An unplanned pregnancy is a stressful situation, no matter what. Preparing to be a parent is a permanent and life-changing decision. It takes a considerable amount of thinking to decide you are ready to be called Mom and Dad. When the pregnancy test reads positive when you don’t want it to, it is understandable that the person(s) receiving the news would react with panic on most occasions.
Having to prepare your friends, family, children for news of an unexpected new family member will make anyone break out in a sweat. An unplanned pregnancy doesn’t just affect the woman. It affects her whole family. It impacts the biological father as well. No one gets out of an unplanned pregnancy unscathed. Most of the time, poor decisions are made in haste and out of a strong desire to quell unpleasant emotions. There are parts of an unplanned pregnancy that lack discussion. Chances are, if you are at the height of deciding on an unplanned pregnancy, you can relate to some of these issues.
Denial About An Unplanned Pregnancy Is Powerful
We have all read the articles about women who have delivered children in bathrooms and emergency rooms they claim they didn’t know they were carrying. It seems unbelievable to the average person that any woman could not know they were pregnant. Like, how can that happen? It does. There are a few reasons a woman would be carrying a child she didn’t know was there.
- Many women experience intermittent bleeding during pregnancy. This can lead them to believe they are menstruating when they are experiencing breakthrough bleeding.
- Obesity can contribute to the reasons a woman doesn’t see that her abdomen is swelling.
- Some women have irregular periods, so not menstruating for months at a stretch is not unusual for them.
- Not all women experience morning sickness, or they can mistake it for another illness if there are no other pregnancy symptoms.
- Emotional distress or mental health issues can prevent or delay a pregnant woman from accepting her pregnancy.
Mental Health Issues Can Contribute To Emotional Distress In Pregnancy
Facing an unplanned pregnancy is already hard. Going through it with underlying mental health issues can increase the amount of emotional distress a pregnant woman goes through. It is in these situations that abortion can feel like the only viable option to relieve the distress. There are alternatives to consider before you make an appointment at the nearest abortion clinic.
- Many women with mental health issues have and raise healthy children with support.
- Abortion isn’t going to erase the distressing issues around an unplanned pregnancy.
- It is worth looking at why the pregnancy is distressing, instead of seeing the pregnancy as distress.
When making big decisions, it is best to think through things carefully. Being upset and emotional is a bad reason to make a permanent decision for anything. Often the things that seem impossible on the outset are not that bad once we go through the motions. An unplanned pregnancy can feel like life is over, but for the women who have carried to term, that assumption is far from true.
Women with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues should discuss with their mental health professionals how to treat their mental health during pregnancy. Abortion does not help with the emotional aftermath of an unplanned pregnancy in women with mental health issues. Studies show that it can significantly increase emotional distress and cause additional mental health concerns.
Talking Through An Unplanned Pregnancy Helps Clear The Mind
When we are under stress, it is hard to see the path forward. More than anything, what is needed is a listening ear and wise advice. We tend to make things more awful in our minds than they are. We also can’t properly think through all the angles when we are under stress. Not only that, but we don’t always know all the options we have to consider.
Professionals who understand how to meet a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy where she is, and help her walk through the obstacles are indispensable for helping women make pregnancy decisions. More often than not, there is more than one way to think about a difficult situation. A person who has experience in helping women deal with this particular issue is a lot more helpful than a friend or family member who is panicking also.
If you are having difficulty processing an unplanned pregnancy or you feel as though being pregnant puts you at risk for any reason, contact us today for a consultation on how to decide on an unplanned pregnancy. We are here to help.