Pregnancy anxiety support thread

[Kate3150]

Hey,

I thought it would be nice to set up a group for those suffering with anxiety at whatever stage of pregnancy.
I’m approaching 14 weeks and my anxiety has been up and down, particularly as I had a loss last year.
I’m currently having therapy and trying to stay active. Eating and drinking well...

Any tips/thoughts/rants welcome. xx

@DaisyMay25- How are things with you?
@Raindancer411- Sorry to hear you’re suffering with the physical symptoms. Have you heard from the consultant yet? I’m doing okay thanks, I’m 37 weeks tomorrow! Just hope he stays put until I have my ELCS! X

@Kate3150 Yes but I need to change the date as it is at 9am and I need to get my son to school

Hi everyone I’m 10 weeks pregnant and it’s my first baby! I suffer from mental health and I’m so over the moon that I’m finally pregnant after having complications since I was a child and trying for 3 years! I’m 28 and finally conceived! However I am really struggling mentally with anxiety which I see a psychiatrist but the way I am at the moment I seem to have no control over it! No matter what I do! I’m absolutely petrified of loosing the baby or something to go wrong! I worry myself that much I work myself up in a right state! However iv been really stressed this week with a lot going on! And For the past day it’s like I’m weeing out of my vagina and I’m sat here in a right panic worrying something is wrong! Iv had has some Odd thick white discharge to! Which again is scaring me! And I’m currently feeling really uncomfortable with my stomach and back!!i don’t know if this is normal or not but I’m really struggling!

@Emmii1991- Hello my darling and welcome to the thread.
I remember feeling exactly the same in the early stages. Wanting sooo much for everything to be ok and the baby to be safe. All you can do is take care of yourself the best you possibly can. I have focussed on this during my pregnancy and it’s really helped give me focus. So eating well, drinking lots of water, gentle exercise, pregnancy vitamins. Then for my mental health I had some counselling up until around 28/29 weeks??
With regards to the discharge I have had LOADS, I’ve been wearing a pantyliner since around 16/17 weeks??
Have you met your midwife yet!? X

Jumping on if that’s ok! I’m 32+3 I’ve always suffered with anxiety and agoraphobia. But since finding out I’m pregnant I’ve been quite chilled out and haven’t really been as panicky as I thought.

But I woke up this morning feeling really panicky and tights chested, like I really can’t breathe. No idea why. Baby is having a good old wriggle but it’s suddenly making me feel really claustrophobic.

I might give it a few days to settle and if it doesn’t I may go see the consultant. I hate feeling like this it gets in the way of life.

Just checking in. I had PND and anxiety following the birth of my first DC who is now five. It took a while to go away but it did! I’m now pregnant with no2 (5w5d)! We have wanted another child for years, but only recently felt my mental health was good enough to cope. Frustratingly I can feel myself steadily moving back into a state of anxiety, sleeplessness, focussing on the negative and over thinking everything. I feel I must take control of this sooner rather than later. May contact my old counsellor for support. Was very pleasantly surprised to see this thread up and running!

Hi @Kate3150 hope you’re good :)

@Emmii1991 I felt the same as you too. Took a while for me to conceive and I was and am still worrying although have started to slightly relax now I can feel baby move. In the first trimester your body changes so much so the discharge is normal like @Kate3150 said and I had constant aching for a while and at one point it felt like I’d wet myself and so I went in to get checked and everything was fine. The one thing I would say is if you’re worried about anything contact your MW as they are great. Also the guys on here have been amazing and it’s great to have somewhere to come and talk with people who feel the same as you. Bravo to @Kate3150 for setting this thread up 😀. I think it’s helped a lot of people.

