Pregnancy is a time of day dreaming and buying lacy things and rubbing a rounded belly at dusk while exhaling a happy, contented sigh. Right? Well, maybe it looks that way in pregnancy photo shoots, and maybe you do have moments like that, but let’s be honest – pregnancy can be hard. Even if you’ve been trying to conceive for years and this pregnancy is fulfilling your life long dream, actually being pregnant can be challenging. Physically, you’re likely to be experiencing all sorts of discomfort, but the part of it that isn’t talked about quite as often is the mental part. A mom’s feelings during pregnancy are anything but peaceful.



There’s a certain stigma associated with mental disturbances of any kind, or at least, people think there is. Our culture, thankfully, has come to be more open and accepting, but it’s still not information that people are likely to just put out there; especially, if being pregnant is a dream come true for them. They don’t want to sound ungrateful, after all…right?

The truth is, there is so much going on in your body when you’re pregnant, and it’s no surprise that the organ in your head that dictates when you blink and how you feel is going to get a little wonky. In the pregnancy books, they’ll just list it as a symptom – “mood swings.” Something simple like that. But, if you’re in the throes of it, you know that little line doesn’t begin to describe how you feel.

Feelings of depression, hopelessness, confusion, elation, anger, even regret, are all common, and people aren’t really talking about it.

Here are a couple of reasons to be HONEST about how you’re feeling during your pregnancy…

The Health of Yourself AND Your Baby

According to WebMD, 43% percent of all adults suffer adverse health affects from stress. When you’re carrying a child, the best way you can love your baby is to take care of yourself. Eat well, get enough rest and take care of your body. It’s no secret that holding in feelings of depression has negative effects on your body, which in turn will have a negative effect on the health of your baby.

AmericanPregnancy.org says that 14-23% of pregnant women experience depression, but of course that number is only based on the women who report it. With one in four women affected by depression in their lifetime, I’m sure that the statistics of depression during pregnancy are actually much higher. If you’re having feelings of depression and hopelessness, talk to someone. Get them out, because bottling them up is the worst thing you can do for yourself and your baby.

Help Other Women

She’s been having insane mood swings during pregnancy too? Well, if she can talk about it, I can talk about it.

It’s just human nature. Once you start being open, others will open up too. Being honest about how you feel, whether it’s good, bad, or absolutely crazy, will help other women by empowering them to be honest about how they feel too.

Whenever I’m pregnant, I think of that movie, What to Expect with Cameron Diaz. There’s that one pregnant woman played by Brooklyn Decker who is all perfect and happy and the other one, Elizabeth Banks, who is sweaty and miserable and peeing herself in public all the time. Both types of pregnant women exist, but I think there are far more sweaty, miserable, gross ones out there than we think.

The point is, be open. There’s nothing shameful about having crazy mood swings when you’re pregnant. It is a normal, hormonal side effect of carrying the little miracle you will be cooing over in a few months. Be honest with the people in your life. It will help you, your baby, and other women who are feeling the same way.

RELATED QUESTIONS

“Were your gut feelings about what sex your baby was while you were pregnant correct? How about if you have at least 1 boy and 1 girl? Did you feel differently during pregnancy? Already have a son and would really like to buy some pink stuff for the new one. I think it’s a girl and curious about whether my “feeling” has any validity.”

I’m not supposed to crave ice during pregnancy but I can still chew it right? If I’m not craving it?… I just like the feeling. Lol

Has anyone experienced any upper back pain during pregnancy? Like shoulder blade, and in between the shoulder blades as well? It’s like a stabbing feeling, as well as an itchy feeling.. Its driving me nuts. I’m 37 weeks pregnant, and had fallen asleep twice, both times my toddler woke me up, and now I’m wide awake and in pain. Wish my husband understood that I need rest, instead of playing his dumb games.

Did any of you ladies develop hemorrhoids during pregnancy? I hear it’s pretty common. I’ve been feeling pressure in my butt lately I guess cuz the baby is getting bigger and now I feel like I have a hemorrhoid developing. I’ve never had one before! I’ll be 31 weeks Monday.

I’ve feeling really tired lately, sometimes I can’t even breathe and my heart beats like crazy. It happens a lot at night and every morning when I wake up. I get dizzy and everything goes dark for like 10 seconds every time I get off my bed or even in the shower I feel like I’m about to faint or something, my head gets super heavy. It also happens when I get hungry. I’m really weak. Does this happen to everyone during pregnancy or is it just me? I’m 11 weeks and I’ve been cramping a lot.

I’m currently 31 weeks pregnant. I just took a long hard look in the mirror and I hate what I see 🙁 I used to take my flat toned tummy for granted, I never worked for it a day in my life. I’ve gained about 50 lbs so far this pregnancy and emotionally it’s taking a big toll on me, I just hate the way I look now. I hear all these other moms say how sexy they felt during pregnancy and I can’t relate to that at all. Can any other moms relate to how I’m feeling?

Any other mommas deal with heart palpitations, or the feeling of your heart skipping beats after pregnancy? I’ve always had them, but they were much worse during pregnancy and after birth. Just wondering if they’re pretty normal? I’ve always been told that they’re pretty harmless, but they’re still frightening & pretty annoying.

Depression during pregnancy? I’m 29 weeks and been really down today. Not necessarily sad, just not feeling too happy. It’s 12:30pm and I haven’t eaten dinner. I’m just not hungry. I had a few yogurt cups because I know I need to eat. My SO suggested I take a shower but nothing has changed. Anyone know what may help knock me out of this fog?

So, I’m 16 weeks pregnant & I’ve just found out that I’m anemic (I know that I need to increase my iron, by adding an iron pill to my prenatals.. no big deal), but I’ve also learned that my thyroid count is low.. Those two together sums up why I’ve been feeling the way I have lately.. Has anyone been through this during pregnancy? They didn’t tell me what to do for my thyroid problem.. Just said she wanted to re-test next visit, and if it is still low she’d put me on medicine. Any advice?

So I’m 13 weeks prego now and my SO made me a veggie omelet with tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions, avocados, cheese & cucumbers on the side and I instantly felt better!!

I thought it would make me feel sick bc of my food aversions but it seemed to give me energy, take away nauseous feeling and calm my anxiety

Any other Smart Moms experience something like this to something they ate during pregnancy?

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