Relieve anxiety while pregnant by following my 3 very simple steps to gain peace of mind during this very special time.
Pregnancy is a special time, but it can also be a very overwhelming time. Your body is changing, and you may feel tired and depleted, staying home more often than you used to. These changes can trigger anxiety.
I experienced pregnancy anxiety myself, so these tips are what I actually did to relieve anxiety while pregnant in my own experience.
Related: Grounding meditation
Watch the video or continue reading below…
I’ve had two babies.
My first pregnancy was kind of like a dream pregnancy. It was exactly textbook and went pretty much exactly as it should from conception right through until birth.
With my second pregnancy, however, I took a little longer to fall pregnant to start with and then I just kept worrying about miscarrying for the first trimester.
Then I found out I had gestational diabetes and then at about 34 weeks, I had an extra scan which showed that my little boy’s legs weren’t growing quite on track as we had hoped. His thigh bones were measuring a little bit short and I Googled (big mistake!) and found out that it could be a soft marker for things like Down syndrome and other illnesses that children can be born with genetically.
So, that was quite late to receive news like that and I just went to an absolute anxious tailspin when I looked into this. My little boy was born on the first of May 2014, perfectly healthy except that his blood sugar crashed due to my gestational diabetes and it just turned out that he’s got short little legs.
His father’s Italian so, I guess, shortness runs in their bloodline a little bit (haha). And he does, to this day, have short little legs and he’s absolutely beautiful and absolutely perfect in every single way.
But I just wanted to say that I definitely can understand feeling anxious during pregnancy. It’s a time of unknowing, you’re not going to know every single thing that’s going on every step of the way and there is no possible way to know what’s happening in every single step of the way.
However, I’ve been through it. I got through it. I found useful ways to relieve anxiety while pregnant. I survived.
You are where you are, you’re going through it, you will survive and millions upon millions of women throughout time and right now are pregnant just like you are.
So you are, by no means, alone.
Step 1: Know that you aren’t alone
And that’s really step one to relieve anxiety while pregnant: Understand that you aren’t alone, that you will get through this and other women just like you and just like me also experience anxiety while they are pregnant, either due to perceived illnesses, maybe, in the baby or perceived illnesses in yourself or just worrying about the birthing process or just worrying about life after the birth when you’ve got the baby at home.
All of this is very natural and very normal and lots and lots of mothers just like you and me go through exactly the same thing.
Step 2: Keep affirming “I got this” to relieve anxiety while pregnant
Step two is just reaffirming to yourself every step of the way, “I’ve got this. I know what I’m doing. I’m pregnant right now, my body is doing exactly what it needs to do I’m doing exactly what I need to do and no matter what happens, no matter what uncertainty I’m going into, I’ve got this.”
And you do.
You know what you’re doing and it’s amazing how when it comes to the time to birth your child, your body will know exactly what it needs to do in that moment in that time.
I went to childbirth classes and I felt prepared.
However, once you’re in there, once you’re birthing, you will be amazed at how your body will just know what it’s doing.
And even if you do opt to have an epidural, still, your body will know exactly what it’s doing.
You know when to push, your body will just do what it needs to do to birth that baby.
And also knowing that, while everyone will tell you their ‘horror story’ to do with childbirth, you just need to understand that your situation is unique.
This is a very important thing to remember, to help relieve anxiety while pregnant.
I can’t count the amount of people that came to me and wanted to tell me in gory detail every single little thing that went wrong during their pregnancy and during their childbirth.
And while that might feel unhelpful at the time, I think it affirms the fact that no matter what’s going on, you’ll know what you’re doing at the time.
You’ll know what you’ll need to do. Your body will do what it needs to do. Your medical team or your birthing team will do whatever needs to happen to bring you through this stage and to bring your baby into the world.
So, reaffirm to yourself no matter what, throughout the pregnancy, throughout the birthing, even in those first few weeks of having baby at home, “I’ve got this.” Even if you feel like you don’t, reaffirming to yourself that you will get through it is just so important.
Step 3: Understand that nothing, and nobody, is ever perfect
That brings me to step three to relieve anxiety while pregnant, and that is accepting that nothing and nobody is ever perfect in this world.
Not me, not you, not your own mother, not your friends that have had babies.
No one is ever perfect.
We all just do this in our own way.
We’re all just getting through this the very best that we can.
There is no way to do pregnancy perfectly, and letting go of the need to do that is so important to relieve anxiety while pregnant.
So, giving yourself so much extra love during this time is so important – no matter what you’re facing, no matter what the odds are, no matter how high the mountain is that you feel that you need to climb in getting through this pregnancy and getting through childbirth and the anxiety that that brings, just understanding that no one and nobody is ever perfect, not you, not me.
You are not alone.
I’ve been where you are and I’ve felt what you’re feeling and other women right now are going through exactly what you’re going through and are feeling what you’re feeling.
I got through it, you’ll get through it, and millions of other women have and will get through it as well.
Being extra kind to yourself is so important during this time as well and I have a grounding meditation which will be perfect for really bringing yourself back to you, bringing yourself back to alignment, bringing yourself down into your body and really bringing your energy down to connect with the core of the earth which is so important at this time.
Birthing a baby is such a grounding and earthing experience, so it’s really important to feel like the earth is supporting you during this time. So, please do go and download my grounding exercise. It takes all of two minutes and it will really, really help you to relieve anxiety while pregnant.
Love + light
Eva xo
