Anxiety and pregnancy

[NewlyMintedPeasant]

I've always been prone to a bit of worrying/ anxiety but (sometimes with DH's help) I've kept on top of it to the degree I don't need support. I feel it a bit more in pregnancy, worry about the baby etc. I was doing fine this pregnancy but a load of silly mistakes seem to have raised it.

First they lost my blood tests (that's ok) but then the second set (which were done very badlyand bruised my whole arm) weren't labelled. The midwife left a voicemail on my phone saying there was a problem with them and to ring. I didn't sleep all night and googled everything in a worry until getting through the next day to be told they just hadn't been labelled. I was tested a third time for both my booking in bloods and the quadruple test. A week after this I got a letter saying they had the results and they needed further investigation and possibly I needed treatment. I worried again, went to the hospital and was told the letter was sent my mistake (it was sent apparently because they didn't realise I'd already been retested after the unlabelled test). I THEN worried it was't sent in error but I the midwife who told me it was didn't check properly as she looked so rushed...

It just seems to have tipped the balance. I'm getting over the worries about the baby a bit (I'm sleeping again). However it seems to have increased my anxiety towards other things too and knocked my confidence a bit. I'm worried about work etc and keep having silly thoughts about all the possible things to go wrong.

I complained to PALS and now wish I hadn't as I don't want a phonecall to discuss it all again and I feel stupid for complaining.

I'm just venting, but sharing as in RL everyone might think I'm a loon.

Has anyone else experienced increased anxiety in pregnancy that affects them so much? I have no real reasons to worry, yet I'm not doing much as I spend so much time with introverted worrying.

Yes, me too! I'm an anxious person at the best of times, but being pregnant and has really ramped things up - I'm dreading what I'll be like once the baby's actually in my arms :o

My top tips are: share your worries with DP, if he adds balance - mine is a lifesaver, and always tells me to "stop catastrophising" which makes me realise I'm over-worrying.

Don't google things, that way lies madness.

And try, as best you can, to not worry about the things you can't do anything about - even if it's just, "I can't do anything about x until tomorrow when the GP opens, so I'm not going to think about it at all tonight".

(DP calls that last one "putting it in a box under the bed" and you can even visualise yourself doing just that if it helps - every time your worry rears its head, just put it back in its box under the bed now who sounds like a loon? )

Fluffy good to hear from someone else. I have 2 step kids and a ds with no issues among them so I should be ok. I normally take these steps but just feel a bit tight-chested/ upset tummy-ish (mildly) all the time right now. Just on edge.

It sounds like maybe you would benefit from some general relaxation exercises then? I've enjoyed Paul McKenna's "Stress" CD/book? :)

(Waves at fluffy)

Was going to post similar to fluffy, plus yep got that teeshirt currently!

Totally mad I know but you could try learning to crochet from YouTube and making a simple baby blanket while watching a subtitled Swedish murder series, have found the counting stitches and reading subtitles very distracting and so far about the only thing that really works.

The purpose of anxiety evolutionary wise is to keep us cautious and safe however evolution hasn't adapted to Dr Google yet and he really messes it up. Stay away but no harm in double checking/following up blood tests etc by phoning docs, mw or hospital (or all three!)

(ive too been driven nuts by blood tests shenannigans)

:o clarella I knit and crochet to relax too - great suggestion!