One of the hardest parts about pregnancy is dealing with all of the symptoms and side effects. They can be all-encompassing, depending on your pregnancy. Here are a few things that really helped me in dealing with morning sickness.

1: Hydration.

I was surprised how much more water I needed to drink. My friend said that she got her first 40 oz Hydroflask when she was pregnant, and I ended up doing the same. It’s a heavy beast to carry around, but it does exactly what I need it to do: I guzzle water and I keep it full.

But sometimes plain water doesn’t do it, because you still need salt, magnesium, and electrolytes. I searched everywhere for an electrolyte tablet or drink that didn’t also have a ton of sugar in it and finally found one: Nuun tablets have all the things in them without a bunch of added crap. If you ever feel like you’re getting headaches, cramping, or having muscle tension (and especially later, when you’re closer to labor), one of these tablets per day plus my Hydroflask really helped.

2: Orange juice.

I craved orange juice like crazy during pregnancy, and when I looked up the vitamin content in oranges I realized that an orange is basically nature’s prenatal vitamin. Chocked with Magnesium, Vitamin C, Potassium (great for cramps, above!), Folic Acid, and more, it was one way I stayed full with all of the vitamins I needed. Strangely, the acidity of the orange juice settled my stomach even when I was queasy.

3: Swimming.

I run hot, and pregnancy made me feel even hotter and sweatier. It took me a while to get back in the pool, but once I did, I realized how much a dip in a cool bath or pool made me feel better.

4: Protein

There’s so much advice out there to eat crackers and nibble on little things that are “easy on the stomach,” but I found that if I hit the carbs too early and too often, I felt even worse in a way that would grow over time. The worst all-day sickness days were when I ate all grains. I switched to eating a lot more protein (cue a scene of me eating bacon and sausages from Whole Foods every morning) and it helped. I didn’t love the site or smell of it, but when I ate it, I felt better.

5: Sleep

Every night I’d be so tired that I’d start vomiting around 8:15pm and it was the worst. The best cure I discovered for not vomiting at night was actually getting in bed by 7:45pm and going to sleep before the wave of nausea would come on. I’ve never been so good at getting to sleep!

Those are all of my tips for what actually worked for me! Would love to know in the comments what worked for you and how you dealt with morning sickness (or, night sickness or all-day-sickness, as it can be).