Previa Alliance Podcast
There are few experiences as universal to human existence as pregnancy and childbirth, and yet its most difficult parts — perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) — are still dealt with in the shadows, shrouded in stigma. The fact is 1 in 5 new and expecting birthing people will experience a PMAD, yet among those who do many are afraid to talk about it, some are not even aware they’re experiencing one, and others don’t know where to turn for help. The fact is, when someone suffers from a maternal mental health disorder it affects not only them, their babies, partners, and families - it impacts our communities.
In the Previa Alliance Podcast series, Sarah Parkhurst and Whitney Gay are giving air to a vastly untapped topic by creating a space for their guests — including survivors of PMADs and healthcare professionals in maternal mental health — to share their experiences and expertise openly. And in doing so, Sarah and Whitney make it easy to dig deep and get real about the facts of perinatal mental health, fostering discussions about the raw realities of motherhood. Not only will Previa Alliance Podcast listeners walk away from each episode with a sense of belonging, they’ll also be armed with evidence-based tools for healing, coping mechanisms, and the language to identify the signs and symptoms of PMADs — the necessary first steps in a path to treatment. The Previa Alliance Podcast series is intended for anyone considering pregnancy, currently pregnant, and postpartum as well as the families and communities who support them.
Sarah Parkhurst
Previa Alliance Podcast Co-host; Founder & CEO of Previa Alliance
A postpartum depression survivor and mom to two boys, Sarah is on a mission to destigmatize the experiences of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), and to educate the world on the complex reality of being a mom. Sarah has been working tirelessly to bring to light the experiences of women who have not only suffered a maternal mental health crisis but who have survived it and rebuilt their lives. By empowering women to share their own experiences, by sharing expert advice and trusted resources, and by advocating for health care providers and employers to provide support for these women and their families, Sarah believes as a society we can minimize the impact of the current maternal mental health crisis, while staving off future ones.
Whitney Gay
Previa Alliance Podcast Co-host; licensed clinician and therapist
For the past ten years, Whitney has been committed to helping women heal from the trauma of a postpartum mental health crisis as well as process the grief of a miscarriage or the loss of a baby. She believes that the power of compassion paired with developing critical coping skills helps moms to heal, rebuild, and eventually thrive. In the Previa Alliance Podcast series, Whitney not only shares her professional expertise, but also her own personal experiences of motherhood and recovery from grief.
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Previa Alliance Podcast
Previa Playback: Anxiety During Pregnancy
What if I can't do this? Is the baby, ok? Why do I feel this way?
Sound familiar? Pregnancy anxiety is common but often not talked about. Listen in as the ladies break down why you may experience anxiety during pregnancy and how to manage it.
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Hey guys, this is Sarah with the Preview Alliance podcast. This month, we are replaying our most downloaded episodes. These episodes are the ones that has resonated the most with you guys. So if you're a longtime listener, this is a great refresher. And share this with a friend who may be new. If you're new, welcome, and we hope that these episodes are impactful to you like it has been for others. Thank you for being with us and stay tuned. Hey guys, welcome back to Preview Alliance Podcast. It's Sarah and Whitney. Okay, so we're in our pregnancy education series. That's right. We just covered, covered depression. Now let's talk about anxiety during pregnancy. So there is actually a term antenatal anxiety. Um, it is common people don't talk about it, um, because you hear a lot of depression yeah, but anxiety has a big play.
Speaker 2:It really does one in five, I would honestly say it's probably a little bit more. Yeah, because we not everyone will report exactly. But then to like clients that I work with, to my knowledge they've never been any part of like a research project or any type of stat gathering so that's so. We don't really know if that data is as accurate as it could be.
Speaker 1:I would almost dare say maybe three out of five oh yeah, and then people are not like we know this because we're in previa and we, and like you said that we have higher numbers than one in five they're expressing this. No one's checking in with them during their pregnancy. That's a problem about mental health. So if this we're going to talk about what it is the risk factors, the difference between, like, worry and anxiety I think that's a thing, oh, for sure.
