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| Being a mom: how to prepare for the birth of a child and maintain harmony in the soul |
During pregnancy, women often experience stress, which can negatively affect the general condition of the body,
the development of the baby and the outcome of childbirth. If anxiety persists, a pregnant woman should work
with a psychologist to understand the cause of fears, work through them and reduce the likelihood of negative
consequences.
Why it is important to reduce stress levels during pregnancy
Stress accompanies us throughout our lives, and in small amounts it can even be useful - keeps us in tone.
Danger for expectant mothers is high stress and cases when fear and anxiety turn into a chronic state.
The main advice of doctors and psychologists for pregnant women is to avoid severe stress.
Negative emotions change the hormonal background, which causes hypertonus of the uterus. In early terms, this
is fraught with miscarriage, in late terms - premature labor.
Adrenaline, produced by stress, narrows the vessels of the abdominal cavity. The resulting fetal hypoxia
(lack of oxygen) can lead to delayed intrauterine development, pathologies.
Stress often causes a change in fetal presentation, which complicates the natural process of labor. The only way
out in this situation most often becomes a Caesarean section.
When nervousness weakens the immune system, aggravate chronic diseases, more frequent colds. Increases the
level of cortisol (stress hormone), the baby may develop diseases of the cardiovascular system, malformations.
Increased anxiety during pregnancy is one of the causes of sleep problems in the baby. It is also possible to
develop asymmetry of limbs, violation of brain functions: attention, thinking, memory.
Avoid these problems will help the pregnant woman work with a psychologist. It happens that such help is
necessary after childbirth. Consultations with a psychologist help young parents, single and large mothers to cope
with the difficulties they experience in the new status, learn to solve problems without accumulating stress.
The main fears of pregnant women
During pregnancy, stress arises for various reasons: it can be problems with her husband, difficulties at work,
natural disasters ... But often fears are associated with the physiological state of the woman, that is, dictated by
the pregnancy itself.
If the pregnancy is unplanned, panic is inevitable. Fear arises as soon as a woman made a test, and may not leave
until delivery.
Scared of complications during pregnancy: whether it is possible to work at the computer, what to do if there was
infection with coronavirus or other infections ....
The process of childbirth is scary. Old stories of friends, pictures from movies come to mind. Scared of pain,
helplessness, lack of power over the body.
Often pregnant women are afraid that they will lose their figure and will not be able to regain their former shape.
One of the strongest feelings is fear for the health of the baby: whether everything will be fine with him, and
suddenly serious genetic diseases or pathologies will appear.
Fear of becoming a bad mom often haunts not only first-born, but also moms with experience: how to establish
breastfeeding, arrange family life - and all have time.
These fears are overlaid with domestic problems - housing, financial. All this leads to severe stress, to cope with
which it is difficult to cope independently. In such a situation, the help of a psychologist for a pregnant woman is
very important and is often the only one leading to real results.
How stress affects the development of the child
Babies who developed under conditions of constant stress are often overexcitable or, on the contrary, inhibited.
They have a lower intelligence quotient and reduced brain volume, a high risk of pathologies and the development
of mental disorders in the future.
And these are not just words. Psychologists working with pregnant women and moms on maternity leave have
made observations that have led to an unequivocal conclusion: stress and pregnancy are incompatible.
In the late '90s in Quebec, freezing rain left people without power for weeks. Pregnant women, later working with
a psychologist, shared how scared they were the whole time. After observing children born after the ice storm,
experts noted lowered IQs, speech and physical developmental problems.
How a psychologist helps a pregnant woman to cope with stress
The primary task of a psychologist when working with a pregnant woman is to help her realize the problem - the
presence of fears and stress. And then explain to the woman that the coming changes are really exciting, but this
is not a reason for stress. If you change the attitude to the situation, the negative emotions that cause anxiety and
fear will not arise.
Pregnancy is a natural process, nature itself has taken care that a woman could bear and give birth to a baby
without harm to her health. Motherhood is happiness, and to the new order in life can be adapted.
Psychologist will tell the future mother how to recognize fear and not succumb to it, will teach to focus on
positive emotions, believe in their strength, because the lack of experience is not a reason to fall into stress, you,
like many other young mothers, will definitely cope.
The work of a psychologist with pregnant women, moms of babies and teenagers is always aimed at working
through problems, fears and fighting excessive stress. And the main goal is to help a woman get happiness from
motherhood, because it is an incomparable feeling of joy and delight that she can experience in life.