I've only just found out I'm preggers, for the first time, and can't stop bloody worrying! It's 1am and I need to be asleep, but I've just got a thousand and one things running through my head. For instance (please, please, it IS funny but no **** taking!): I've done yet another pregnancy test (and yes, I have done a fair few). I managed to get 10 HcG strips off t'internet, so now I seem to be determined to use them all up! Not like it's changed overnight or anything - I am still preggers, and the higher HcG is making me feel a bit more :gag:

Then I'm panicking over work; ectopic pregnancy, etc, etc. I'm driving myself :loopy: ! Is this normal? Am I going to have a full 9 months of flipping worrying?!

yes, it is normal, and yes, you do now have 9 months of it to worry about. in fact, it's all worry from here on in, because once the baby is born you'll be worrying about whether it's too hot/cold/breathing too fast/slowly/eating enough/too much/feeding correctly/pooing correctly/temperature too high/low/sleeping on back/front/meningitis/coughs/colds/chicken pox.......

enjoy!

the positives far outweigh the negatives though, don't worry about that one :D

some of your fears will probably disappear after your 12 week scan - you'll stop worrying about ectopic pregnancy at the very least.

Totally agree with BC here, it's normal and what's more - you have 18 years of it to come at least :)

Hi there,

Don't worry - it's normal to worry! Best thing to do is to accept it and just stay positive and look after yourself. My partner worried a lot less after the 12 week scan and it does get easier.:)

You'll keep worrying, and if you're anything like me, get flashes of all the terrible things that could happen - curse of a vivid imagination - but you will learn to cope with it better, and the worries will lessen.
Most important thing you can do is to keep your sense of humour on you at all times, don't set it down and lose it anwhere, it will be your number one ally from here on in!

I worried lots too. I think my worry was worst during the first few weeks though, so it should get easier. I think the 12 week scan eases some worries and the 20 week scan eases some more. When you start feeling the baby move regularly that helps too. Though I still find other things to worry about but certainly not as much. Also my morning sickness helped my worry as I felt to sick to worry much for a while (other than about puking somewhere inappropriate!!). I think you worry more for a first pregnancy as you have less to occupy you and everything is so new. Try to keep busy (within reason). When I was off work over Christmas I just had too much time on my hands. Being at work means I just have to get on with it and stop thinking so much about being pregnant. Good luck and congratulations :-)

Worrying and paranoia about whether things will work out OK, and whether the baby will be healthy, and whether you had a glass of wine without knowing that you were pregnant, and whether that has affected the baby, and whether you had soft cheese, and whether you'll be up to the job of parenting, and whether anything's gone wrong since the last time that you checked that it was all ok- it's all perfectly normal.

Whatever else you do- don't worry about worrying. Worrying about worrying makes you unwell.

Just accept that you're feeling insecure about this and that it's normal, predictable and that means that everything's going along just hunkydory.

incidentally, i kept doing pregnancy tests just for the sake of it, too. and every single time it came up positive i'd stand there smirking and/or cackling with glee. one of my big worries was whether i'd carry the baby through to 3 months, so when i had a scan at about 11 weeks i relaxed a lot because i knew she'd made it through those most difficult bits. as the famous developmental geneticist lewis wolpert said "it is not birth, death or marriage which is the most important time in your life, but gastrulation". he really is the life of the party.

(gastrulation being the process of turning from a ball of cells into a ball of cells with insides on the inside. i could tell all of you all about it, because i know lots about it, but then i too might be accused of being the life of the party).

you will find your self worrying about things like will i get through the first vital wks, is it kicking enough/too much, is it growing, the birth, whether it will be healthy, then comes the worries like if its going to be ok with the babystitter, are they eating enough/toomuch are thay going to settle in at school, will they make freinds, who there freinds are ect ect. we all worry its part of parenthood

Hi I worried to from the minute I found out I was pregnant to & I found that talking to as many friendly people as possible through out who remind you that it is completly normal & that we all do the same helped. I did 5 pregnancy tests in the 1st week alone on my 1st pregnancy & I know that alot of my friends did the same. We just made sure that we were always on call for any worries with a chat & juice & cake (fab at any time!) So please don't worry about worrying,my little girl is 4 now & I even went on to have another one so it worked out in the end. Hope all goes well & I bet it does & if you ever have any questions no matter how daft ring a mate or chat to someone on the forum as parents we can all relate. Take care

I found pregnancy to be a terribly anxious time, so I think it's completely normal. I kept thinking: I'll stop feeling anxious after the first scan, but then I just started worrying about the next pregnancy milestone: blood tests, 16 week scan, 20 weeks scan... and on and on until the birth. And then you worry about the baby! Welcome to the world of parenthood ;) But it's worth all the worrying for every minute you get to spend with them :)

On a practical note, I found pregnancy yoga and relaxation helped. Stress isn't the best for pregnancy (and of course, i stressed about being stressed :hihi: ) And trust that things will be ok, they are in almost all cases.

And good luck!

Oh gosh, yessss!!! I worried that I wasn't suffering from morning sickness, I worried that I felt fine, I worried that I didn't feel fine, I worried that the bump was too big/small/round/lumpy, I worried about worrying! Honestly, you worry about everything and like babychickens has said, it doesn't stop once you have given birth, because once they are here, you worry about them just as much. But I think by now, you are used to worrying, and it just seems to be another nagging thought at the back of your mind that is always there.

As well as the many other things i worried about, my most recent worry was that at the 20wk scan our baby had a jaw like a monkey :shocked: This was eased when we had a 4D scan at the weekend that showed it to have a perfectly normal jaw, but now i am concerned that its top lip doesnt look right :roll: Honestly. Sure this is only because i dont have any more serious symptoms to worry about at the moment as my abdominal pains have gone! Am sure mum's to be are programmed to worry!