Pregnant Kate hospitalized for morning sickness
LONDON (AP) — Get the nursery ready: Prince William and his wife Catherine are expecting their first child.
St. James's Palace announced the pregnancy Monday, saying that the Duchess of Cambridge — formerly known as Kate Middleton — has a severe form of morning sickness and is currently in a London hospital. William is at his wife's side.
The palace said that since the pregnancy is in its "very early stages," the 30-year-old duchess is expected to stay in the hospital for several days and will require a period of rest afterward.
William is second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, so the couple's first child would normally become monarch in due course.
In recent days, Middleton has kept up royal appearances — recently playing field hockey with schoolchildren at her former school.
The confirmation of her pregnancy caps a jam-packed year of highs and lows for the young royals, who were married in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey last year.
They have traveled the world extensively as part of Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee celebrations and weathered the embarrassment of a nude photos scandal, after a tabloid snapper published topless images of the duchess.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said the news bookended a year that saw the royal family riding high in popular esteem after celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne.
"We're riding on a royal high at the moment at the end of the diamond jubilee year," he said. "People enjoyed the royal romance last year and now there's this. It's just a good news story amid all the doom and gloom."
Speculation about when William and his bride would start a family has been rife since their wedding.
William's mother — the late Princess Diana — got pregnant just four months after her wedding in 1981. Like Kate, Diana reportedly suffered from morning sickness for months and complained of constant media attention.
"The whole world is watching my stomach", Diana once said.
American tabloid speculation of the pregnancy has been rampant for months. One newspaper even cited anonymous sources talking about Kate's hormone levels. Others have focused on the first signs of the royal bump.
News of the pregnancy drew congratulations from across the U.K. establishment.
The palace said the royal family was "delighted" by the news, while Prime Minister David Cameron wrote on Twitter that the royals "will make wonderful parents."
Not only are the attractive young couple popular — with William's easy common touch reminding many of his mother, the late Princess Diana — but their child is expected to play an important role in British national life for decades to come.
Whether boy or girl, the child will be next in line behind William in the line of succession to the throne, Cabinet Office officials have said.
Leaders of Britain and the 15 former colonies that have the monarch as their head of state agreed in 2011 to new rules which give females equal status with males in the order of succession.
Although none of the nations had legislated to make the change as of September 2012, the British Cabinet Office confirmed that this is now the de-facto rule.
On the couple's tour of Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in September, William reportedly said he hoped he and Kate would have two children.
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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Paisley Dodds contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
I was in Britain for a short while, We had a fling, I take full responsibility for this child...
while i am thrilled for them, i dont need to be updated thru out her pregnancy. give the girl some privacy please.
 @mstercor I agree.  I was so happy to hear she was pregnant, but then I was dreading the onslaught of media coverage that is bound to follow.  I just hope they give her space.
I gather some people need to learn the difference between morning sickness and severe morning sickness. They are completely different things. "Severe morning sickness" is layman's terms for Hyperemesis gravidarum. That is more than just some sickness in the morning or some through the day. This is an extreme form. As in you can't eat or drink anything. Nothing will stay down all day, every day. When this happens, you absolutely must go to the hospital, otherwise both you and the baby will die from dehydration.
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Unless you've had Hyperemesis gravidarum, you don't understand just how bad it is. I *wish* I'd had regular ole morning sickness when I was pregnant. Would have saved me a lot of ER visits and hospital admissions.
How about some important news like the bombing of the Social Security office in Arizona on Friday by an Iraqi? This is pathetic news reporting any way you look at it!
@flyroy This is GREAT news in an otherwise gloomy and doomy time. If you only like "important" news...why did you decide to come to this page? You chose it...just making a stupid point?
The Prince needs to get medieval on his old man so he can get the throne sooner. Then dissolve parliament. And later go after all of it's former colonies. I mean before some other countries do.
There is nothing that makes one feel more happy or hopeful then news of a little one on the way. Be it baby elephant or baby royal, this is very nice news. Diana would have been so happy. Now...for all of you unread pukes out there who don't know much...Kate has Hyperemesis gravidarum...it really shouldn't be called morning sickness, but it's a severe form that happens very early in pregnancy. It can cause malnutrition, dehydration, and can lead to other complications that could result in the termination of an early pregnancy. She's hospitalized to be able to get the fluids and medications needed to stop the severity. I'm very happy for them and look forward to seeing the new royal :)
 @fracas I had that and it is absolutely awful. You can't hold anything down whatsoever. I had a pretty severe version that lasted almost the entire pregnancy. I had multiple hospital visits to get fluids and medications. At the beginning that was just a stop gap - it would allow me to drink and eat a limited amount of stuff for a short period of time. Then ER here I come.
