Becoming a parent is the turning moment in every woman’s life. However, it is completely natural to worry and have fears regarding different issues throughout the pregnancy. Well, here are the top twelve pregnancy fears experienced by pregnant women and the reasons to relax and not worry too much about them.
The main pregnancy fears that every woman has are reaching the hospital in time, relating morning sickness to baby starvation, risk of miscarriage, hurting the fetus, umbilical cord suffocation, risk of birth defects, gestational diabetes, emergency C-section, painful labor, death fear, water breaking into public and premature birth.
Read More: 11 Home Remedies to Stop Pelvic Pain during Pregnancy
Top 12 Pregnancy Fears
1. Reaching the Hospital in Time
As a pregnant woman, it is completely natural for you to fear about reaching the hospital in time. To overcome this fear, the gap between labor and delivery is somewhere between 12 and 21 hours. Sufficient time though to make it to the hospital!
2. Relating Morning Sickness to Baby Starvation
Morning sickness is common during the first trimester as well as during the later stages of pregnancy. Morning sickness makes eating a huge challenge thus making you feel worried about the baby’s nutrition supply. However, during the initial months of pregnancy, very little extra food is required by the baby to grow. The baby is feeding off the vitamin stores and gets all that is required for proper growth.
3. Risk of Miscarriage
About 25% of women go through a miscarriage, especially during their first pregnancy. In case of a miscarriage, the body flushes out an improperly growing fetus. However, unluckily, it cannot be avoided in case of natural reasons. But there is no reason to be pessimistic and worry about a miscarriage. After all, 75% of women do not go through a miscarriage during pregnancy.
Read More: 15 Miscarriage Foods To Avoid During Early Pregnancy
4. Hurting the Fetus
It is worth noting that the little one growing inside you is surrounded by a lot of fluid. This fluid makes it difficult for you to harm the baby with your daily movements. The system created in our body by Mother Nature works wonders to protect the little one before he/she arrives into this world.
Read More: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Symptom, Cause, Risk, Prevention
5. Umbilical Cord Suffocation
This is another fear faced by many women is the possibility of the umbilical cord to get stuck around the neck of the fetus to cause suffocation. Although umbilical cord complications can take a serious form, if treated promptly by doctors or health professionals, it can get easier to avoid serious consequences.
Read More: 11 Ways to Protect your Baby’s Umbilical Stump
6. Risk of Birth Defects
Birth defects can occur in the womb during the first trimester of pregnancy due to organ malformation or low nutrition. These can also occur due to other factors like conceiving in late 30s or genetic disorders. Well, if you have the same fear, there are ways to prevent these disorders by keeping away from smoking, alcohol, and maintaining healthy weight and blood sugar levels.
7. Gestational Diabetes
During pregnancy, the body becomes resistant to insulin so as to supply sufficient glucose for the proper nourishment of the fetus. But, the good news is that gestational diabetes is not permanent and goes away soon after the delivery. However, as per research, gestational diabetes can trigger diabetes in future as well as lead to complications like pre-mature birth, pre-eclampsia, and a need for C-section. Therefore, make it a point to get a routine blood glucose test between week 24 and 28 of pregnancy.
Read More: All You Need To Learn About Gestational Diabetes Diet
8. Emergency C-Section
Going through labor pain is common at delivery time. Although C-section has become very common, it is not necessary that you might need to get one. Well, don’t fear! C-section is recently being considered as the best and safest mode of delivery where there is any complication involved in pregnancy.
Read More: 11 Side Effects Of C-section No One Told You About
9. Painful Labor
All through the pregnancy, you stay busy with prenatal visits for checkups and support network along with other preparations to welcome the baby. As the delivery time approaches, you might get the jitters of having contractions or labor. So, take tips from friends and family and come up with a good birth plan.
Read More: 11 Signs of Labor You Must Know
10. Death Fear
This is the most common fear among pregnant women. Well, medical technology has gained such advancements that you need not fear anymore for the same plight.
Read More: 11 Home Remedies to Treat Asthma During Pregnancy
11. Water Breaking into Public
You might avoid going out and get home bound for the fear of water breaking in public. Although this can happen anywhere and anytime, it is important to remember that contractions come as a forewarning before the water breaks. And, if in case, the water breaks without a warning, be prepared that the baby can arrive any time and you don’t have much fluid left to gush out.
12. Premature Birth
Fearing about premature delivery is quite common. The thought of seeing your little angel in the incubator is pretty haunting. Therefore, try to maintain healthy weight and proper rest while completely avoiding stress and anxiety to avoid premature births.
Happy Motherhood!
