Feelings

When you’re pregnant it can sometimes seem as though you are not allowed to have other feelings as well. People expect you to be looking forward to the baby, to be excited and to ‘bloom’ all the time. You, yourself, may think that this is the way you ought to be. In fact, just like any other nine months in your life, you’re likely to have times when you feel low. And pregnancy does bring extra reasons for feeling worried or down, just as it brings many reasons for happiness.          

‘I think you have more extremes of emotion. You get more easily upset about things, and you can more easily get very happy about things.’

‘It frightens me, wondering what I’ve got to go through. People say different things, you know, so you don’t know what to think.’

‘I think it’s a lot to do with mind over matter. I think the thing to do is just try and relax and not be frightened. I mean, it’s happened to thousands and millions of people before you.’ 

Hormonal changes taking place in your body are responsible for much of the tiredness and nausea that some women feel in the early months and for some of the emotional upsets which can happen. You may find you cry more easily, lose your temper more, and so on.

Of course, there are many other reasons why you may feel rather down. You may have money worries or worries about work or where you are going to live. You may be anxious about whether you will cope as a parent, or about whether you’re really ready to be a parent at all. And many of these anxieties may be shared by your partner or family as well. This may be your first baby but not your partner’s so you may see and feel things differently. Talk through these feelings together.

Information provided by Health Promotion England.