I made a post a couple of days ago about my anxiety having caught covid. I’ve since been feeling mostly better (in all respects) and I think sleeping better has a lot to be thanked for in respect to both my physical and mental recovery. But the anxiety is ebbing and flowing and in and of itself I’m aware it’s doing me (and tiny) no good.
I’m also aware (because of the wild and reckless Google rampage I have allowed myself to go on over the past few days) that the internet if full right now of research and articles relating to the dangers (many unspecified) of covid in pregnancy. Much of the data available relates to early in the pandemic and beyond what was true then and particularly in relation to Delta about serious outcomes in the third trimester, there is a whole host of other ominous small studies suggesting that even those of us with mild infections should worry what untold harm might be effecting our babies. I’m not actually hearing many stories on mn about women with mild infections having premature or unhealthy babies, but it’s very much out there on google being scary even when I specifically ask google to be nice.
In contrast to the small but still well publicised scary research studies, there are perishingly few sources of reassurance. It seems as though in the process of convincing pregnant women to get vaccinated (a goal I support) the impact of anxiety and mental health has been forgotten. We have been taught to fear this virus like nothing else for 3 years, and women in pregnancy are often desperate to get everything right - an impossible task and a level of responsibility unrivalled. So why can we not be allowed a little reassurance that the majority of women who have had this virus have had healthy pregnancies and healthy babies? Or maybe a little update on how the vaccine might have changed the impact of mild cases. I know it’s too early (still) and that I am lucky even to be pregnant now as opposed to 2020 (what the women pregnant that year endured is unimaginable), and that in time the research will come. But the representation of the sad stories (and each one is undoubtedly tragic) is amplified over any stories that might ease anxieties of those with covid now. I’m feeling as though the anxiety some of us face might even do more harm than the virus at this stage?
Many women by now must have had this virus, vaccinated or not, and have brought their children into the world. If this is you please share your story here so that others can hopefully feel comforted. Equally, if you’re a midwife and feel you can share if you’re currently routinely seeing women who have had covid (how common is this now?) and are having problems in pregnancy or with their children even after mild cases?
It feels like so much in relation to pregnancy is intentionally reassuring and protective of a mothers mental state, and in relation to covid this has been largely forgotten. I cannot be (and I know I am not) the first or only woman to need help getting her cortisol down. As a woman living this century I reserve my right to be reassured by the internet, so please, if you can, help me create a thread that does this 🙏