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I got lucky the last time. Providence put me on the fluids and meds and then a couple hours later (they put me straight into the maternity ward that time) they had me start eating. That did the trick. I was stick sick, but I could eat and drink.
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Ended up weighing less when our daughter was born than I did at conception.Â
@Jenni S. Yes...I've heard it can be really debilitating :( Wonder what it does to the baby, if anything. You made it thru though! Can you imagine going thru that 100 years ago? Not good :(
 @fracas  @Jenni We've always wondered if that could be the cause behind our daughter's autism. Had it not been for that morning sickness, I would've had an ideal pregnancy. Didn't have any complications and she was only about 2 weeks early, which is well within the "margin of error" for pregnancies.
@fracas ......great post, fracas!
@Rob C 503 Thank youuuuu :) I come up with a good one now and again ::giggle::
@Rob C 503 LOL...double entendre? LOL!!
@fracas ......if you can do it now and again, you're doing way better then me !
If she has twins, I assume first born would be heir to the throne but what if they're conjoined??
Gosh all you nasty people criticizing because she was hospitalized for morning sickness - maybe it's severe enough that she got dehydrated. Or there are any number of other things that could cause her to need to be hospitalized. Just because you are either a man & can't relate (no matter what your wife/sister/mother/whoever did when she was pregnant) or you as a woman didn't have it that bad doesn't mean you should be snarky. Give the poor lady a break!
I say congrats to the couple.
@katiemcc ...well said Katie !
They seem to be a lovely couple, I wish them all the best. Morning sickness isn't any fun, especially if it's severe. I threw up every 15-30 mins for a month with my first one and was close to being hospitalized and my younger sister did have to be hospitalized with her first pregnancy because of dehydration for a few days, so no fun! I'm betting Kate will feel better after 12 or so weeks along.Â
Really , morning sickness? Hospitalized. No sympathy here.
 @Civ She likely has the severe kind that keeps you from eating or drinking anything at all for the entire day. That leads to all sorts of major issues. When that happens you should always head to the hospital so they can get you hydrated.
Uh-oh, Charles is probably trembling in his knickers....along comes another threat to finally becoming king...joking aside, may he/she/them be healthy.
Morning sickness?? Oh boo hoo. Grow up and deal with it like every other woman.
 @Jamie It's not just morning sickness. As the story said, it was severe morning sickness, which is the layman terms for what I had when I was pregnant. The way that every other woman deals with that is by going to the hospital for fluids, medicine, and rest. It's the diagnosis that every ObGyn uses. With severe morning sickness it's all day every day - you can't eat or drink anything at all. Nothing will stay down. You can go for a few days, but then you start becoming very weak and you can have a miscarriage. It is necessary that you get fluids and anti-nausea drugs like Phenergan.
Happy for them!!!!
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I wonder if he will have her beheaded if it's a girl?
 @Beergod LOL!! Kate wants to know why he keeps taking her to Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London.
This can be a very serious condition. I hope Kate's condition resolves before too long, she can't afford to lose much weight. A friend of mine had this throughout her pregnancies and it led to two preemies, not something anyone wants.
http://www.helpher.org/hyperemesis-gravidarum/
If the medical professionals feel she needs hospitalization, who are we to comment? Men should have babies, then you might understand what complications can arise. Instead of being snarky, pray that mother and baby do well for an entire pregnancy term!
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I agree - this is a couple that does not seem to be the type that lets a little sickness stop them, and they are both atheletic. They are definitley not slackers, so I would assume a significant medical issue. Could be forced into taking it easy. Even a Duchess has a boss - the queen.
So much for those fany pants clothes she wears. Now she gets to wear frumpy maternity wear.
 @JLO I would be willing to bet that she will be wearing maternity clothes that will never be called frumpy. Lady has too much style for frumpy. But mostly I hope she can work through the severe morning sickness and deliver a healthy baby.
What a wuss. Â My wife went to work, sickness and all, right up to a week before my daughter was born. Â I tried to get her to stay home but she wouldn't have it.
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 @negativerep There is a huge difference between morning sickness and severe morning sickness. Your wife would not have been able to do that if she'd had severe morning sickness - both her and the baby would have died from dehydration.
Congratulations !!! God save the Queen !
One word..."TWITS" !
I am sure that everybody that gets morning sickness is hospitalized by the NHS.
Maybe this work out to be like a Royal version of "Rosemary's Baby".