Rising Above The Emotional Roller Coaster When Expecting

So your Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test with Conception Indicator revealed the good news: you are expecting a bundle of joy. Congratulations! But wait. If conceiving a baby is something you have wanted as long as you can remember, why are you not feeling like it’s rainbows and sunshine all the time?

You are not alone. Many pregnant moms can attest that pregnancy is a real roller-coaster of emotions. And there is one word to explain it all – hormones.

These mood swings are only apparent during the first trimester, tapering off in the following months as your hormones stabilise. So if you find yourself bursting into uncontrollable giggles one minute and bawling into tears the next, don’t be alarmed; it could just be the hormonal fluctuations giving your emotions a run for their money.

Additionally, your body will experience changes that will make you want to frown instead of putting on a smile. The dreaded morning sickness, courtesy of high levels of the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), doesn’t occur only in the morning as most women discover. This is the bane of many pregnant women in the first trimester, making them wish the due date would hurry up and arrive already.

Then there is the water retention, caused by the adrenal glands producing the hormones aldosterone and cortisol, which occurs in the late stages of pregnancy. Basically, from the first trimester to the last, it can be a downright miserable experience when your clothes and shoes don’t fit well, and you can’t keep down anything you eat or drink for very long.

Tips On Thriving During Your Pregnancy

Before you get resigned by the idea that you will be a ball of negativity throughout your pregnancy, here are some tips to help you cope:

Find the calm moments in between your mood swings to talk with your partner and explain to them why your emotions may lead you to act or say something hurtful to them. Let them know how they can support you during this time. If you are anxious about your bodily changes, childbirth, childcare, breastfeeding and daycare, find fellow parents whom you can talk to and find out how they have coped. Knowing that you are not alone in this journey helps you feel better and confident about the pregnancy journey and beyond.

And to allay the stress and frustrations that are creeping in as you deal with your pregnancy, you can turn to meditation and simple breathing techniques. One breathing technique that yoga practitioners like to use is the 4-7-8 breathing method, which is to breathe in deeply through your nose for a count of 4, hold it for a count of 7 and then exhale it through your mouth for a count of 8. The flow of oxygen into your brain will refresh and your mind, and as you exhale, imagine all your worries wash far away from you together with the expelled breaths.

Before we end, here are some quotes that may bring some positivity to your pregnancy as you excitedly await the unfolding of the new chapter in your life:

“A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart until the day you die.” – Mary Mason

“Feeling fat lasts nine months but the joy of becoming a mom lasts forever.” – Nikki Dalton

“No matter how bad my day’s been, it takes one little kick to make everything feel alright.” – Anonymous