Pregnancy Insanity?
Posted by Laurie
It will probably happen. Our hormones are raging and so are our moods. Up and down, on and off, it’s enough to drive us and our husbands crazy, such as the time a pregnant lady asked her hubby to stop by Dairy Queen to pick her up a vanilla ice cream, he comes back with chocolate, she freaks out and he locks himself in the bedroom because he can’t take it anymore.
Annie Benjamin, mom of seven-month Caroline, says there is definitely truth to pregnancy insanity. She went berserk, slamming her fist into a couch pillow when her viewing of “Legally Blonde 2″ was cut short when the cable box shut off.
Amy, mother of Noah and Ezra, ages three and a half and six months, writes in her blog post that the movie “A Walk In the Clouds” drove her mad. First because she couldn’t believe the newly-pregnant love interest had no pregnancy symptoms and was acting all sexy and cute, and second because she was sad that this woman had to fight a fire. How could a pregnant woman be forced to fight a fire? Now that’s worth crying about, isn’t it?
And let’s not forget those moments when we turn on our husbands. Angel says she probably cried more in her first six months of pregnancy than she did in the first six months of her life. After watching a YouTube video she thought was hilarious she sent the link to her husband. Later that day she asked him what he thought and he told her it wasn’t that funny. This made her question their entire relationship. How could she be married to someone who didn’t think that was funny? Angel says she thought about that question for 45 minutes. Seriously, that’s nuts. And that’s just one of her crazy episodes, read about more in her post, You crazy pregnant lady, no one stole your make-up!
To successfully navigate the insanity, you need to do two things: anticipate and apologize.
1) Anticipate. Talk about pregnancy insanity before it happens. Make sure your presumably non-insane partner knows what is coming. Ask him to read about it on-line. Let him know that it is temporary and ask that he just comfort you when it happens. Men, listen up now, do not point out the insanity in the moment. Telling a crazy person that she’s crazy is not a good idea.
2) Apologize. The next day when your hormones rebalance and you realize that his buying chocolate rather than vanilla ice cream isn’t a sign that your husband doesn’t love you, it’s time to apologize. Laugh about it together. Let him know that you know you over-reacted. Showing a touch of humility will go a long way in preventing resentment.
And lastly, talk about it with friends or write about it. Being temporarily crazy isn’t the worst thing. Indulging in a pity party can be kind of fun. Leave a comment below with your story. I’d love to hear about your moments of temporary insanity.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am and is filed under Emotional Support, Health & Wellness, Verbal Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
Hello,
Thnak you for this information. I’m 26 yrs old and 7 months pregnant with my second child. I am paranoid and I cry a lot for any reason. Most of all, I can’t seem to control my anger. I shout, swear at and even hit my husband and son if they get me angry and I feel very badly after and I usually cry about it. My husband is very patient with me most of the time but sometimes I know he gets fed up with my behaviour-and I cry about that too. I had an unpleasant childhood and adolescent life and I get angry over that too. Presently, I don’t even speak to my parents because I can’t seem to stand them.
All this is so depressing to me especially because I never felt this way in my first pregnancy. I never even had a day of morning sickness nor did I gain so much weight.
Here’s hoping this all goes away when the baby is born…
Thanks again for makng me aware that I’m not alone in this…
Dear Miranda,
Thank you for writing to us at ExpectingWords.com. It’s important to share your feelings and recognize the changes you are going through. It sounds like your situation is very difficult and that your entire family is suffering. For this reason, I ask that you think about the way that your feelings could be hurting your son and husband. No one deserves to be hit and it seems clear that you already know this. This is part of what is making you even sadder.
I am not a medical expert, so I can’t offer you therapy or medical help, but I can offer you my heartfelt suggestion that you seek professional help now to work through your feelings. I don’t think it’s in your best interest to wait and hope that your anger will simply go away when the baby arrives. You have time right now to work on this. By getting help today, you will be stronger and wiser when your new baby arrives.
You don’t deserve to feel this sad. Please seek help now so you can be your best self.
Thinking of you,
Laurie
I cried (for hours, as if someone had died) because I didn’t get a hamburger. My husband was heading to work and I KNEW that he would stop for dinner and get himself one. He’s an EMT and works 12 hour shifts, so eating is necessary. I told him that he wasn’t allowed to eat hamburgers anymore. He went to work and later brought me a hamburger in the ambulance. I cried again because I knew that I had been ridiculous AND I couldn’t help it. But let me tell you, that was the best damn hamburger I’ve ever had in my life.
My family has been broken apart bec of my moods while I was pregnant. I abused my husband, my brother and his wife, my mum. If I didnt like what they say, I just lashed out. I got frustrated if someone say the wrong thing, or things that I think was wrong. My baby is now 8 mnths and my brother and wife still doesnt talk to me. My brother thinks that I was just making it up and there’s no such thing as insanity in pregnancy. Now I am embarrassed to apologise in case they tell me off. But by golly, it’s true, you can go temporarily insane during that time.
My 13 week pregnant girlfriend is doing my head in. Two days we had our biggest argument yet or rather I witnessed this volcanic eruption of irrational negativity because I had been annoyed with her for badgering my own mother – THe catalyst was totally trivial. Yesterday the next one was that fact I started cooking onion in the kitchen and she cannot stand that – and started screaming at me for that. She became this tantrum screaming child claiming I had ruined everything in her life. IT was incredible. I ended up hating her. But she apologised on the phone a few days later and was totally contrite and wants to go to counselling as she was shouted alot at by her abusive father. I appreciated that. I can see why a lot of men leave their girlfriends / wives at this time. I hate being shouted at. Just another 6 months to go….. How much more can I take…. Well Ive just written the answer I suppose – 6 months. It is so draining. And I feel utterly frightened of her. I like joking around . None of that thank you very much. Any tips on how to survive the next 6 months? I am in my late 40s and led a tranquil sometimes jolly existence before this. Yours anon,
It’s like within the month of me finding out that I was pregnant I became totally insane. Not just your normal everyday insane. I became an evil, hormone enraged devil who lived in the husk of my previous jovial self. My poor husband has endured over 3 months of my rage and it has shown. With 5 more months to go we have decided to seek profesional help with comunication in order to save our marriage and strengthen our bond before the baby comes. Needless to say, he does not want to have any more children after this one. Frankly neither do I.