Martha Kalifatidis has been pregnant for 9 months. She's barely been able to get out of bed.

Martha Kalifatidis has had a very difficult pregnancy. 

The makeup artist and influencer, who met fiancé Michael Brunelli on season six of Married At First Sight, posted on Instagram earlier last month about the suffering she has endured over the last nine months.

"I don't know how I can be so up and down⁣," Martha wrote alongside a photo of her and Michael.

"I felt okay yesterday but today I literally feel like⁣ I'm dying.

"⁣Last week I spent four days straight in the house on⁣⁣ the couch. I thought maybe COVID, but I just did a test it's⁣⁣ negative⁣⁣. I have a sore throat, no energy AT ALL. ⁣I'm hot and⁣ cold. I don't want to get out of bed⁣. 

"I forced myself to get up and go get food just for⁣⁣ some momentum, ⁣but I couldn't even get myself out of⁣ the car once we arrived.⁣⁣"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Martha Kalifatidis (@marthaa__k)

The reality star, who was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) early in pregnancy, also wrote about the psychological difficulty of simply getting through the days when feeling so unwell.

"Yesterday my due date was pushed back to the 6th of⁣ March⁣, an extra week!⁣⁣ Every hour feels like a day,⁣ I have work commitments looming over my head and⁣ can't help but feel like I've completely neglected⁣ everything I worked so hard to build.⁣

"I feel like I'm at breaking point.⁣⁣ All I've felt for eight months is suffering.⁣ I want to scream!⁣⁣ I've completely lost myself. I feel like I'll never⁣⁣ feel normal or like myself again!⁣⁣"

Last week, at the tail end of her pregnancy, the reality star shared the gender of their baby.

"Oh boy do we have news," she captioned a video with a montage of clips on Instagram.

In the video, she and Michael open up a jewellery box that homes an infinity band with diamonds and blue stones.

"It's a boy," the couple scream excitedly in the voiceover.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Martha Kalifatidis (@marthaa__k)

Days later, it seems Martha may have accidentally shared the name she has chosen for her son. 

The 34-year-old shared photos of her recent baby shower on her Instagram Stories this week, including a photo of a guest book filled with messages from her friends and family. 

In one photo, her mother, Mary, referred to her grandchild as "Guiseppe" - the Italian form of the name Joseph. 

"Dearest, Guiseppe, you are my first grandchild," she wrote in her message. 

"You will be forever loved and spoilt. I know you will love me because I will spoil you so much. Everything your heart desires will be yours."

"Love you Guiseppe, can’t wait to meet you," she concluded the message.

Martha also confirmed that she's chosen an Italian name for her son in a Q&A on her Instagram Stories on Monday. 

"He has an Italian name, because he was conceived in Italy... potentially in this lil [sic] room," she wrote alongside a photo of her and Michael.

Image: Instagram@marthaa_k.

In November 2022, Martha recorded a special episode of her Swipe Up podcast about her experience with HG.

According to NSW Health, 1 in 100 pregnant women will experience HG, although this number may be higher. It usually starts before women are 10 weeks pregnant and for most the symptoms stop somewhere between 13 and 20 weeks. A few women like Martha have HG for their entire pregnancy. 

Watch: Martha gives advice to her five-year-old self. Post continues below.

Martha tells her Swipe Up co-host Roj Torabi that while she has experienced shocking HG symptoms, she knows other women have had it so much worse.

"It can be so bad that some women are hospitalised for the whole nine months," Martha tells Roj.

"I just had nausea and vomiting and it was sh*t, but at least I wasn't being fed through a tube."

When she first discovered she was pregnant, Martha's doctor in Athens thought she might have HG, but it wasn't until she returned home to Australia that she was officially diagnosed. 

"By that time, I had lost eight or nine kilos in just five weeks and my body was in ketosis. Now, my body is not my body anymore. All my muscle has just gone. I have no strength - even just walking up stairs is hard because I laid in bed for five months and wasted away."

While still on holiday in Greece with Michael, Martha's HG symptoms came on quickly and with force.

"You barely sleep, and you're in a dark room all day. It had to be cold. You don't know if it's day or night. Michael would make a million suggestions about what to eat. He would cut up three slices of a green apple and I couldn't get through it. I couldn't drink water. I would just lie there.

