My first appointment with my mid-wife was couldn’t have been any more opposite to what I was expecting. My disappointing doctors appointment was nothing compared to what this little lady had in store for me.
Sitting there in the waiting room, I was imagining a warm caring lady, who would ask how I’d been and how I was feeling, and fuss to the point of annoyance (I hate fussers). She was knowledgeable, compassionate and…… err…
I was greeted by a bedraggled woman who struggled to find her desk, let alone a pen! We had forms to fill in she said. Oh great. And injections.
WHAT? Injections? Now?
I thought they were at the next appointment!
“Really?” I said showing her the whites of my eyes. “Oh yes!” She said smiling a freakish smile. “Are you ok with injections?” Am I OK with injections? The short answer: NO! I was NOT OK with injections. But I’m not sure would be interested in hearing my stories. Like the one when I got sent home from work after having a medical because I never fully regained my colour after the injection experience – I had to be driven home! Or what about the time when I was training in NLP with Paul McKenna on “Phobia day”. He was giving us a demo of someone with a fear of needles and injections. I was on the verge of leaving the room because I couldn’t bare him holding that needle that glinted in the light right in front of me. The fact that I was 5 rows back in a room of around 100 people, didn’t matter. I was freaking out, let me tell you. Sweaty palms, shaky voice, teary eyes… I had ALL the symptoms!
So, when she asks me if I’m ok with injections, all I could manage was “No, not really”. When the god honest truth was I needed a good couple of days to panic in advance of any injections coming my way. Announcing them like that messes with my head. Thankfully, she was a kind and compassionate soul and noticing my obvious distress and need to panic for a while before having the injections, she says “ oh well, we’ll do those at the end – we’ve got this horrible form to fill in first”. There is so much wrong with what she said that I was aghast.
So, for the next 2 hours I sat very tense while being interrogated, all in the name of form filling. By the time we reached that inevitable “when was your last period?” question, I was feeling a little jaded. Predictably, the exact same thing happened as with the doctor. She assumed that because the last period that I could REMEMBER was in September, then I must be 12 weeks pregnant and due in July. Bonkers I tell you. The fact that it would have to be a miracle conception bypassed this medical expert too. But to make sure, she got me on the bench and had a good old prod. “Ooh yes! That feels about right. We’d better get you sent off for your scans” Scans? Already? This was happening waaay too fast for me. What followed was a farcical search for the phone under various piles of paper and several painful conversations to get me booked in. All the while I tried not to think about the imminent injections.
Finally, a date was set and we were FINALLY getting round to the ONLY thing that I could focus on. However, due to the traumatic nature of said injections I have now blocked that experience from my mind.
Alexia supports families planning pregnancy and birth. She helps them to overcome their fears and feel calm and confident about birth and pregnancy.
Alexia also trains birth professionals in the Fearless Birthing, a unique approach to birth preparation that is ideal for those who have fears around birth.
- In-Utero & Birth Imprint Trauma: The Hidden Factor Shaping Pregnancy Anxiety, Birth Fears, and Beyond - 14th February 2025
- Could Your Own Birth Be Shaping Your Fears About Pregnancy and Birth? - 12th February 2025
- We’ve Got Tokophobia All Wrong – And It’s Hurting Women - 12th February 2025
