Fertility is the ability to conceive and have children and for most the desire to have children is one of our most basic instincts and fundamental desires. When that is called into question, and you experience unanticipated difficulties conceiving it can have a negative impact on so many aspects of your life. Infertility can be a very stressful and emotional experience that can affect your well-being, your self-esteem, your relationships, and your overall quality of life.
Fertility can be affected by medical conditions or problems that make it difficult or impossible to get pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term. Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after one year of regular unprotected sex (or six months if you are over 35 years old). Infertility can affect both men and women, and it can have various causes such as:
Being on a fertility journey can become all-consuming and as a result you will likely feel a whole range of emotions, such as anger, sadness, guilt, shame, frustration, anxiety, depression, or isolation. You may also face challenges such as coping with medical treatments, dealing with social pressure or stigma, managing the financial costs of treatment and being in a position where you have to make some difficult decisions.
Counselling and Psychotherapy can help and support you as you try to cope with these challenges. Taking steps to mind your emotional wellbeing is just as important as making physical changes to your body as you prepare to conceive.
Fertility Counselling can help you at all stages of your fertility journey. I will provide a safe and nurturing space in which you can explore the array of emotions you are feeling on your journey to trying to achieve a healthy pregnancy. As I have trained in fertility counselling and have a vast knowledge about the fertility treatment process you can be safe in the knowledge that you won’t need to spend time explaining what you are going through. We can focus on finding ways to support you with the many challenges you are facing.
Pregnancy is a time of great change and can be both exciting and challenging. Finding out you are pregnant can be such an exciting time – thinking about meeting your baby for the first time, becoming a mother for the first time or subsequent times and adding to your family can bring such joy and happiness. However, it can also bring a lot of anxiety and fear. For many, pregnancy follows miscarriage, pregnancy loss, multiple IVF attempts and a long journey beforehand. This can add to the anxiety levels experienced.
Any pregnancy can leave you feeling uncomfortable, unwell, worried, and unsure about how you are going to cope with what comes next. Worries are a normal part of pregnancy and are to be expected. However, if you are finding it harder than you expected, it’s important to seek help and support.
Getting support with your anxiety in pregnancy can also help and support you with the initial stages of becoming a mother and transitioning into the postpartum period.
Pregnancy counselling is about building resilience and finding ways to navigate this transition to motherhood. With support, it can be managed alongside your pregnancy.
Pregnancy loss and miscarriage are the terms used to describe the death of a baby before 24 weeks of gestation. Pregnancy loss and miscarriage can occur for various reasons, such as chromosomal abnormalities, maternal health problems, infections, trauma, or unknown causes.
Miscarriage occurs in about one in every five pregnancies. It is a time of significant loss and grief. You may feel a range of emotions, such as shock, disbelief, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, grief, anxiety, depression, or isolation.
If a miscarriage is incomplete and requires medical intervention and treatment this can further add to the emotional distress of the loss.
Losing a baby is one of the most traumatic experiences that can happen to a woman, no matter how far along in your pregnancy you are. Any pregnancy signals the beginning of new hopes, dreams and plans for you, your baby, your family, and your future.
If you have suffered a pregnancy loss or a miscarriage, you are not alone. Counselling and Psychotherapy can help you. I am also a PAIL (Pregnancy & Infant Loss) Advocate so can help you with ways to cope with the challenges of your loss and support you to heal, deal with the emotions surrounding your loss, while also ensuring to honour and remember your baby.
Having a baby can be a very emotional time and many women will experience baby blues after giving birth. This can leave you feeling very teary, emotional, irritable and overwhelmed. Often the hormonal changes that happen after giving birth can heighten these feelings and for many they can pass within a few days. However, for some these feelings can continue and not ease as quickly. If these symptoms continue beyond the early days, it may be a sign of something more significant, like postnatal anxiety or postnatal depression.
Postnatal anxiety and postnatal depression can occur anytime from birth up to one year after having a baby. Postnatal anxiety and postnatal depression are common mental health conditions and can be managed and resolved once identified and by ensuring you get the right help and support. That help and support can help you to manage how you are feeling and develop better ways to cope.
Postnatal depression can cause a range of symptoms, such as:
Along with these feelings and emotions you may also be facing challenges such as coping with the physical recovery after birth.
Often our expectations of motherhood do not match the reality of it, and this alone can add to the feelings of anxiety you are already experiencing. Being a mother is hard work and it takes time to settle into your new role.
If you are suffering from postnatal depression, please know you are not alone. It is really important to seek help and to talk to someone about how you are feeling. Counselling and Psychotherapy can help you cope with the challenges of postnatal depression and support you to recover and allow you to enjoy motherhood and your new baby.
Everyone wants to hold the baby …. but who holds the mother?
Becoming a mother is one of the most rewarding and challenging roles you will ever take on. Becoming a mother takes time and it brings all kinds of feelings with it. It can be amazing, beautiful, scary, uncomfortable and all those feelings at the same time.
You may be feeling or experiencing some or all of the following:
If some or all of the above resonates with you, please do reach out. I support women at all stages of Motherhood. I will offer you a safe space to talk about all of those feelings – the good, the bad and the ugly. And don’t worry there are plenty of those ugly ones too. Please know that you are not the only mother to have these feelings and you don’t have to do it alone. My aim is to help normalise all of the challenges you are experiencing and help you overcome these challenges so that you can feel more like yourself again and enjoy being a mother.
Perimenopause and Menopause are a time of transition, a time of change that we have no choice over. The biological body clock is in control.
For some it is a time of relief – a feeling of freedom, the end of periods, PMS and worrying about birth control. For others it is a time of turmoil and uncertainty – “What am I loosing”, “Who will I be”, “What is my purpose now?” and so much can come up around our sense of identity.
Some of the common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are:
These symptoms can vary in intensity and duration from woman to woman, and they can have a significant impact on your self-esteem, your relationships, your work, and your quality of life.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, confused, or alone during this transition, you don’t have to suffer in silence. Counselling and Psychotherapy can help you cope with the challenges of perimenopause and menopause and support you to embrace this new phase of your life with confidence and optimism.
