The HSP and pregnancy

Motherhood has taught me many valuable lessons, but the lesson that seems to have put the puzzle together came almost at the age of 40 and It has set my daughter and myself in a path of self-discovery.

It all started whilst trying to figure out my daughters personality as well as her sensory issues, this came about as we have recently discovered that she is a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Discovering this about my daughter ended up shedding light into my own childhood and slowly but surely things seems to come together and somehow finally make sense, looking back at conversations I had with my own mother I came to realize that I too am a Highly Sensitive Person.

A Highly Sensitive Person is someone that experiences acute physical, mental, or emotional responses to stimuli on a much higher level. If you are easily overwhelmed by loud noises, bright lights, strong smells and coarse fabrics, if you get drained after a busy day, if you make it a priority to avoid confrontation or overwhelming situations, if you often have the feeling of not fitting in and have an overall feeling of being different, if when you were a child you were labelled as shy, sensitive or a deep thinker, if you have a rich inner life and are moved by the arts, fine scents or sounds, you might be one two.

HSP is not a disorder but a trait that is found in around 15 to 20 percent of the population. High sensitivity is a real, research-based characteristic, anyone who has a very high degree of Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), is considered highly sensitive and has a slightly different wiring at a neural level.

Elaine Aaron was the pioneer in these types of studies, she started her research in 1991 and since then, this trait has been identified in countless different species.

This discovery about myself made things specially clearer when I thought back to both my pregnancies. When I was pregnant with my twins I had such terrible implantation pain, that one day I just fainted with the pain. I was rushed to the hospital and once there, the doctors did not know what was causing it and at one stage wanted to remove my appendix. At this time, I was unaware that I was pregnant of twins, but as they scanned me they found two little hearts beating. The tolerance to pain as a HSP is very low, as is the tolerance to any medication, so when I had my epidural as I went into labour, I immediately felt horribly sick.

Being a HSP and a pregnant woman you can expect, as all mothers to be do, some challenges which are just heightened by our SPS.

Heighten sense of smell and tastes makes it a given that the first trimester will be one of intense nausea, and if a day travelling to work, working and socializing would floor us before, when you are pregnant and trying to care for another human being inside you, this will wipe you out.

I remember that during both my pregnancies I never felt fully re-energized, even after a 12 hours sleep, I constantly felt like I needed a nap and falling asleep in the train or on the bus was just a given.

As a HSP and a pregnant woman, we need a lot more reassurance that everything is going to be ok, on the “day” we need people around us that we know and that make us feel good, as we absorb every mood that surrounds us, we need to make sure there is a lot of Oxytocin going around as we will need it for labour.

Don’t get put off by my description of pregnancy, I absolutely loved being pregnant, and if I could I would have a bunch of children. Having this sensitive trait can make pregnancy and motherhood very challenging, as it demands so much of us, and our trait demands that we have a lot of self-care to avoid burn out. But for all the challenges we face we are also met with extremely rewarding experiences and emotions. As a HSP motherhood also means that we find joy in the things that most wouldn’t even notice, we are moved looking at the little details of our new-born, and blown away by how they evolve into these humans that fill us with so much joy. We can identify their uniqueness and develop a vision of the child’s possibilities.

It is important that birth professionals and pregnant people alike are aware of this trait as they are more likely to feel more physical and psychological effects of pregnancy, this does not mean that there are reasons for concern, but it is good to introduce more methods of self-care, that can ease these discomforts.

Although HSP’s have a lower threshold to pain, it does not mean that they won’t be able to experience a natural delivery, but understanding the HSP trait, practicing tuning into their own body, using the techniques & tools that the birthing person finds helpful to calm the body and mind, trusting their own intuition and allowing the childbirth process to unfold.

Some of the ways that birth professionals can help raise awareness is by adding questions to any intake forms inquiring whether there is a history of sensitivity to pain, medicine, sights, sounds, smells, moods of others, being easily overwhelmed at times, considered sensitive or shy growing up, a deep thinker or deep feeler, difficulties watching others in pain? If the client answers yes to several of these it would be a good recommendation for them to look into the Sensory Processing Sensitivity trait themselves so they can better move forward with this new information.

You can find the self-assessment test here: http://hsperson.com/test/