Anxiety in pregnancy, not coping

[anxiousmumtobe33]

I'm 25 weeks pregnant and tbh it hasn't been an easy ride.

I've had severe sickness throughout, for which I'm on meds. I had a huge bleed from a haematoma at 12 weeks, which continued to bleed out for seven weeks. My husband had a mini nervous breakdown just over a month ago. Oh, and we moved house two weeks ago.

For the first week after we moved I was fine, tired but coping ok. But this week I feel exhausted, sick and scared for the future. I'm still waiting to see which local gp surgery will accept me (there's a shortage here) and in the meantime I can't transfer any of my maternity care to the new team because I don't have a GP referral. So I'm completely without support for this pregnancy.

My sickness is definitely exacerbated by stress and tiredness and lack of sleep is making everything seem worse.

I don't know why I'm whinging here. I just feel alone and scared.

Hi.
No wonder you are stressed and tired and anxious! That is a LOT to cope with - especially as your husband hasn't been well. It's very understandable that you are not feeling brilliant.
And that is crap about your GP situation. How long will it take?
My hospital was self referral. I didn't need anything from my GP.

Do you know which hospital you will go to?
If you have moved and haven't had any info yet then this tool is very useful..
www.which.co.uk/birth-choice/where-to-give-birth

Maybe you can self refer and not wait around.
i'm assuming you are in the UK.

I have recently been very anxious too. And i've had none of the major reasons you have. I woke up one day and just burst into tears and basically cried on and off for 2 days. I worried that the baby had stopped growing, that the baby had died and I hadn't realised, that I would lose the baby and never be able to have another...and stuff like that!
The day after all this I had a very small bleed - its my first bleed in the pregnancy so I ended up at the hospital. It all looks ok.and ive had none since. My husband booked in locally for a private scan yesterday to just reassure me. And sure enough the baby is looking well.

I heard Womens Hour on radio 4 on tuesday discussing post natal depression and studies show that those who suffer anxiety during pregnancy are more likely to suffer from Post natal depression after.
Im not saying this to scare you.
But I say it to motivate you to help yourself. You need to think of anxiety as an illness. If you had a broken arm you would seek medical support, get the right medication etc.
You need to do the same for the anxiety. You need to try and find stuff that can help you make it better. This is what I'm trying to do. I don't want to sound patronising, i'm just trying to share my thinking..
A few things_

• I was recommended to speak to IAPT - they can help you access emotional support during and after pregnancy. Are you based in London by any chance? I would need to know which borough as they have a separate number in each borough. I can give you the info. You could PM your area if you wanted.

• There are different tools. Mindfulness, yoga, meditation. How about trying some and seeing if one appeals?
  I was recommended this:

www.youtube.com/channel/UC-0CzRZeML8zw4pFTVDq65Q

She has ones for stress relief etc.

And this one:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCUK-gz5bmmjn2W2tJRJWeew

How about trying daily, nightly quick routines to try and calm your thought patterns and ground yourself.

I hope some of that helps.