Pregnancy is a special and unique period in a woman’s life, but it comes with its share of emotions. The simultaneous feelings of joy and the anxiety and even the appearance of fears, which can be very diverse. Sometimes physical and emotional changes can be a bit much for a pregnant woman. It can be helpful to learn what you may need to keep yourself healthy as you bring a new life into the world.

There are a lot of factors in our day life that can cause anxiety. A moderate amount of new fears and worries are normal during this time of change: you might feel uncomfortable with your body changes, hormone levels, change of taste, less energy.  Every woman is different, each body is unique and every pregnancy will vary in its effects and symptoms,

You may be anxious about:

• the health of the child in the womb
• the ability to bear and give birth to a baby
• heredity (genetic diseases, predispositions)
• the financial situation to raise and provide the child with everything necessary.

These fears are nothing more than a product of the subconscious, and in moments of mental instability caused by hormonal changes during pregnancy, they make themselves felt in the most unpredictable way. So, the general level of anxiety of a pregnant woman increases, there may be sleep disturbances, appetite is lost, up to refusal of food. In this case, the concept of fear is a collection of uncertain disturbing events that surround a woman, including changes in herself.

You need to understand that anxiety while carrying a child is quite common, but you need to notice in time the negative impact of fears on the life of a pregnant woman. Often, over-anxiety is a factor in high blood pressure, unexpected bleeding, and even in the most severe cases, the cause of abortion or missed pregnancy.

It can be really difficult to cope with overwhelming emotions if pregnancy followed after miscarriages, infant loss or still birth. People think that “new” pregnancy will heal the loss, which is false statement making pregnant (again) woman feel anxious to share her emotions.

Being pregnant after a loss is genuinely heroic. Nothing will rock a mama to the core more than losing a child, working through the grief and becoming pregnant again. 

I invite my clients to create space for GRIEF. Grief is messy, unpredictable, raw and uniquely expressed. I frame grief as a process with varying moments of intensity popping up in unexpected ways – unexpected tears walking by a baby, trying to hide physical changes of showing so you can keep the secret of being pregnant just a little longer, preoccupied with thoughts of something going wrong with this pregnancy, avoiding friends who has children, or conversations about babies.

If you experience grief that catches you off guard when you’re pregnant, this is entirely normal. Be gentle with yourself and let go of any judgment. Grieving the baby you lost and feeling excited about the new pregnancy might be confusing but understandable. 

Allow yourself to experience the roller coaster of emotions you may have without judging yourself or thinking it should be a certain way. Instead, accept what you are feeling and move through the grief as it happens.

When worry gets in the way of everyday activities or prevents you from sleeping, eating, or taking care of your family or functioning at work, it is time to seek professional support.

Reach out to supportive friends, share your fears with close family, find suitable therapy support group, engage in talking therapy, allow yourself to talk about your feelings understanding your grief moving towards the joy and excitement of new pregnancy.

You are not alone in what you are going through and you will get through this. 

Remember, Rainbow babies are unique and teach us lessons we never knew we needed to learn.