What can they do?

[DearDinah]

I'm 17 weeks pregnant & struggling to keep my life together, a lot has happened very recently & I don't feel I'm coping well anymore. I'm worried all the stress will hurt my baby somehow I know I need to see GP, but worried about whether that will label me a potential bad mother I don't feel I can go off work as I'm the only employee & if I do a tonne of work will just pile up & be waiting for me & I don't want to take any medicines because of baby. What if anything would they be able to do to help me?

Hi Dinah. Sorry to read you're struggling at the moment. I would urge you to go to your GP as I'm sure they will be able to help you and there will be medicationg that is safe to take when you're pregnant.

You could also ask to speak to your midwife, health visitor

Hopefully other mums and mums-to-be with similar experience will be along shortly. I just wanted to wish you lots of luck and hope you will keep posting for support and advice.

Hi there, i felt much the same while pregnant. Loads and loads of stress and anxiety which then turned into depression and then severe pnd. I wish i could go back in time and have spoken to someone while i was pregnant so that would be my advice. Speak to your gp ir midwife sooner rather than later. You don't have to just 'put up with it' and you certainly shouldn't feel that you're not coping or that you'll be a bad mother. Stress is is a very serious condition.

Be really kind to yourself too. Treat yourself as you would a friend xx

Hi please ask to speak to someone now. Ask to see a councillor at the very least and they will only give you meds that won't harm baby.

I had postnatal depression and I'm now pregnant with DC2 and I'm terrified it will happen again as it was an awful time. I'm being referred to see someone at my next appt as I want to do everything in my power to prevent it happening again.

I know it's not the same situation but please speak to someone soon because the sooner you do the sooner you can feel better and you can enjoy your little bundle of joy when they arrive. No one will judge you for asking for help xx

Please do speak to your GP and midwife. No one will label you as a potential bad mother because that's not what it is about. Am sorry to hear you are having such a difficult time but finding a sympathetic ear in your GP+/- midwife will be a help to start with and your GP can consider whether or not it sounds like you need medication or any other type of talking therapies. Please do it, don't leave it. You don't want to look back and wish you had, believe me. Sooner rather than later is the best way to go about talking about these things