The 10 things pregnant women are most likely to worry about
How many of these did you experience? Is there anything you think should be added?
It's no surprise to us here at MFM HQ - nor to most of you, either, we suspect - that worries around pregnancy affect LOTS of women.
In fact, a new survey suggests that 1 in 5 women have severe anxiety in the early stages of pregnancy, with the number one cause of concern being the health of their unborn child.
The full list of things we stress about, based on a study by a health company, are:
- The health of their baby (85%)
- Losing their baby (65%)
- All the stories about things that can go wrong (46%)
- The unknown (38%)
- Intense morning sickness or fatigue 36%)
- Unexpected changes to their body (25%)
- Struggling to keep the pregnancy a secret (23%)
- Pregnancy symptoms (e.g. pain or spotting) (23%)
- How the pregnancy would fit into their life/personal circumstances (23%)
- Not being able to tell friends or colleagues about the pregnancy (20%)
Hmmm - some of these certainly sound familiar to us - how about you?
The team have gone down this list, and between us, reckon we felt most of these at some point during pregnancy.
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Though it's important to note that these worries do differ from antenatal depression (if you're concerned you might have more than a case of anxiety, talk to your doctor).
In many ways, we totally get why more and more women are feeling nervous over pregnancy these days.
Because as much as there is loads of helpful information around to keep you sane, there pretty much isn't a day that goes by without the headlines carrying some scary story about how doing x or y when you're expecting can have implications for your unborn baby.
The good news is that you're not alone in feeling like this - and that usually these worries pass once you reach the later stages of pregnancy.
What do you think?
Does this list ring true for you? Is there anything not here that you think should be included?
If you've had more than one baby - did you find your anxiety was reduced the second time around? Tell us in the comments below or over on Facebook
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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