irrational fears

[Hibou]

Does anyone get irrational fears during pregnancy? Want to talk about them? I have them, and I try not to dwell on them, but it seems like they're always there at the back of my mind. The biggest one is that something will be wrong with the baby. Besides that, I stress about dh dying in some tragic way. It's really morbid, I know, but I've talked to friends and it seems really common for women to worry during pg. What's the deal? Does anyone know why this happens? :confused:

[SamuraiEarthMama]

in one year, as a doula i worked with two ladies who lost their partners to death during pregnancy. so you can bet pregnancy is the time dh gets his life insurance papers all in order!

my fear right now is that something like trisomy 18 or some other genetic anomoly, or a birth injury, will cause a severely compromised baby to linger on for years, consuming massive family resources. i just don't have the faith that i can handle such a situation.

even if i do all the testing available today, there's still only a tiny number of problems that can be diagnosed prenatally. and i do believe the potential damage from testing (both physically and emotionally) is still greater than the potential benefits. so i'm not testing... but there's still the niggling fear in the back of my head.

i think it's very normal! we wouldn't be moms if we weren't worried at some level about our babies!

katje

[oceanbaby]

We have decided to have a homebirth, so my irrational fear is that some horrible emergency will happen where the baby would have been saved had I been in the hospital and I will forever live with the guilt. It's not consuming me, but it's definitely lingering in the back of my mind.

[mamaroni]

Me too! I have basically all the fears already listed. Something wrong with the baby, whether it's a genetic abonormality or a birth injury. . .and then also the sort of "fear of the unknown" of having my first homebirth. I do what I can to just forget about them. I have to say, though, that with how pg I am rigth now, all I'm really thinking about is "when will this baby come??" and the fears seems to have gone away.

seems like it's all normal!

[Penelope]

I fear violence toward me that would hurt or kill the baby. Or a car accident. I feel so vulnerable right now, hugely pregnant, and as though I would be *such* an easy target for someone who wanted to be evil.

(I'm not at risk for violence from anyone I know, like dh, or anything like that - just wanted to clarify!)

I don't have these kinds of thoughts when not pregnant or post-partum so I'm sure it's hormone-related.

[Jennifer H]

Car accidents. I will not pass a big rig on the freeway unless I have a very clear path several lanes away. I have visions of cars flying over the median (like in an action movie) and into my path. It's insane.

This morning I was imaging myself in the trauma center trying to tell them I was pregnant and trying to get ahold of my dh and figuring out who could pick up the boys. Soooo morbid!

We are driving to Los Angeles in two weeks and Hwy 5 just has two lanes (on each side of the freeway) all the way down and is mostly big trucks. I'm a nervous wreck! The truck speed limit is significantly slower than the car limit.