Surviving pregnancy stress

Worried about you and your bump? Jessica Houtby has the top tips on surviving pregnancy stress.

Pregnancy can bring out the worrier in the most calm of us. It’s natural to fret about what you eat, drink, think, feel and do when you’re carrying another life. It’s also perfectly normal to worry about whether your baby is healthy, how this new person will change your life, relationships and whether you’re truly up to the task of parenthood. But if your anxiety is becoming all-consuming and regularly interferes with your day-to-day functioning, it’s time to find a better way to deal with it.

We speak to Eliza Guerrini, occupational therapist and natal hypnotherapist, who has recently opened up a new retreat in the Cotswolds: Retreat-Yourself, with mother-in-law Heather Guerrini, a pregnancy and birth expert. A place of relaxation for mums-to-be and recent parents the retreat specialises in pregnancy and motherhood and has choices of single day, mid-week and weekend retreats focused on quality relaxation in luxury surroundings.

The retreat opened to ‘offer our mums and parents-to-be a safe, caring environment and help them to enjoy and develop a greater sense of their own and, if on the pregnancy breaks their baby’s, health and well-being,’ according to Eliza. She explains that they provide ‘gentle workshops and thoughtful touches such as running baths, little treats in rooms and ensuring the food is delicious and nutritionally well-balanced.’ The retreat includes emotional support and positive preparation for birth, inspiring workshops, taster sessions of natal hypnotherapy, pregnancy yoga classes and pregnancy-friendly treatments.

Between them Heather and Eliza offer an impressive range of expertise and experience. Eliza explains that ‘pregnancy is a time of major transition for every woman, whether on their first or fourth child and this change can sometimes be a major cause of stress.’ Their retreat welcomes women from ‘many walks of life who feel that having a baby has significantly impacted on their close relationships and how they think about their own self-identity,’ she explains. ‘Some also experience stressful physical pregnancy symptoms such as debilitating morning sickness, fatigue, headaches and swollen ankles to more complex conditions such as obstetric cholestasis or hyperemesis gravidarum.’

Stress experienced by women ‘during pregnancy may affect their unborn baby as early as 17 weeks after conception, with potentially harmful effects on brain and development, according to new research.’ ‘It can also have an adverse effect on their day-to-day activities and quality of life – like a domino effect, it impacts on their self-esteem causing low feelings and anxiety,’ explains Eliza. ‘We see many women who are juggling work or a young family and simply don’t have a chance to acknowledge the impact their pregnancy is having on them. They find the retreats are a perfect place for them to come and relax, reflect and restore.’

Eliza’s top tips to de-stress during pregnancy:

Make priority lists of what needs to be achieved in any one day. Have a maximum of three high priority and drop everything else to medium or low priority; take your time to work your way down the list.

Eat healthily, you can get a real energy boost from eating yummy, fresh produce and needless to say you’re also nourishing your baby.

Early nights. It’s sometimes very tempting just to stay up late, not doing very much but just hanging around when you could be having valuable rest and sleep time. If you have trouble sleeping at night during pregnancy taking a little nap here and there during the day can pep you up, even for 15 minutes over lunch, but be careful not to nap too late in the day otherwise getting to sleep at night can be even harder.

Finally, on our retreat we do a daily hypnosis session which focuses on letting go of any fears or worries that are not useful to you during this time. I’d highly recommend downloading Natal Hypnotherapy’s pregnancy relaxation CD. The main thing to remember with the hypnosis CD is the more you do it the easier it becomes and the more beneficial it is for you and your baby.

And if you’re feeling disconnected from your partner, then there are ways you can help each other cope with pregnancy stress, too. ‘In some instances women can feel misunderstood by their partners during their pregnancy as they’re the ones going through the physical changes,’ says Eliza. ‘Try and adopt simple listening exercises into your evening. Perhaps over a meal, or once the children are in bed sit opposite one another at a table and take it in turns to be the talker and the listener. Have a timer to hand and once started the talker is allowed to speak for five minutes about how their day was and how they’re feeling. When the time is up the listener is given one minute to feed back and summarise to the talker what they just heard. Swap roles. This is a really effective way of expressing yourself and feeling listened to.’

For more information about the retreats, click here.