Our Women’s First Postpartum: Conquering Worry – Part 1

Common fears and worries about pregnancy

Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash

In this three-part series, I will explore an article titled Conquering Worry: Understanding Catastrophic Worry & Ways to Persevere by Nathaniel Valera, where Valera explains the emotions that arise for parents and mothers specifically who decide to start a family. While all women’s struggles are crucial to address, and I will not take away from that, I’d like to focus on Black women specifically and how differently worry surfaces for them.

Many expecting mothers worry about the unknowns that occur during pregnancy and once their baby is born. It’s common to be unnerved and have doubts. It doesn’t matter if the mother is not a first-time mom, has a partner to help, or friends and family who can provide a ton of advice; this is one of the most vulnerable states a woman endures. Imagine bracing yourself for the inevitable…things like discrimination during your delivery.

Due to the overwhelmingly high mortality rates for Black women across the nation, no matter the class, worrying about death is a dark reality that I’m sure most would prefer to not deal with.

As someone who has plenty of nephews and nieces, I’ve witnessed many expecting women in my life worry about some things that are typically normal and understand that thoughts are not always positive. However, what is standard in the Black community is not typical for all.

There are healthy thoughts, and there are unhealthy thoughts. As Black women endure racial disparities and lack of health equity their thoughts may tend to lean more to the negative. When you’re constantly focused on the negative and unable to care for yourself or your baby correctly, this is unhealthy and a cause for concern.

According to Valera normal concerns consist of:

Not being physically or emotionally prepared for the birthing experience

Complications during delivery

Congenital disabilities and medical condition of the baby

Snapping back physically and mentally after giving birth

Knowing how to care for the baby

As mentioned earlier, most Black women must deal with these common worries and the added layers of biases when dealing with health professionals, societies critiques, and a lack of resources—making the postpartum experience harder to push through.

Many won’t be able to pull themselves up, leading to more extreme thoughts and consequences. In part two, as told by Valera, I’ll discuss what to look out for to know that the thoughts have moved over into the excessive category and require immediate attention.