Pregnancy is a journey of profound transformation, filled with unique joys and challenges. When a pregnancy is identified as “high-risk,” the focus understandably sharpens on medical care, monitoring, and ensuring the physical health of both mother and baby. However, the emotional side of this journey is just as significant, and often carries a heavy weight. The diagnosis itself can bring a cascade of feelings – anxiety, fear, uncertainty, perhaps even isolation.
My name is Dr. Vrushali Pillai. I am a Senior Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Borneo Hospital, Thane, part of the Borneo group serving families across Thane, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, and Raipur. Maternal safety is our absolute priority.
If you are navigating a high-risk pregnancy, please know this: needing and actively seeking emotional support is not just okay, it’s essential. It’s a sign of strength, not weakness. This article is dedicated to validating your feelings and exploring the vital importance and practical avenues for finding Emotional Support for Mothers in High-Risk Pregnancies.
Why Your Emotional Well-being Matters
It’s easy to feel like you should just ‘be strong’ and focus only on the medical aspects, but your emotional state has real, tangible effects:
- The Mind-Body Connection: Chronic stress and anxiety aren’t just feelings; they can impact your physical health. They might affect blood pressure, disrupt sleep patterns, lower energy levels, and even influence how your body responds to treatment. Managing emotional health supports physical health.
- Impact on Coping: Feeling emotionally supported and resilient helps you better navigate the practical demands of a high-risk pregnancy – the frequent appointments, potential lifestyle changes, necessary procedures, and the inherent uncertainties.
- Bonding with Your Baby: High levels of stress and anxiety can sometimes interfere with the natural process of bonding with your baby during pregnancy and even after birth. Nurturing your emotional well-being can help foster that vital connection.
- Foundation for Postpartum Mental Health: Effectively addressing emotional challenges during pregnancy can be a protective factor against developing postpartum depression or anxiety. Mothers facing high-risk situations may sometimes be at higher risk, making proactive emotional care even more important.
Your emotional health is not secondary; it’s a fundamental part of a healthy pregnancy journey for both you and your baby.
It’s Okay To Feel This Way: Normalising the Emotions
Receiving a high-risk diagnosis can trigger a whirlwind of intense emotions. It’s crucial to recognise these feelings as normal responses to a genuinely challenging situation. You might experience:
- Anxiety and Worry: Constant thoughts about your health, your baby’s health, potential complications, labour, and the future.
- Fear: Fear of the unknown, of medical procedures, of something going wrong.
- Stress: The pressure of managing medical appointments alongside work, family life, and the specific demands of your condition.
- Guilt: Perhaps feeling responsible for the condition, or feeling guilty for not having a ‘normal’, uncomplicated pregnancy experience.
- Sadness or Grief: Mourning the loss of the pregnancy experience you had envisioned.
- Frustration or Anger: Feeling frustrated by physical limitations, dietary restrictions, or the situation itself.
- Isolation: Feeling different from friends or family members who had seemingly straightforward pregnancies.
Please hear this: It is absolutely okay to feel any or all of these things. You are navigating a difficult path. Be kind to yourself. Acknowledging these feelings without judgment is the first step towards managing them.
Sources of Emotional Support: Building Your Circle
You don’t have to carry this emotional weight alone. Building a strong circle of support is key. Consider these crucial sources:
1. Your Partner: Your Primary Ally
- Your partner is often the person experiencing this journey most closely alongside you. Open, honest communication is vital.
- How Partners Can Help: Simply listening without judgment is often the greatest gift. Offering reassurance, attending medical appointments together to understand the situation better, taking on extra practical tasks (household chores, errands) to reduce your load, and celebrating small victories together are all invaluable forms of support.
- Tips for Mothers: Try to articulate your feelings and needs. Sometimes you might need practical help, other times just a listening ear or a comforting hug. Let your partner know how best to support you.
2. Family & Trusted Friends: Your Inner Circle
- Lean on close family members (parents, siblings) and trusted friends who offer genuine comfort and practical assistance. Sharing your feelings with someone who cares can lighten the load. Sometimes help with meals or looking after older children make a big difference.
- Navigating Challenges: Occasionally, well-meaning family members might express their own anxieties in ways that increase your stress. If this happens, it’s okay to gently set boundaries, perhaps limiting detailed medical discussions or suggesting they speak with your partner for updates. Focus your energy on relationships that feel truly supportive.
3. Your Healthcare Team: Your Medical Support System
- Your obstetrician, midwives, and nurses at Borneo Hospital are resources not just for medical information, but also for emotional support. Don’t hesitate to mention how you are feeling emotionally during your appointments. We are here to listen.
- Often, simply understanding the medical plan better and having your questions answered clearly can significantly reduce anxiety. Asking questions is encouraged!
- Your medical team can provide reassurance based on monitoring results and offer guidance grounded in their expertise, helping you feel more secure.
