Anxiety and Pregnancy/Raising Children? Is it possible?

chrinsky

Hello all!  First time poster here.  We are pre-TTC (Hubby and I are finally coming around to the idea of having children).  I suffer from severe daily anxiety and I am looking for suggestions, success stories, reassurance, support, etc that it is possible to be pregnant and raise a child.  I have so many worries and concerns about being able to handle being pregnant, the birthing process and then raising a child afterwards.  Currently if my anxiety gets too out of control I am able to take Ativan, but I know that you can't do that when you are pregnant.  Is it really as TERRIFYING to be pregnant and raise a child as I have it worked up to be in my head?!  Help!

Thank you in advance for your replies!

ltmacs

I  have had anxiety, (germ phobia mostly).  It got really bad when I was pregnant with my first, a lot of it had to do with my job that I hated, I could barely eat, I was a mess.  I  quit my job and went to a psychologist for a little while. I found a new job that I really liked. This helped, but I didn't get totally better.  I worried about my daughter constantly (when she wasn't with me) that some horrible accident was going to happen.  Then I got pregnant with the second one.  After I gave birth to the second one the anxiety spiked again.   My older one was 2, and I realized that I needed to get my anxiety under control for their sake or else they might start mimicking my behavior.  So I go to a psychologist every 2 weeks, she helps keep me normal.

mamadeez

I didn't plan my pregnancy but was very lucky that I had already identified tools to deal with my anxiety before hand. I looked into several programs that worked with adjusting habitual thought patterns, environmental triggers, and effective ways to bring myself to a calm resting state. Find some tools that work best for you.

The hormones thus far have created sensations of anxiety that I have linked to fairly strange things. Flares of depression have returned seemingly for no reason. With a strong support, confidence in your tools and honest dialogue with your midwife/doctor it can be managed. It might be hard and get better or worse but I comfort myself by thinking that is generally true with pregnancy/parenting anywho.

Beautifulbodysynergy

I am so sorry for your anxiety. I had anxiety after the birth of my son, mostly imagining the terrible things that may happen ( falling down stairs, accidentally dropping him, etc). What helped me, I know this sounds strange, was to imagine myself in his place. SO when I was scared he might die getting hit by a car, I would imagine myself in his place (me getting hit) and it made that thought disappear. I t was just a trick I found helpful.

fourdieters

Try to remember and trust in a higher power, be is spiritual or whatever, when it comes to your kids. I have anxiety too and was on steady anti anxiety meds for 10 plus years prior to my first and now second child. Just hang in there and know you can get back on the meds after birth. You don't have to be perfect to be a mom. There is a reason you are pregnant and a soon to be mom