"A lot of the time, I wasn't even vomiting, just dry heaving, or it was bile. I was so dehydrated that my urine looked like a long black - it was brown and it was disgusting. 

"Everything would make me want to throw up. Every sound. The sunshine would come in and I would shout at Michael, 'Close the f**king door'! He would try to get me to come outside when we were in Athens and it was 40 degrees and I would go outside and throw up. I would go days without showering. It was just a whole lot of nothing."

By sharing what she was going through at the time on social media, Martha says she found a hugely supportive network of women online.

"I got thousands of messages from women who had experienced HG and it was so good to know I wasn't the only person. It gave me a little bit of hope. I could relate to that person and felt that someone else understood me."

Listen to an episode of The Quicky all about Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Post continues below.

Mental health wise, Martha explains she had many dark days, but it was Michael who suffered the most.

"He was really sad and in a bad place. He felt hopeless. As I became a vegetable, he did too. 

"He was by my side the whole time - even while I was having a shower to check I didn't faint. He rushed me to the doctors, made phone calls to the obstetrician, he has been amazing. He's an angel. 

"I was too sick to feel depressed. I would say things like, 'Tomorrow I am cancelling this, I am not doing it and I can't go on.' It was the fear it would never end. I can't do this Michael. It is so mentally challenging."

The constant nausea and sickness weren't the only symptoms and Martha tells Roj about dealing with reflux on top.

"A hormone called progesterone gets released when pregnant to help relax all your muscles to allow your body to grow and stretch to accommodate a baby. But what also happens is when certain muscles relax, you suffer from a permanent heartburn and chronic reflux as stomach acids are coming up into your esophagus. It's poison and feels like you need to spit every three seconds.

"Now that I am almost six months, the reflux is getting better, but it gets worse at night. I have four or five hours during the day when I have relief from it. Some foods trigger it and make me literally sit outside the bathroom door all night wanting to throw up.

"I felt like I was missing out on my life. When my parents came back from Greece, I could hear everyone talking and eating downstairs and having fun and I would be sitting in my room waiting for the days and hours to pass, wondering if I'll ever feel better."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Martha Kalifatidis (@marthaa__k)

Another side effect Martha had not expected was losing her libido and gaining a very acute sense of smell.

"Now I am feeling a bit better, [Michael] has tried to kiss me and the thought of having a tongue in my mouth - it makes me so sick! I'm not sure I can have sex while pregnant. The poor guy has been so neglected in every way. I couldn't even handle his smell. I don't know what it was, but even after he'd had a shower, I couldn't handle it!"

The good news for Martha and Michael was at every scan, the baby was fine and growing well even if Martha was losing weight and feeling awful.

"My organs weren't functioning, I wasn't having a bowel movement. Doctors said as long as you drink water and eat something - whatever what you can - it's fine. The baby is resilient! 

"I used to think babies are cute but never really had strong feelings. But now when I see babies in TikTok, I get excited and I can't wait, but it still doesn't feel real."

Martha tells Roj it was a combination of things including sleep (where possible) and both traditional and alternative medicine that ultimately helped her to survive the last five months.

"Acupuncture helped my reflux symptoms a lot. My obstetrician advised acupuncture, and she has been amazing. She also gave me anti-sickness medications which will stop you from throwing up but it doesn't stop you from feeling nauseous. 

"Now I'm further along, I have some relief. The mornings are still disgusting. I get up at 2.45am. I have insomnia so I am up lying there feeling sick but I can't move until I have eaten something.

"Michael brings me something in bed at 6am and then I can go back to sleep again. Then I can get up slowly again by midday. Then by 4 or 4.30pm I am done for the day as I know the reflux is coming. But it is getting better now."

Finally, Martha gives Roj her top tips for any pregnant women currently going through a tough time with HG.

"Take every day as it comes, chill and don't try to do a lot. The light at the end of the tunnel is dim but it's there.

"Take all the drugs if it helps you. A balance with the natural stuff helped too - acupuncture and massage and tea tree oil in the shower. 

"Finally, you can do it - I still have sh*t days at six months but be patient; there's a silver lining - your cute baby that you can take home at the end!

"You are stronger than you think you are."

Listen to the full episode of Swipe Up wherever you get your podcasts or here.

This article was published on January 11, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Instagram / @marthaa_k.