Kate Middleton Admitted In Hospital

Kate, 30, who is barely eight weeks' pregnant, was taken to the hospital just after lunch by her husband and immediately put on a drip to stop her becoming dehydrated. Doctors have taken the precautionary step of keeping her in for the next few days. The acute morning sickness suffered by the Duchess of Cambridge causes nausea and vomiting for up to five months of pregnancy – or, in rare cases, until the baby is born.

Known as hyperemesis gravidarum, it  afflicts one pregnancy in 50 and is much more serious than the nausea commonly experienced by expectant mothers.

The condition can lead to severe dehydration and puts both mother and baby at risk of being deprived of essential nutrients.

                            

Sufferers can be left vomiting up to 30 times a day, with exhausting and hazardous consequences. They cannot eat or drink without retching and may lose up to 10 per cent of their body weight, which can trigger a build-up of toxins in the blood or urine known as ketosis as the body tries to compensate for lack of food by mouth. 

Other symptoms of the condition – including low blood pressure and fast heart rate, headaches, lethargy or confusion – can also leave mothers-to-be feeling very unwell.