Sandra Igwe on motherhood, the 3rd time around

I felt quite anxious in my 2nd pregnancy, especially because of the traumatic birth that I had with my 1st pregnancy.  

For me, that looked like not wanting to get out of bed some days, not having much motivation to do much.  

But also, it felt like I wanted to isolate myself and not want to speak to family and friends. I wanted to do everything on my own and bottle everything up.  

I just knew that I had changed, things had changed and that for me felt like I had lost control.  

I was reluctant to speak up and speak out about how I was feeling.  

I didn’t trust speaking to doctors at the time or midwives about my situation. But I did trust speaking to women and mothers that were going through what I was going through.  

Being around other people that understood my challenges, speaking up - this time being my 3rd pregnancy, I feel a lot better. I feel amazing, I feel good. And that could be because I’ve had experiences with my first 2 and now, I know what works well for me.  

I also feel a lot more content in the little things. And the little things could be - a nice walk, a fresh breeze, doing my nails. I appreciate that a lot more.  

I’m also a lot more vocal in how I feel.  Before and I bottled a lot of things up but now I do speak up and, in that way, I feel empowered and a lot more in control of how I navigate my feelings and emotions.  

Learn more about The Motherhood Group here.