Pregnancy Anxiety: Real Talk

Pregnancy is a wonderful, life-changing chapter in life. It really is a miracle.

When I fell pregnant in 2023, I couldn’t believe it- my dreams came true and it was something I had wanted for a long time.

I think it’s natural and normal to feel anxious during pregnancy, things are out of control - your body is changing daily and hormones are up in the air.

You are far from alone if you feel anxious.

Pregnancy anxiety can look different for every mum, it may present itself by:

• Worrying about your health

• Feeling uneasy before appointments

• Googling every symptom

• Struggling to sleep or rest, even though you are exhausted

• Overthinking

• 
  

Again, as you can see, these are common and do not necessarily mean you have anxiety surrounding your pregnancy.

I can only share my story, and how my pregnancy went. Everyone’s story is different but hopefully you might be able to resonate with some aspects of it.

My pregnancy was smooth sailing as such, I have always been incredibly grateful and maybe this is why I would describe it as a smooth journey. It was only when I hit the third trimester- smack bang on that 28th week, did my body start displaying signs that it was struggling with energy. I knew pregnancy was exhausting but I think you just know when it comes to your own body if something isn’t quite right!

The first and second trimester I had worries which are normal, especially the first and before the 12 week scan. I highly recommend in my opinion the private scans, I only had one at 8 weeks but it helped massively as I felt for me it was too much of a stretch to wait until 12 weeks. My worries calmed down a little during the second trimester and I broke down the weeks and months into chunks, waiting for the next scan.

When I was nearing the third trimester, I remembered thinking how exhausted I was, asking my friends who had had babies and those around me but I felt deep down I was drained. My arms felt so heavy every day and I knew my diet could be better in terms of eating more protein, my intake of iron. I pushed a little bit at my GP, even though in pregnancy you get routine blood tests done, I was in a gap between two of the routine blood tests and started to feel my energy plummet and felt I could do something about it- or at least know. A visit to the GP and I was given iron tablets due to my iron being on the low side but I was also told my platelets were starting to drop- this started to concern me slightly even though there was absolutely nothing I could do and I was reassured it was fine. It is also normal apparently in some women, a slight drop in platelets during pregnancy is common and often harmless, and is referred to as condition called gestational thrombocytopenia. Sometimes, low platelets can be a sign of HELLP syndrome which does require medical evaluation, but also due to an increase of blood volume in your body. It doesn’t happen to everybody, and I did not research too much into it in terms of diet or if it was linked to iron- something I would do in hindsight.

Really, this blog post is about pregnancy anxiety, but for me, in hindsight I look back and think this is where my postpartum worries came from. It started brewing in pregnancy, and was amplified in those months after my birth.

I think for me, if I could read someone else’s story and understand that actually the signs were there in pregnancy and acknowledging these and working through them then, rather than ignore it and wait until the year after my baby was born to realise my postpartum journey could have been slightly different- more of a calmer mindset and able to take each season of postpartum with ease. Not to worry too much! Easier said than done, and isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing.

My pregnancy anxiety certainly started to ramp up a little with the indecision surrounding my birth. For potential health reasons, I was offered a cesarean after 35 weeks, but declined due to it being my first birth, and with my low platelets in the back of my head. I felt I needed extra support in helping lay all the facts on the table. I didn’t want to make such a huge decision - even though this was my birth. I would have looked into accessing private support, a course, finding a blog which I could relate to. It was my decision at the end of the day but it is such a huge decision.

Fast forward to the weeks after my birth, an emergency c-section due to a failed induction, and a short stay in NICU, this is where the postpartum anxiety started to creep in. It displayed itself in feeling extremely overwhelmed in hearing my baby cry, I was very worried about everything surrounding my babies health, and feeling very emotional a long time after what they say is the ‘baby blues’. Whether it is societies expectations, as well as the expectations we place on ourselves to ‘bounce back’ mentally, emotionally and physically, or our hormones being high, perhaps it is very normal to feel low and anxious- this is where it gets confusing. and this is why I started The Know Mama. I needed a place which had real mum’s, expert advice, honest conversations and a community to dive into in those early morning feeds, when the world feels a lot bigger then than it does in the middle of the day, distracted by people.

If you have been affected by all consuming thoughts in pregnancy or postpartum, reach out. I would love to hear your story.

I would also recommend looking into specific therapists who specialise in postpartum or pregnancy anxiety.

Check out the directory on the website for our recommended suppliers nationwide.

Thank you for reading.

Gina | The Know Mama x