Motherhood-emotions

 

Your emotions might not necessarily only revolve around excitement when you’re pregnant. So you’re not alone if you’re feeling strong moods and emotions.

During pregnancy, a variety of hormones increase dramatically, peak during childbirth, and then crash back down to pre-pregnancy levels immediately after birth – estimated at a 1,000% change over the course of only five days. Since these hormones are linked to emotional states, someone who has just given birth typically experiences an emotional upheaval.

Most people (about 80%) experience some degree of emotional upheaval after childbirth — ranging from mood swings and crying spells to a spike in anxiety and difficulty sleeping. You may feel overwhelmed at times, and at others, euphoric.

Aside from emotional ups and downs caused by rising hormone levels in the first three months, the feeling of growing a new life can be exciting and awe-inspiring. It is also common for women to feel anxious, vulnerable and overwhelmed by the big changes that pregnancy and a new baby will bring.

Even if you feel excited by your pregnancy, you will undoubtedly have some unsettling thoughts. Perhaps there will also be some difficult decisions to make. Most women have many questions that they ask of themselves. They might doubt their ability as a mother, how their relationship might change or how they will manage financially.

Forgetfulness - fuzzy thinking and forgetfulness before and after birth may be a result of hormonal fluctuations, especially higher levels of progesterone. Sleep deprivation or the stress of adjusting to a major life transition may also be to blame.

Negative body image - During the second and third trimesters, as a woman's baby bump becomes more visible and she gains more weight, she may feel dissatisfied with her body and its appearance, and this may affect her self-esteem. Some pregnant women marvel at their rapidly changing bodies and feel radiant, while others worry about the weight gain and regaining their figures after delivering. Women face sociocultural pressures for thinness and body dissatisfaction even when pregnant, and that engaging in Fat Talk during pregnancy is detrimental to women's mental health, particularly for younger women.

Simply being aware that you may experience a rollercoaster of emotions right after giving birth will help normalize the intensity of what you may be feeling during those first few weeks.