I’m 27 weeks pregnant and I’m really struggling with anxiety. I lost my baby girl at 22 weeks in 2018 then had my son in 2019. His pregnancy was straight forward but I was extremely anxious the entire time, although I had appts every 2 weeks and cervical scans snd swabs etc for reassurance.
This time I am pregnant with another girl which I think has triggered my grief in itself, but also I do not have the same support I had last time. I have only had my 12&20 week scans so far and anxiety had been building and I’d been having nightmares etc again like I did after the birth.
I had a terrible week last week and rang midwife who referred me back to bereavement midwife for more counselling, unfortunately this isn’t available for another 2 weeks. I had a bit of a breakdown in work on thursday (I work in an acute hospital as an AHP) and then couldn’t face going in on Friday. I rang gp who gave me a line for a week, and so I’m due back on Friday. She also said if I haven’t heard or it will take long for counselling to contact her this week and she can refer me to mental health team.
I had been feeling slightly better and not as overwhelmed so thought I could go back to work and await this but yesterday again I just felt so down and tearful, just generally anxious not sure why and tbh just looking advice on what to do.
I don’t know whether to try go back to work and a bit of normality but risk getting overwhelmed again, or maybe ask for another line and try to keep anxiety down at home and relax with my son as much as possible. I feel silly for struggling so much despite having a healthy child since my loss and feel embarrassed being off work but I have felt better not having to be professional and put on a brave face on work. I don’t know if mental health team would be helpful as I think I need pregnancy related support rather than mental health input but I’m not sure.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Sorry this was so long