How to Keep Your Emotions from Getting the Best of You – Part One
I just don’t feel like my husband loves me as much.**I’m so happy today, I could sing!
I can’t face the world today. I just want to go back to bed.
Did you hear how she said that in that tone of voice?
Ugh. I look so fat and ugly.
Ah. Emotions.
As women, it can seem like a never-ending battle to stay in control of them.
And they seem to be at their worst when we’re pregnant.
Crying at commercials and Facebook videos. Wanting to go off on the crazy driver next to you on the highway. Shedding happy tears when you see a cute elderly couple at the mall. We can be all over the map with our emotions at any given point during pregnancy.
That’s because pregnancy causes many hormone levels to be raised, and these hormones affect your brain’s transmitters and your serotonin levels. And serotonin is what helps regulate your mood. Your progesterone, estrogen, and hCG hormone levels will all change drastically during pregnancy, helping to strengthen blood vessels, keep your baby attached in the womb, provide the building blocks for his or her tiny life, and much more.
These strong hormones are doing a job in your body, but they can also cause emotions to emerge that don’t always make sense, even though they feel very real. For some women, mood swings aren’t really a struggle, but for others, the swings can cause a lot of inconvenience or even full-out sob fests. That’s why it helps to not only be aware of what’s happening in your body, but also to train yourself to stand strong when your emotions are causing feelings that don’t agree with what God says about you.
We women can be hard on ourselves and feel guilty for not being overjoyed all nine months of pregnancy. But there’s nothing wrong with you if you have moments of sadness or tears. That’s normal. **Give yourself a break.
I heard one husband say that pregnancy makes his wife act like she has PMS all of the time. It doesn’t have to be like that; it can be a wonderful time of really connecting with each other and meeting each other’s needs.
It may be a time when a husband needs to learn to lay down his life for his wife, ministering to her needs and honoring her as the “weaker vessel”—the more emotional person in the relationship.
The bottom line is that it’s more important than ever to stay in love and in agreement with your spouse when you’re expecting an addition to your family.
Even though your emotions may be trying to pull you away from your spouse, you need to recognize that your husband needs you in this time too. You’re both about to embark on the journey of parenting a little one, and it will require more time and effort, but it will be the most rewarding thing you do together.
Just remember that you can still walk in love when your emotions are trying to drag you down.
What does love act like?
Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].
Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away. —1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (AMP)
Watch for Part Two of this post next week!
Request a copy of The Know-how Book on Birth for any woman you know who is thinking of getting pregnant, who is trying to get pregnant, or who is pregnant!
Excerpted and adapted from The Know-how Book on Birth.