4. Peer Support: Connecting with Others Who Understand
- There’s immense comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Connecting with other women currently experiencing or having gone through similar high-risk pregnancies can reduce feelings of isolation profoundly.
- Look for reputable online support groups or forums (be discerning about the source and tone). Some hospitals or community groups facilitate support groups; ask your doctor if they know of resources available locally around Thane or Nashik.
- Sharing experiences, coping strategies, and offering mutual encouragement within a supportive peer group can be incredibly validating and helpful.
5. Professional Support: Counselling & Therapy
- Seeking Help is Strength: Please understand that seeking support from a mental health professional – a counsellor, therapist, or psychologist – is a proactive and positive step towards managing your emotional well-being during a stressful time. In many parts of India, there’s still some hesitation around mental health support, but it is just as important as physical health care. It is not a sign of weakness or failure.
- When to Consider It: If feelings of anxiety, sadness, or stress become overwhelming, start interfering with your sleep or daily functioning, or persist despite support from loved ones, professional help is strongly recommended.
- How It Helps: Therapists provide a confidential, non-judgmental space to explore your feelings. They can teach you specific coping mechanisms (like cognitive behavioural therapy techniques for managing anxiety), help you process difficult emotions, and build resilience.
- Accessing Help: If you feel you might benefit from professional support, please speak to your obstetrician. The team at Borneo Hospital can provide referrals to trusted mental health professionals who have experience working with pregnant women and understand the unique stresses of a high-risk pregnancy.
Practical Coping Strategies for Emotional Well-being
Alongside seeking support from others, here are some strategies you can employ yourself:
- Balanced Information Seeking: Gather necessary information about your condition from your doctor and reliable sources to feel informed. However, try to resist the urge to constantly search online, which often increases anxiety. Set specific times for looking up information if needed, and stick to credible medical websites.
- Mindfulness & Relaxation Practices: Even short, regular practice can make a difference:
- Deep Breathing: Take slow, deep breaths, focusing on the exhale to calm your nervous system. Try it for a few minutes several times a day.
- Simple Meditation/Mindfulness Apps: Many apps offer short guided meditations focused on relaxation or managing anxiety.
- Gentle Stretching: If cleared by your doctor, very gentle prenatal stretches can release physical tension often linked to stress.
- Journaling: Writing down your thoughts, fears, and feelings can be a therapeutic way to process them without needing to share them immediately.
- Focus on Small Positives: Actively look for and acknowledge small moments of comfort, joy, or progress – a good test result, feeling the baby move, a supportive phone call, a moment of peace. Practicing gratitude, even for small things, can shift perspective.
- Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a dear friend in the same situation. Acknowledge that this is hard, let go of unrealistic expectations or guilt, and allow yourself rest.
- Engage in Safe, Enjoyable Activities: Make time for low-key activities you genuinely enjoy and find relaxing, provided they are safe for your pregnancy (reading, listening to music or podcasts, gentle crafts, talking with friends).
- Celebrate Milestones: Acknowledge each week of pregnancy completed, each positive check-up, each reassuring scan. Break down the journey into smaller, more manageable steps.
How Borneo Hospital Supports Your Emotional Well-being
We believe that providing excellent medical care includes supporting you emotionally. At Borneo Hospital:
- We prioritise clear, patient-centred communication, taking time to answer your questions.
- Our nursing and midwifery staff are trained to provide compassionate, supportive care.
- We aim to create a calm and reassuring environment during your visits and potential hospital stays.
- We provide access to reliable patient education resources.
- We recognise the importance of mental health and facilitate referrals to specialised support when needed.
A Note for Partners and Family
Your support is invaluable. Here’s how you can help most effectively:
- Listen Actively: Often, just listening without interrupting or offering immediate solutions is the most helpful thing. Validate her feelings.
- Offer Specific Practical Help: Instead of “Let me know if you need anything,” try “Can I cook dinner tonight?” or “Let me handle the calls to relatives.” Reducing practical stress helps immensely.
- Stay Informed Together: Attend appointments when possible. Understanding the medical situation helps you provide better support.
- Be Patient and Reassuring: Offer consistent emotional support, understanding, and reassurance. Manage your own anxieties constructively.
- Celebrate Milestones: Share in the relief and joy of positive news and progress.
Navigating a high-risk pregnancy brings unique emotional challenges, but you absolutely do not have to face them alone. Prioritising your emotional well-being is essential. Seeking and accepting Emotional Support for Mothers in High-Risk Pregnancies – whether from your partner, family, friends, your dedicated medical team, peers, or professionals – is a sign of incredible strength. Remember to be kind to yourself, utilise coping strategies that work for you, and communicate your needs openly.
At Borneo Hospital, we are committed to walking alongside you on this journey, providing not just expert medical care, but also compassionate, holistic support that addresses both your physical and emotional health. You are stronger than you know, and with the right support system, you can navigate this path with resilience and hope.
