I am pregnant with my second child. When I had my first son, I was frozen with anxiety. I would have these terrible intrusive images of someone kidnapping, torturing, or sexually assaulting my infant/toddler son. It would keep me up and make me sick. I would imagine his cries and fear. It started when I was pregnant, then it would be imagining sids. Then as an infant I would imagine him getting dropped or something damaging his head. Then it progressed to what I mentioned earlier. It wasn’t like I was like day dreaming, it would almost an intrusive thought. I had no control.

I took medication and went to counseling for a year and was much better. I am 4 months pregnant and I’m starting to have these same anxieties. No one near as bad as before, but I can’t tell if it’s coming back.

Is this common? I feel really helpless and annoying and just want to give up sort of. I can’t deal with this all again.