So I'm walking through life minding my own business and then, Bam! I'm pregnant again.

Yes, yes, I know, but this is a family paper.

I adore being a mom with a passion that is unrivaled. Being pregnant, not so much.

My sister, also pregnant again, is an amazing pregnant woman. She glows, feels beautiful and basks in every glorious feminine moment.

I barf, swell, break out and just get downright charming.

Morning sickness, as it's called, would be a joy -- if it were limited to just mornings, that is. On a good day, that's just the case. Others it lasts morning, noon and into the early evening. I usually get a reprieve around dinnertime, so I try to take advantage.

Surely there are others who share my fate. If you are one of them you know there are oodles of "remedies" out there. Some work, some don't. One works for the woman down the block, but now for you. The one you swear by doesn't work for your sister. Or maybe the one that worked on Tuesday does nothing for you come Friday.

What's a girl to do? I personally tried everything I could get my hands on.

The first advice given by many is to eat crackers first thing in the morning, before you even get out of bed. I tried it, but the dry, crumbly crackers tasted like sawdust in my morning mouth. It made me feel worse.

Next I tried ginger. I am a big believer in natural remedies and have long used ginger for a queasy stomach. It's amazing for seasickness. Sure enough, when I called Kaiser's advice line, ginger was the first thing they recommended, either in capsule from or using the root to brew tea. I didn't have it in me to tell her I'd been trying that for weeks. In fact, both my mom and grandma gave me candied ginger at Christmas, knowing my plight. I guess home remedies do tend to run in families. Combined with the candied ginger I'd already bought myself, I now find it all over the house, I'm pretty sure they're multiplying. Some days they help, others not.

I recalled being 16 and getting certified to scuba dive in Monterey. Let's just say the choppy waters and my stomach did not make friends. As I sat, green, on the beach, my mom walked up to a bakery and got me shortbread cookies. I don't know why, but they worked like magic, and I was good to go.

I now have a tin of shortbread the size of two footballs on my kitchen counter. Some mornings, they're the first things that will stay down. Other mornings, they do no good at all. I'm noticing a pattern here.

Vitamin B-6 was recommended by the fabulous nurse practitioner that I saw the last time I went in. I was to take one capsule in the morning, one a night. They did zip for me, yet others swear by it. Another hit and a miss.

Ginger ale, 7-up, dry toast, "Morning Sickness Magic" from the baby store, I've tried whatever I could find. Sadly, just as all of the books I read told me, there is no "cure," just things that can help alleviate the symptoms now and then. The only thing that worked for me was time. Things have been better for about a week now. After a month of being sick every single day at least once or twice, it has been a week of relative bliss. I do remember getting sick again last time in the third trimester, so here's hoping this one will be different.

Morning sickness just plain sucks, ask anyone who's been through it. But when I look at my little girl I'm reminded of just how very worth it this all is.

Write to Kristin at P.O. Box 6092, Napa, CA 94581, or at KrisRanuio@aol.com.