birth fear and anxiety...

I'm about four hours away from going in for induction, and even though it's been creeping up on me for over a month, I have terrible anxiety about giving birth right now... I've done this twice before, one with an epidural and my last without.. My babies have all been over nine pounds and I'm fearing that this one may be closer to ten and I won't be able to do it. With my first, I was like oh well whatever happens happens, with my second, she was so late that I was so ready to get her out, I felt like super woman...

This time I feel like cowering in a corner at the thought of how much pain I'm about to go through and honestly, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it drug free again....

Just pretty much had a full fledged anxiety attack in the fleet
Shower...

My sister got an epidural and said it wasn't that bad and she could handle it. My mom went through a mid wife and still handled the pain ok. Tell your man to hold your hand and comfort you. good luck

Get an epidural.

Did you prepare for this labour the same way you did the others? I can imagine that I might not prepare for my third and freak out too, even though I really enjoyed labour and would love to do it again.

If you have the book "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth", spend some time reading the stories, I know they really helped me feel like I can do anything!

If you have some guided meditation CDs, listen to one of those while you have a nice, relaxing bath.

Or watch a funny movie  .

You can do this, you are strong!

I should add that I'm deathly afraid of needles and surgery. And my last epidural really messed up my back. I could still show you the exact place it went in...

what about being comforted?

Quoting Kay plus Two:" I should add that I'm deathly afraid of needles and surgery. And my last epidural really messed up my back. I could still show you the exact place it went in..."

I am very afraid of needles too, getting an IV for my first child's birth (induction) was by far the worst part of the whole thing for me.

This will work better if you have some time to practice, but I went to a psychologist years ago because of my fears and he helped me learn a technique that really helped. I hope I can explain it well enough.

It was very simple, I 'looked' at the way my body was reacting to the anxiety. My hands were sweaty, my heart pounding, my ears buzzing, my vision fuzzy, etc. It sounds silly, but just by doing that, my anxiety would almost instantly be so much more manageable (he had me rate it, and I remember being at an 8 or 9 and that brought it down to a 4, in my random rating system  ).

Best of luck to you.

Go in with an open mind about the epi. And just keep in mind that our bodies rarely make babies bigger than we can handle. You can do it! Good luck mama  

on the maternity floor now, cervadil is in, had a few contractions.

Also had another anxiety attack when I realized my room didn't have a tub. Still makes me anxious as I've used the tub with both of my previous pregnancies, but there is an actual whirlpool tub just down the hall.