Speaker 1:And what you can do. Yes, so what it is Anxiety, is feeling kind of like you're obsessing, you're hyperventilating, panic attacks palpitations, shortness of breath hot flashes. It can be physical and mental presentations and so it's like what's the difference between anxiety and worry?
Speaker 2:so worry is going to be one of those more situational. Okay, it's not going to be something that consumes you for 20 out of 24 hours a day so worry is something like and worry probably has a light at the end of the tunnel so it's like okay, my kid is spiked a fever.
Speaker 1:I'm worried that he. It's cold flu season exactly I'm worried we're going down this way, yeah.
Speaker 2:Anxiety would be oh my gosh, my child has to have, you know, flu, rsv, covid, pneumonia, something really bad, and they're going to end up at children's, they're going to end up on a ventilator, they're going to be in ICU. You can't shake it. And it's going to be again the spiraling, intrusive thoughts. It's going to be worst case scenario, whereas you know, as moms, we're gonna worry about our kids, naturally, right. But we could say, okay, I'm really worried because you woke up from your nap with a 104 fever. We should be worried about that.
Speaker 2:Yep, and so you know, you call the pediatrician, you're worried, okay, well, if they end up positive for, you know, flu, rsv, covid, they're going to be out of school for a week at a minimum. How am I going to juggle, calling out of work for a week and keeping them well and keeping my smaller child well, and you're going to be thinking through those things, which is a logical process. Right, it will not feel good because it is very worrisome, it is heavy, it is a lot to have to logistically deal with but anxiety will take over your life.
Speaker 2:It will and it will make you feel that inevitably it again worst case scenario.
Speaker 2:Now, I'm not saying it's a best case scenario that you have to call out of work for a week but we're also not in the ICU with our child on the ventilator two minutes after our kid popped a fever, yeah, you know that's where it becomes. Anxiety is going to be that worst case scenario, thinking we're going to have those intrusive thoughts, and it impedes our day to day Absolutely. And you know, with anxiety you almost feel like there's an impending doom.
Speaker 1:You can't get away from yeah.
Speaker 2:Almost like you've got a little black rain cloud just right there with you where worry is. Okay, they popped a fever. I'm going to go ahead and give them motrin and tylenol, you know what, as I can. I'm gonna call the pediatrician see if I can get them in there. If not, we're gonna go to pediatric urgent care. We're gonna get a swab.
Speaker 2:You may find yourself almost going into type a task organizer mode of okay, well, we need to do that. I need to go ahead and tell my work. Hey, my kid popped a fever today. I know they can't go to school tomorrow and tomorrow is Monday. I'm going to take them to urgent care and I'll keep you posted on if I have to take other days off of work. Okay, task manager, right there, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker 2:Going to get our plan together, because plans do help ease anxiety and worry. We know that. Yes, but if it's anxiety, again thinking, well, what if we go to urgent care and they do have flu? And again, what if we do end up at children's and blah, blah, blah. What if they have a febrile seizure? I'm going to lose my mind if they have a febrile seizure. What if we're in a car accident on the way to the urgent care. Yeah, I mean we are kind of spiraling, but we're going in different directions. While we spiral, oh yeah, it's a lot. So anxiety is going to be one of those. There's no real control with it.
Speaker 1:You can't rationalize yourself out back to just the day-to-day.
Speaker 2:It's like you're tumbling down a mountain, not a hill a mountain and you can't. We're literally an avalanche starting exactly, and then worry is going to be like okay, I don't like this, but again task manager of, we need to do da, da, da da I need to try and figure out how to do it. Yes, okay because, again, that gives us a sense of control and it gives us a plan. When we have a plan, our worry does tend to decrease.
Speaker 1:We're still concerned because anxiety comes out of a protection mechanism.
Speaker 2:To a point it really does, and then it spirals you know, beyond and worry again is that protective measure? But it's also okay. I need to take action, so action. Protective action, action versus being captured in this Think of it like the flight fight or fawn, yes, so worry can take you to the fight mode, which is task management, getting a game plan right. Anxiety is gonna put you in flight or fawn, so you're just like your brain is going, but you're kind of frozen in the moment.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that, I totally resonate that. So people might be like, okay, cool, what does that look like during pregnancy? Well, maybe you are losing sleep over thoughts, scary thoughts.
