Will my baby arrive early?
Will my second baby come early? A question I was continually asking myself (and google) throughout my third trimester.
Never did I think that having a premature baby the first time, would make me constantly be on edge when I was pregnant with our second.
Looking back, I think this anxiety came from the terrible struggles we had during our first born’s first few months.
Well in fact, his first 10months! This wasn’t just in terms of his lack of sleeping but also the reasons why he wasn’t sleeping, such as our breastfeeding struggles, reflux and Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy. The reality of going through these dark days again, filled me with constant dread and fear during my second pregnancy.
In summary, here are my four top tips on how to cope with the anxiety of having another premature baby. You can find the video blog below these tips.
Stay within your comfort zone
It really helped me to only do what I felt comfortable with in the third trimester, especially as I approached 34 weeks (the week I was born and a week before Oliver, our first born arrived). If stepping out of my comfort zone made me too anxious, then I didn’t do it. This meant making some hard decisions such as missing a family wedding in London, or making the decision to not be on my own with Oliver from Week 35.
Ask for help
Being open with my loved ones was key to helping me cope with my anxiety. I created a “plan” of who would look after Oliver if I spontaneously went in labour again. My friends and family rallied around me to make sure I was always with someone towards the end of the pregnancy or if I wasn’t that I could call on someone close by.
Talk to professionals
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of support I had from professionals. Most of my community midwives were brilliant and having regular ante natal appointments with consultants who took my anxiety seriously really did make a huge difference. A dedicated mental health midwife referred me to our wellbeing service which also provided me with extra emotional support during a very anxious time.
Follow your intuition
This one is extremely difficult if you are suffering from anxiety or trauma from having a previous premature baby. It is a very blurry line between intuition and paranoia. And I consider myself to be intuitive, but baby no 2 really did keep me on my toes (See the video blog to find out more). However, I decided that any intuition or paranoia I felt, I would take it seriously and act accordingly. This helped me cope with my anxiety as it just wasn’t worth the worry of not knowing if everything was going to be okay.
So here is my third and final episode of the Honestly Pregnancy video “Will my baby be born prematurely?”
If you missed my first two episodes of Honestly Pregnancy, you can find them below.
