Has anyone else done pregnancy before and if so how did you avoid driving yourself insane?
Hello! My partner and I started trying for a baby this year and we got pregnant MUCH faster than I was expecting - which is so exciting and fantastic news, but also a very big change and pretty scary and has thrown me into a series of unknowns.
I think I’m about 5/6 weeks pregnant and my current stresses at the moment are:
I have very few symptoms and I’m perpetually stressing out about if I’m actually pregnant or if I’ve had a missed miscarriage. I basically am just SUPER hungry and SUPER sleepy but that’s it! I did initially have very bad breast tenderness but that’s since gone and sometimes I feel nauseous but also I then wonder if I’m convincing myself I feel nauseous because I want to be because that would confirm I’m having a healthy and real baby. I’ve spoken about this with my doctor and she has no concerns about a missed miscarriage and obviously my blood test says I’m pregnant but I am SO in my own head about this.
I am becoming more and more stringent around my food and am constantly concerned about if what I’m eating could harm the baby. I’m sooooo sketched out about meat and if it’s cooked properly (this was already an issue for me that has been exacerbated), if it’s not food I’ve prepared myself I’m thinking “did they wash the vegetables? Is the food in date? Is it all safe?” And even for restaurants that we frequent I’m thinking “even though I’ve never had food poisoning here before what if this is the one time they mess up and I get it?”. I can’t always prepare every meal because of my energy levels (even before I was pregnant) and the overstimulation of cooking. I would just eat only my safe foods but I also want to make sure I’m getting proper nutrition.
My Husband is being super supportive: he’s been reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster and reassuring me with the meaning of actual statistics and science, but I am still so in my own head - especially about 1).
I also have fortnightly therapy appointments that I attend and will be talking more about this in and I think I’ll feel a lot better after my 8 week scan when I have proof that there is in fact a baby in there.
But I really wanted to know if anyone else’s experience was like this and if there was any practical things you did that helped you?