@SexlessBoulderBelly- Hello my lovely, welcome to the thread. Sounds like you’ve done brilliantly so far in your pregnancy!
With regards to the tight chested, panicky feeling I can completely relate and considering you’re in the 3rd trimester I would say it could be related to baby having less room to move around and just generally being bigger. My little man has been VERY high up and even now I’m just over 37 weeks he is very high and I feel like I can’t breathe at times and he’s really pressing against my rib cage.
The way I deal with it is to remind myself it’s just the baby and it’s not my anxiety and that calms me down. I understand if that might not work for you, so monitoring it over the next few days would be a great idea. Does anything make the feeling better? Like standing up or sitting in a certain position? Would anything make you feel better in the short term, like talking to midwife. Id hate to think of you getting caught in a vicious cycle (like I have many times) of panicking about feel panicky as it can be crippling.
@peanutfoldover- Welcome poppet, firstly you have taken a HUGE step by acknowledging how you’re feeling and actively seeking support so that’s great. I’ve had counselling during my pregnancy (up until around 28/29 weeks) and it helped immensely! It was a nice space to have each week without someone telling me how I should be feeling. Do you feel anxious about the pregnancy itself or are you feeling anxious about how you might feel once baby is here?
@RC1985- Im doing okay thanks poppet, have refrained from putting Christmas tree up yet 😂. Hope alls well with you 😘 xx

Hi @Kate3150 well done for refraining from the Christmas hype in November 😂 good news is it’s December on Sunday so may the festivities begin! I’m ok, caught a cold though and can’t get rid of blocked nose. Normally I take day and night nurse but can’t take that now I’m pregnant 😔 so just riding it out. Can’t even use olbus oil or Sudafed.

@RC1985- Bless you 😚, can totally relate i had the exact same a couple of weeks ago. Lots and lots of hot drinks, REST (don’t push yourself!!). Remember your immune system is weaker anyway because of bubs, so you really must look after yourself. I purchased my first jar of honey when I was poorly and I was having lots of honey in hot water... it all cleared after a few days! Look after yourself lovely xx

@Kate3150 yes I remember you saying you had a cold. It’s just a blacked nose, sore throat and headache has gone thank god. Does honey and lemon work for a blocked nose though? I’m drinking plenty of water mind.

I took Thursday off work as felt awful and spent Saturday in bed. Come into work today but will take each day as it comes and if I feel bad, I won’t go in.

@Kate3150 sorry blocked nose not blacked nose. I haven’t knocked myself out lol 😂

@RC1985- I think honey and lemon is a good all rounder for colds in general, as we can’t really take anything. I took whatever I could that might provide some sort of soothing.
Hopefully you’re over the worst now poppet 😚

@Kate3150 fingers crossed 🤞

Thank you for the welcome @Kate3150 . My anxiety is all based around coping when the baby arrives:

1. potentially tackling PND again
2. managing DC1’s behaviour (she can be a little challenging, especially at bedtime) with a baby on my hip
3. how will DC1 cope without all the attention on her.
4. my age (I’m 39, but suddenly that feels really old!)
5. will my DH get through another few years of me being mentally ill
6. will I be able to control my temper when sleep deprived

It’s weird, prior to actually becoming pregnant I had this all in perspective. A lot of my counselling was to help me through the decision making process! But now I can only think of the negatives.

@peanutfoldover- It sounds like you’re really self
aware which is great. You know the triggers so that’s half way to tackling them.
I would say what you’re feeling to a certain extent is natural, HOWEVER as you’ve had PND and anxiety in the past I would say it’s important to seek support now. How do you feel about contacting your old counsellor? Have you got a date to meet your midwife yet?
With regards to “perspective” on things, I think it’s important to acknowledge the part pregnancy hormones play and I know to a certain extent they have effected my ability to think rationally at times.
I find hormones scary as you can’t see them, but they can have such a profound effect on thoughts and feelings. X

Hi, can I join?

I had quite severe anxiety during Uni which I got on top of 2/3 years ago. I’m now 22+6 pregnant and I’m noticing my anxiety is starting to interfere a bit with daily life.

