Hi,

I am in my first trimester of pregnancy and am frequently nauseous and have difficulty eating. I was wondering whether it is permissible for me to eat at times when I am normally not allowed to eat, if I feel hungry or if I think it will help my nausea. A few examples that have come up:

1. If we are invited out for Shabbos lunch, and it is a longish walk, I need to eat before we go but sometimes I do not feel up to drinking a whole half-cup of grape juice first (as I would need to in order to make Kiddush).
2. Last week, after lighting candles, I became incredibly thirsty, but I waited to drink until my husband came home from shul and made Kiddush. Was I required to wait? And even if not, is it preferable for me to wait, or is it more important that I remain hydrated even if its only a 45-minute wait?
3. My pregnancy book suggests, as a way of staving off nausea, that I keep crackers by the side of my bed and eat them before getting out of bed. This would mean eating before washing my hands, so I have not been doing it; but am I permitted to? And if I do, would I say a bracha first?
4. I recently became very hungry shortly before Shabbos, and the only thing readily available to eat was bread. Even though I was taught that one should not wash and eat a meal shortly before Shabbos, I did so anyhow because I was pretty sure that if I didnt eat, I would become nauseous and would probably have a hard time eating anything for the rest of the night. (Since the purpose of the halacha is so that one can enjoy the Shabbos meal, I figured that was okay; there was no one around whom I could ask.)

I don't know if this is the type of question your site is designed to answer; if you feel that I would be better off addressing this to a rav, please let me know and I will do so. Thank you very much for your help.