I never suffered from any form of anxiety until pregnancy. I am almost 37 weeks pregnant now with my first child and the anticipation of labor and birth is making me so anxious and nervous. I am afraid of giving birth, never felt this way before. I am trying to remember this is an exciting time, but the unknown is killing me. You hear so many women's stories about how they were in labor 23 hours or the epidural didnt work...etc. Its made me so nervous I barely sleep at night! I need some words of encouragement and hope!

I wish I had encouraging advice but I'm terrified of the bill for giving birth. Hang in there, labor won't last forever


Let me know if you need someone to talk to. I love talking about it!

I've delivered 3 and had some "not my favorite" moments with a couple of them but I knew the baby needed to be born and shutting down wasn't going to change that. The "not my favorite" moments from my first delivery drastically changed me and the way I manage life now and all of those changes were GOOD. At the time I certainly had rather the experience be a cake walk but looking back, I wouldn't change a thing.
You'll do great!

I just had my 4th baby & it was an amazing experience. The only time it truly hurt was when I was pushing. But once baby comes out you feel wonderful!

It is not an injury pain. It is your body adjusting to a change, muscle movements and such. I always do much better with internal body pain than inflicted pain or injury. I really do not think it is as bad as people claim. I have seem 4 births in my life and none of them were anything like what I have read about or watched on TV. I am nervous too, but the way I see it. . .my body knows what it is doing.


I would put some positive stories in your mind about birthing. Ina May's book is really great. It not only educates you about how birth is supposed to happen & how your body works through it, but also there are a bunch of great birth stories!

- Isabelly1012
on Aug. 24, 2014 at 12:47 AM