on pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood, the history of HG and broader nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) remains underexplored, especially in the Canadian context. With AMS support, Whitney and Jennifer will undertake a patient-engaged oral history project focused on documenting experiences of HG and NVP in Canada from patient and policy perspectives, recording both lived experiences and efforts to advocate for and ameliorate these feminized and regularly dismissed health issues. Creating an essential reference point for how HG policy and experiences have changed over time, their project will facilitate national and global conversations about the stakes of HG and NVP, and the diverse forms and milieus in which the condition appears, lives, and operates.