4 Things that scared me during my pregnancy that shouldn’t

What not to fear during pregnancy!

I have never been so scared about anything ever, not until I got pregnant. Waiting for exam results never worried me, but I was always filled with dread every single time I went for a scan during my pregnancy. Even though I had an amazing pregnancy, it was, by far, the most stressful time of my life. Looking back at those days now, I sometimes wish I had enjoyed my pregnancy more.

I was a bundle of nerves throughout my pregnancy. Barring the occasional moments when I kicked back and relaxed, I was constantly plagued with fear about my pregnancy. The ‘duty’ of carrying another life and keeping it safe gave me sleepless nights.

Now when I hold Baby C in my arms, I feel that the responsibility of keeping her safe and healthy is even huger now. I can physically see her and every time she cries, my heart lurches. I can see her pain and tears. I can hear her cry and see her smile. I can go to any lengths now to protect her. Now, when I look back at all the panic attacks I suffered from during my pregnancy, I feel they are nothing compared to the attacks I get now.

During my pregnancy, everything worried me. While some of those worries and concerns were legitimate, here are five instances when I worried myself silly over issues that weren’t issues at all. Here they are:

Not feeling the baby move soon enough

• Everyone told me I would start to feel the baby move by the end of my fifth month. No one told me that if I did not feel the movements by the end of the fifth month, it was OK and not necessarily an issue (unless there were other problems involved as well). I did not feel Baby C move, not until almost my 26^th week. Even then the movements were very faint. By this time I had worried myself sick thinking that something was terribly wrong. Even after I had my anomaly scan by the end of the fifth month, and everything was normal, I was still so scared. Turns out I shouldn’t have been. I had an anterior placenta and at times this did make feeling the baby’s movements very difficult. So, even though my baby was moving fine, I just couldn’t feel it yet. Someone should have told me that before!

No pregnancy symptoms

• Other than my missed period, I did not have any pregnancy symptoms. Throughout my pregnancy, I did not suffer from any morning sickness, did not have any kind of food aversion, had no issues with any smells and pretty much went about my day as usual. Now when I look back on those days, I realize I should have enjoyed them so much more, but I didn’t. I spent my entire first trimester scared sick that there was something terribly wrong with my pregnancy – how else do you explain the lack of these symptoms. Even my gynecologist said that I will eventually get them, but I did not. Rest assured, everything went smoothly with my pregnancy and I realized later on that lack of these symptoms might not be a common phenomenon, but it’s not an impossible one. This does not necessarily mean something is wrong with the pregnancy, especially if all the tests and scans show otherwise.

Alcohol consumption

• So I did not actually drink alcohol, but it was Christmas time, and we had gone shopping. This was when we saw free samples of Christmas cake being distributed. I am not a big fan of store brought plum cakes, but blame it on my pregnancy hormones and my hunger pangs, but I ended up eating a whole bunch of these samples. The lady distributing the sample also took one look at my tummy and decided I needed a lot of cake!  Finally after satiating my craving and hunger, I thanked her and decided to ask her about the cake (what type it was, the pricing etc.) That’s when she told me it was rum cake and not plum cake (face-palm moment!) You can now imagine my panic. I was so scared, so panicked, I honestly did not know what to do. I was worried about what all that alcohol would do my baby.  I spoke to my gynecologist and she assured me that I should be OK and come over to the clinic in case I felt any uneasiness or pain. Thankfully, everything was ok.
  Consuming alcohol during pregnancy is absolutely not OK, but panicking so much is not right either – that harms the fetus as well.

A bumpy ride

• I was working till the end of my sixth month and would usually take a cab to work and back. One of those days, I ended up in a cab with an absolutely horrible driver. Even though, right on boarding the cab, I told him I was pregnant and to take it slow, he decided to give me the bumpiest ride ever! He decide to go over every pothole possible and he apparently had no idea what brakes were! By the time I reached home, I was crying so hard – more so because of the panic and not any pain. My husband immediately called my gynecologist who asked me to come over, but I couldn’t get myself to sit in a car again and take the journey. So, I decide to wait and watch. Night passed and by morning I was all ok.  We went to the clinic and got a scan done, and everything was absolutely fine. My gynecologists explained to me that even though it’s definitely not a good thing to go on a bumpy ride when pregnant, our fetus is very well protected inside the tummy. One single bumpy ride is very less likely to cause any issues. 
  This was by far one of the scariest incidents of my pregnancy, however, in hindsight I realize, I shouldn’t have panicked so much, not unless I knew for sure if something was wrong.

Bonus incident:

So we were moving house during the third month of my pregnancy. On the day we were moving, we had a bunch of packers at home with my husband supervising them, and me sitting on a chair looking after our fur babies. At one point, I had to go urinate and when I was done, I saw drops of blood on the tissue paper. My heart came out of my chest – I went numb with fear. I just came out, showed the paper to my husband and started crying. Poor hubby, he did not know what to do! Should we rush to the hospital now? But, we couldn’t, not with these men at home! So, I decided to wear a sanitary pad and hold on till they were done and then we’d go to the hospital. I went back to the rest room, and cleaned up and saw no blood on the tissue. Confused I double checked and realized I wasn’t bleeding at all. That’s when I realized, I had cut my finger right before I had come to the bathroom, the first time, and it was the blood from my finger which was on the tissue. Oh! The relief! I rushed out and sheepishly told the hubby about it, caught the rear end of a stern glare from him and went back to minding the fur babies. Again, in hind sight, I should have double checked the first time.

This said, if you are worried or scared about anything during your pregnancy, always follow your instincts and bring your concerns to your doctor. Ask your gynecologist any questions you may have and if you are worried about anything at all, it is advisable to contact your doctor and let them know at any point in time.