Thursday, August 2, 2012

My Worry Doll

It's the middle of the night and my mind is racing. Every mother worries. That's the reality of motherhood and it starts when they are still in the womb. While talking about BB (a.k.a. Baby Blanchard), a good friend told me the other day that my Mother Bear was showing. It made me smile to realize how incredibly happy I am about this pregnancy. It also made me realize that I need to manage my worries so that I can enjoy this pregnancy.

I'm trying to stay optimistic and focus on the fun stuff like baby names, nursery colours and the like. I'm pushing my fears aside but sometimes, when I can't sleep in the middle of the night, they creep back to the forefront of my mind.


Once upon a time, a friend gave me a worry doll from The idea was to tell the doll the things you're worrying about, put the doll under your pillow while you sleep and the doll will take your worries away. I lost that doll years ago, but I thought I could try the same concept here. My blog can be my worry doll. So, here goes!
Other than the obvious memories of Owen, the things I'm worrying about are:
  • The likelihood of Downs Syndrome and other disorders is higher for woman over 40, especially since I wasn't trying to get pregnant and not taking folic acid supplements until 3 months into the pregnancy
  • I treated my morning sickness and congestion with OTC meds before I knew I was pregnant
  • I ate raw salmon before I knew I was pregnant
  • The doctors have recommended an amniocentesis and that scared me before I was ever pregnant
  • How are we going to afford maternity leave?
  • What are we going to do about daycare for the baby?
  • How are the kids going to react to having a baby in the family?
  • We have too many cats and need to find homes for them
  • Babies and ADHD kids could be a recipe for disaster. (Tiny little Lego pieces hurt our feet a bit when we step on them but they could choke a baby.)
Ok, I'm going to tuck this blog under my pillow now and try to get some sleep.
Cheers!

2 comments:

  1. Hey Jacqui, as someone your age who is now thinking about getting pregnant for the first time, I hear you on these fears! I was sitting in the doctor's office, glancing through a magazine and got an eyefull of a BUNCH of stats I REALLY wish I hadn't seen about starting a family after 40!
    But I'm in the middle of getting in the best shape I've ever been and emotionally, I have SO much more to offer now than I would have 10 years ago so I'm going to try to focus on the good stuff!
    Just know that I'm going to be behind the scenes for the next 6-7 months, with all my stuff crossed for the best possible outcome and a perfectly healthy, happy little person for you guys!

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  2. Thanks Robin! There's definitely a benefit to doing this at our age. You're in a way better place in your life and it seems to like it's a pretty good place to add a new little person to it. Those stats are scarey. Talk to your doctor about them. Our specialist really helped us to put them into perspective and we're not nearly as scared of them now as we were.

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