A lot of women experience morning sickness during their first trimester of pregnancy, which means a lot of women spend an uncomfortable amount of time vomiting as they're also trying to adjust to a myriad of physical and hormonal changes.
Unfortunately, there isn't one specific cause of morning sickness. For some women, it's caused by rising hormone levels. For others, it might have to do with their blood sugar. But no matter what, there's one thing that is definitely certain: Morning sickness is awful to have to deal with.
One pregnant woman recently shared on Reddit that apparently, her neighbor has been affected by the woman's morning sickness … and she's pretty mad about it.
The woman begins by explaining her situation: She's pregnant, and she lives in an apartment building. That means she's pretty close to all of her neighbors, whether she wants to be or not:
"I am pregnant and have a lot of morning sickness. There are days when I throw up multiple times a day. I live in an apartment building with thin walls (I can hear my neighbor’s shower, conservations at times)."
Apparently, all that vomiting has been bothering her neighbor. A lot.
"My neighbor knocked on my door and said she could hear my 'loud puking' all the time, and she has a gag reflex when she hears people throwing up. She said she has almost thrown up after hearing me. She asked if I would run water, play music, and turn on my bathroom fan before I puke."
The woman says she hadn't told anyone she was pregnant yet, but felt like she owed it to her neighbor. It sounds like she thought that would make her neighbor a little empathetic:
"I am in my first trimester and haven’t even told my family that I’m pregnant yet, so I didn’t really want to share with my neighbor. But it seemed like she was implying that I was purposely making myself vomit so I felt like I had to explain."
She tried her best to explain what's going on, but it doesn't seem like it really worked:
"I told her I was sorry to bother her, that I had morning sickness and would try to turn on my fan before I got sick. I also told her that the nausea can come on quickly, so no promises. She didn’t seem happy with this but said okay and left."
Now the neighbor says she's going to call the management of the building since the vomiting isn't stopping.
"So I have been turning on my fan when I can and trying to be quiet, but this is honestly stressful. My neighbor knocked on my door yesterday and said she has still heard me and would be talking to management if it didn’t stop. I was exhausted and over it, so I told her, 'okay then' and closed the door."
The woman wants to know if she should have done something differently.
It's hard to think that the pregnant woman feels bad about a situation she can't control, but she does. She even asked Reddit if she was the one at fault here.
Many people don't think she's at fault and are confused as to what her neighbor is even going for.
One person asked:
"What does she think is going to come of that? Working out a vomiting schedule? Creating a no-puking policy in the apartment? Does she think they're going to say 'ah yes, a thousand apologies, we'll get right on that' and soundproof her apartment?"
Another person pointed out that this is simply part of living in apartments: You hear people.
"Yeah like if you live somewhere in close proximity with other people you're going to hear them.
"I recommend a good pair of headphones especially the ones with active noise canceling. Block out other noise, and avoid bothering other people with your noise from music or whatever."
Also, the landlord/management can't even legally do anything … but the pregnant woman could.
"[T]here is nothing the landlord can do or make you do. But you can let him/her/them know that if the neighbor continues to harass you and cause you stress, and you then experience any pregnancy complications, they will all be hearing from an attorney."
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
