I got a phone call that sent me to my own new height of anxiety. I told you the story of my pregnancy here: how I learned I was pregnant again this Spring after having miscarried last year. The moment of confirmation (i.e. standing in our bathroom, gaping at a stick I just peed on) was a mixture of excitement and fear. That emotional cocktail lasted for almost half the pregnancy until my midwife kindly suggested I speak to someone about my anxiety. Anxiety?! Did I have that…again?! A quick scroll through my (weekly) text messages to her answered my question. The kinds of things that made me worry this time around would never have entered my mind in my other pregnancies. Yes, I needed that wake up call from her to put things in perspective.
And my emotions were much more stable after that; in fact, when I received the invitation to speak on the panel of the AnxietyBC for moms website launch, I thought “Wow, the Universe works fast – wanting me to speak about such a raw topic.” And I was willing to put myself out there with this important issue until my phone rang 4 Tuesdays ago and I heard my midwife on the other end.
“Taslim, I got your ultrasound results. So, most of the measurements are great, fluid is great, placenta is great…” I waited for what was not great, heart pounding in my throat. “But the abdomen and femur are measuring smaller than we’d like. Around the 10th percentile.”
I honestly didn’t hear much after that and somehow ended the conversation to call my husband. He rushed home from work and called the midwife and was able to get me the details I couldn’t have thought to ask for.
Long story short, two follow up ultrasounds through the Maternal Fetal Medicine program have shown that Baby is measuring just fine and it was likely the quality of the ultrasound machine at the community lab that was the culprit for such an awful scare.
After that initial phone call though, I fired off an email with shaky fingers to the coordinator of the AnxietyBC event divulging that this was not the right time for me to be talking about anxiety. Plus, my midwife had cautioned against expending more energy than I needed.
So, the event came and went and I am sorry I missed it, but I did get some information that I would love to share with you. I’m pasting the fact sheet below – please share this post and this information with anyone you believe could use it, or could pass it on to their own network of moms.
About AnxietyBC:
AnxietyBC is a registered, not-for-profit organization founded in 1999. Its mission is to increase awareness about anxiety disorders; promote education of the general public, affected persons, and health care providers; and increase access to evidence-based resources and treatments.
AnxietyBC has successfully implemented online, print, and in-person projects, including:
● Hosting a peer-led group for adults coping with Panic Disorder
● Producing 3 DVDs and distributing copies to public and school libraries
● Publishing the STRIDES e-newsletter, containing compelling personal stories and information on
a specific anxiety disorder in each issue
● Delivering presentations and workshops to interested community groups
● Launching a Youth and Young Adults website, aimed at increasing anxiety understanding via
interactive games and videos amongst individuals aged 12-25
● Launching a Perinatal website in 2013, aimed at increasing anxiety awareness and understanding
amongst expectant and new mothers
AnxietyBC’s Perinatal Site:
Expectant and new mothers often have many questions and worries about motherhood. Some things that
a woman might be thinking are:
● Will my baby have birth defects?
● Will I have a miscarriage?
● How will I cope with the pain of labour?
● What if I can’t have the birth that I want?
● What will my partner think of me during and after labour?
● Will I be a good parent?
● Will the baby change my relationship with my partner?
● How will my child cope with a new baby coming home?
● Can we financially afford this baby?
AnxietyBC’s new website (perinatal.anxietybc.com) hopes to address these questions and fears, and
provide expectant and new mothers with self-help tools to help decrease their stress and anxiety. Our aim
is to help women learn how to effectively manage anxiety during pregnancy and the postpartum
period.
Information on the site includes:
● How to recognize anxiety during and after pregnancy
● How anxiety can affect the pregnant body
● Tools for self-care during and after pregnancy
● Self-help tips for treating perinatal anxiety
● Ways family members and friends can help expectant and new mothers
● Personal stories from mothers who have experienced perinatal anxiety