I have anxiety around the baby. 2 MCs to to where we are, and am a high risk pregnancy due to a neuromuscular condition. A couple of weeks ago I lost a good glob of my plug and then had pains that came and went regularly. The midwife said I was 1cm dilated and I was kept in. Consultant re-examined the next morning and cervix was okay and everything calmed, but mentally I was a bit pants so have been off work for coming up to 2 weeks and want to go back Monday.

I’ve also noticed general anxiety is coming back. Prefer to stay home as that way I can’t crash the car, massively panicky about meat due to food poisoning risk, etc.

Some days are worse than others.

My county has very poor MH provision (from experience) and i gained my support from university services during my UG and PGCE - so am very reluctant to talk to midwife. I also don’t want to go on medication. Do you know of anything I could look for pregnancy triggered anxiety self help?

Sorry for the essay xx

@Kate3150 thank you for your reply. I’ll definitely see the counsellor again but think I’ll leave it till after January pay day just to take some strain off the old bank balance. Like you I’m really sensitive to hormones! I actually have always wondered if it was being induced last time that triggered my PND!

Anyone hoping to have a c section for mental health reasons? I’ve pretty much made up my mind that’s what I want.

@Keyboard91

Hiya! In my county the midwives have really set up a specialist mental health team. It wasn’t around when I had my daughter 5 years ago. Perhaps your area does have something like this? I think it would be a good thing to tell your midwife.

Really = recently

@peanutfoldover- ohhh i know... that’s the only downside to private counselling (the cost!).
I’m having a c section but mines because of surgeries I had last year.
Really interesting about the hormones thing... I wish there was more information about the effect they can have. It’s touched upon on these pregnancy info sites but not in any great depth.
@Keyboard91- Gosh what a journey you have been on already! To be honest your doing amazing talking about it and getting through it like you have.
In terms of options for help on your anxiety I would say CBT would be the most helpful and I understand there are pathways online (NHS sites) to assist with this. I went to see my GP at around 14/15 weeks and she gave me the site but as I was already having private counselling at the time I didn’t pursue it.
How would you feel about speaking to GP? I also didn’t want to go on any meds, just didn’t feel it was right for me as I wasn’t on any pre-pregnancy.
Are you seeing your consultant regularly due to being a higher risk pregnancy? X

@peanutfoldover I’ve got my 25 weeks midwife appointment in 10 days so I may mention it then if it’s clear I’m not managing. I know we have nothing specific to perinatal MH in my county, and it’s a 12 week wait for an assessment for services ... and then a wait for any support.

@Kate3150 thank you. It’s been a hard slog, and I do worry also how my disability will impact on my ability to be a good mum (on top of worrying about how he is doing in there). Getting a GP appointment within less than 6 weeks is pretty impossible, and when I add in restrictions due to my job, it’s a nightmare. I do have my midwife I could mention it too. I was on medication a few years ago for it, but it lowers my BP ... and my BP in pregnancy is through the floor! I saw consultant at 16 weeks, I think she said she would see me regularly from 28 weeks (can’t remember if I’m honest!). Difficulty I have is I have a very rare disease so I have a specialist in London (4 hours away) and am overseen by a neuro here ... but neither can tell me how pregnancy/labour will go and I feel like it’s taking all my choices away. I was told they want me to have an epidural on admission and I’m at high risk of a c-section ... when I wanted neither of those! So I think that’s also weighing on my mind as the next big thing is getting him out!

How we doing ladies? X

Ok, thought I was leaking amniotic fluid again and have had these stretching pains again so phoned maternity triage who told me to monitor over the day by using a maternity pad, if it’s soaked it’s fluid but if it’s just a bit in the middle it’s not. They said if I really still wasn’t happy I could get checked but it didn’t fill and baby is moving as normal. I’m going to get a scan before Xmas anyway. How are you, isn’t it Tuesday your booked in for?

For me it’s all about the nausea!

Kind of strange because my main anxiety symptom was always nausea and so I think it’s kind of triggering anxiety, a bit like muscle memory. Yesterday was awful, only have about an hour in the day when I didn’t feel sick. Hoping it doesn’t hang around long!