Pregnancy is a time of day dreaming and buying lacy things and rubbing a rounded belly at dusk while exhaling a happy, contented sigh. Right? Well, maybe it looks that way in pregnancy photo shoots, and maybe you do have moments like that, but let’s be honest – pregnancy can be hard. Even if you’ve been trying to conceive for years and this pregnancy is fulfilling your life long dream, actually being pregnant can be challenging. Physically, you’re likely to be experiencing all sorts of discomfort, but the part of it that isn’t talked about quite as often is the mental part. A mom’s feelings during pregnancy are anything but peaceful.
There’s a certain stigma associated with mental disturbances of any kind, or at least, people think there is. Our culture, thankfully, has come to be more open and accepting, but it’s still not information that people are likely to just put out there; especially, if being pregnant is a dream come true for them. They don’t want to sound ungrateful, after all…right?
The truth is, there is so much going on in your body when you’re pregnant, and it’s no surprise that the organ in your head that dictates when you blink and how you feel is going to get a little wonky. In the pregnancy books, they’ll just list it as a symptom – “mood swings.” Something simple like that. But, if you’re in the throes of it, you know that little line doesn’t begin to describe how you feel.
Feelings of depression, hopelessness, confusion, elation, anger, even regret, are all common, and people aren’t really talking about it.
Here are a couple of reasons to be HONEST about how you’re feeling during your pregnancy…
The Health of Yourself AND Your Baby
According to WebMD, 43% percent of all adults suffer adverse health affects from stress. When you’re carrying a child, the best way you can love your baby is to take care of yourself. Eat well, get enough rest and take care of your body. It’s no secret that holding in feelings of depression has negative effects on your body, which in turn will have a negative effect on the health of your baby.
AmericanPregnancy.org says that 14-23% of pregnant women experience depression, but of course that number is only based on the women who report it. With one in four women affected by depression in their lifetime, I’m sure that the statistics of depression during pregnancy are actually much higher. If you’re having feelings of depression and hopelessness, talk to someone. Get them out, because bottling them up is the worst thing you can do for yourself and your baby.
Help Other Women
She’s been having insane mood swings during pregnancy too? Well, if she can talk about it, I can talk about it.
It’s just human nature. Once you start being open, others will open up too. Being honest about how you feel, whether it’s good, bad, or absolutely crazy, will help other women by empowering them to be honest about how they feel too.
Whenever I’m pregnant, I think of that movie, What to Expect with Cameron Diaz. There’s that one pregnant woman played by Brooklyn Decker who is all perfect and happy and the other one, Elizabeth Banks, who is sweaty and miserable and peeing herself in public all the time. Both types of pregnant women exist, but I think there are far more sweaty, miserable, gross ones out there than we think.
The point is, be open. There’s nothing shameful about having crazy mood swings when you’re pregnant. It is a normal, hormonal side effect of carrying the little miracle you will be cooing over in a few months. Be honest with the people in your life. It will help you, your baby, and other women who are feeling the same way.
RELATED QUESTIONS
I thought it would make me feel sick bc of my food aversions but it seemed to give me energy, take away nauseous feeling and calm my anxiety
Any other Smart Moms experience something like this to something they ate during pregnancy?