Speaker 2:You could be, and I'm not saying that this is not a founded concern, because if you've experienced child loss before, it is a valid concern. But you could always be worried about is my baby okay, especially if you cannot feel that baby kick, so you can be? Obsessive over counting the kicks, the movement feeling like you need to have an at-home doppler to keep track of the heart right, listening to the heartbeat? Yeah, not just like a weekly check-in, right or?
Speaker 1:calling your doctor frequently for reassurance, yeah, and then, once given reassurance, that's still not enough yeah, it's temporary reassurance Right. Or just like we said, you're noticing your heartbeat, you're difficult breathing, you're experiencing panic attacks, or maybe you're obsessing over things now. Like, everything has to be clean.
Speaker 2:I have to wipe things constantly, or maybe we have to do things multiple times to avoid something bad happening.
Speaker 1:So this could be presenting during pregnancy and again, like we talked about depression people. It's hard to kind of know it and see it, because pregnancy can make you have these symptoms in a way. Yeah Right, because people can rationalize it. I'm pregnant for the first time. I hear scary things, I'm afraid of my child.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm more anxious. Right, there's some justification, absolutely, but again, it's when it spirals, when we feel like we're frozen from that fear.
Speaker 1:And we're not doing anything like tasked to fix it Correct.
Speaker 2:We're dwelling in that Now in pregnancy that is a little bit harder. So hard Because there's not a ton that we can do during pregnancy. That is task oriented. Right Now, let's throw a hypothetical out there. Let's just say a pregnant mama is driving to work and she gets rear-ended Not a bad accident, Let me not life-threatening but she gets rear-ended, so she's naturally concerned. Oh yeah, so what she should do is call her OB, say, hey, I was in a fender bender this morning. I overall feel okay, but I really just need the baby to get checked on. Absolutely that is task management. That gives you an action plan. Your OB needs to know about that anyway, and they would want you to come in and get checked.
Speaker 2:So keep those things in mind too, too of what is in your control, what is not within your control. Now, if you wake up at two o'clock in the morning no bleeding, no physical trauma, nothing to make you panic and all of a sudden you think I have to go be seen, because what if? Well, it's one of those. Okay, are you far enough along to feel the baby kick? And you're thinking well, I haven't felt the baby kick At that point. Always talk to your doctor about this. But I would say eat something with a little bit of sugar, or have a little bit of caffeine.
Speaker 2:See within 30 minutes if you can get baby to kicking. If not, then absolutely, I would go ahead and go on to the hospital kind of thing.
Speaker 2:But if it's one of those those you wake up and you think, oh, inevitably my baby is gone and we don't have a reason to believe that. That's when I would use our grounding thoughts and say, okay, right now I don't have a reason, a tangible reason to say this is why I could have lost my baby Right Now. If I'm still feeling this freaked out about it in the morning, I will call my OB and see if they can just check for a heartbeat, Right? Those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:When it's hard to, when you're pregnant, because it's like you're growing this baby but you have such little control.
Speaker 2:That is the hard part, and it's like in your body, but you have such little control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now, risk factors for anxiety and pregnancy is very similar to when we talked about depression.
Speaker 2:So is very similar to when we talked about depression. So realize there's going to be a little bit of a repeat or an overlap with some of these.
Speaker 1:So I mean the same thing. History of mental health anxiety.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for yourself or family.
Speaker 1:Trauma, substance, abuse, drugs, xx stress.
Speaker 2:If you're already a type A or Enneagram one person. I always say type A equals type anxiety. Yes, If you've had a history of any type of pregnancy and or child loss, that will. This pregnancy is super high risk. Exactly Again, if you have a diagnosis of hyperemesis gravida, if you've got a diagnosis of gestational diabetes, if you've had a prior diagnosis of preeclampsia, you're going to be on edge.
Speaker 1:So keep that in mind you're gonna be on edge, so keep that in mind now. The big thing, too, is anxiety during pregnancy we know is treatable by therapy, the same way we talked about with postpartum depression or and pregnancy depression is the earlier we can recognize, hey, something's feeling off then we can intervene and we can get that help absolutely because you don't want to be stuck in that paralyzing worry anxiety, miserable.
Speaker 1:Well then you're not going to be able to function you're not, if you're recognizing it will limit your life that's something you need to help, and I remember um having such anxiety during pregnancy granted, because it was a high-risk pregnancy and stuff. I just felt, like you said, trapped, paralyzed, paralyzed, and I did not know at the time to reach out to therapy, but that would have been so beneficial to me absolutely just someone to process this with.
Speaker 2:So that's why we would encourage you if you don't have a therapist on board, um, you know, if you're in alabama, kind of out to Preview Alliance, see what you can do there. Reach out to your insurance company, see who they cover you to go see in network providers. Exactly, um, if you feel like you're not super comfortable doing therapy because it does, you know you do have to be vulnerable to do therapy, right? Voice journal get those things out. Schedule that worry time.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So aot yourself 10 or 15 minutes, as needed to pen and paper, journal, voice journal, just process it, however. You need to process it, but set that alarm on your phone for no more than 15 minutes, because then we start to dwell and spiral and all the things. Let it out, but give yourself an opportunity to feel your feels. Yes, give yourself that opportunity, if you can. I know we're in Alabama. You know we were 70 degrees earlier this week, now we're 45. We don't really know what we're doing here with weather.
Speaker 1:We don't know where we're at.
Speaker 2:We had tornadoes earlier this week and now we had frosted windshields today, so we don't really know what we're doing, but if the weather is good, go for a walk. Go for a walk.
Speaker 1:Do some you. You know grounding outside. Yes, go barefoot out on the grass for a little bit. Yes, you know deep breaths, learning how to take that deep breath in, get at the top and let it out. That's right. Calm your body, sleep, prioritize your sleep as best you can and I know you're in pregnancy and that that may look like naps that may look like less time than you normally yeah, and something we're seeing a lot in previa too is we're getting a lot of spikes of anxiety in the first trimester.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And Harvard actually says that's a thing because our hormone influx and that's when they would expect to see the greatest amount of anxiety. So if you're in that first trimester and you're like whoa, what the heck.
Speaker 2:I've never experienced this before.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, check in in that first trimester and you're like whoa, what the heck? I've never experienced this before. Uh-huh, check in on it. Yeah, call it what it is. If you want to reach out for support, then go for it if you want to say, let me ground myself, let me do my work let me work on my walks. Let me just say this to someone and let's check in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in a couple weeks, let's use our toolbox tools, yes, which, let's use those, so many of those. And then, if I feel this way in two weeks, then I'll reach out, and that's fine too, because the important thing is that person said hey, something's up, something's up, so we want you to capture that.
Speaker 1:You know it's like you, a wildfire, right? You want to smell that smoke and find it when it's little, exactly. You don't want it taking over the whole forest, no, and so mental health is the same way. So that's why we start in pregnancy, we give you this education, and so, again, let's say it again, like we said in depression If this is resonating with you. You're not a bad mom. This is not your fault.
Speaker 2:And there is help Yep, absolutely. And there is help Yep, absolutely. That's what we're here for, all right guys, till next time.
Speaker 1:That's right. Maternal mental health is as important as physical health. The Preview Alliance podcast was created for and by moms dealing with postpartum depression and all its variables, like anxiety, anger and even apathy. Hosted by CEO founder Sarah Parkhurst and licensed clinical social worker Whitney Gay, each episode focuses on specific issues relevant to pregnancy and postpartum. Join us and hear how other moms have overcome mental health challenges, as well as access tips and suggestions on dealing with your own challenges as moms. You can also browse our podcast library and listen to previous episodes at any time. Please know you're not alone on this journey. We're here to help.