Mood swings during pregnancy are emotional changes caused by the body changes and rapid shifting of body hormones of estrogen and progesterone.
The emotional ups and downs are caused by the factors of fatigue, bodily changes in the body, and hormonal fluctuations.
Expectant mothers may find themselves in moods they can’t explain varying from the feeling of excitement to waves of laughter and tears during the course of the pregnancy. Experts in the productive health of mothers suggest that the major cause of mood swings during pregnancies is associated with the rapid changing of hormones particularly estrogens and progesterone.
Doctors have found out that estrogen reduces during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and increases by more than 100 times during the pregnancy period.
According to the Very Well Family website, estrogen which is sometimes called the “happiness hormone” is influenced by the imbalances of body metabolisms causing emotional dysregulation in the body of the pregnant mother.
Mood swings are heavier during the early periods of pregnancy and are more likely to happen in the first trimester and the last third of pregnancy.
The emotional moods can be associated with feelings of nausea and sometimes vomiting. Morning sickness always comes with the anxiety that may arise during the period.
Research has shown that many pregnant women experienced depression during pregnancy. For instance, data indicated that 70% to 80% of pregnant women have been attacked by morning sickness.
Not all mood swings are nonetheless, associated with negative pregnancies such as sickness and nausea but some come with increased sex libido and feel-better sensations. As mood swings are concerned, it is likely that sex drives during pregnancy might increase at this stage of pregnancy and fluctuates even more.
According to gynecologists’ reports, expectant mothers will have reduced sexual drive when they are expecting a baby. With these changes, it is important for the husbands to note that it is healthy for their partners to experience reduced sexual drive.
During the first trimester, sex drive is likely to go higher coupled with nausea, fatigue and soaring of breasts. Most often, couples are likely to feel less interest in sex for all these reasons.
Whilst, after the first three months of the pregnancy, the mood swings lowers and the pregnant mothers become re-energized and have an interest in sex again. The months following the first trimester are experienced with coming to normal situations during which, at the period, women experiences changing in body shapes and the majority of them are excited about the changes in their weight.
From six to nine months, pregnant mothers experience reduced mood swings but of course, some fatigue and lack of sleep persist and are likely to cause mood swings. And during this stage, expectant mothers are advised not to engage in sexual intercourse because it might threaten the life of a child in the womb.
On either side, partners are advised to have safe sex during pregnancy if there are no complications involved. But the go-ahead on sex during the stages of pregnancy must be cleared by the midwife, and obstetrician to recommend the expectant mothers if it is okay to have sex during the period.
According to live science.com, Dr. Mary Kimmel, an assistant professor and co-director of the program in perinatal psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, thinks that pregnancy is a significant time of change for a woman's life and that it involves complex mixtures of positive and negative emotions.
“Women should be aware of their thoughts and feeling, and find a place to talk about these feelings and work through them,” she says.
According to a review from 2019 that was published in the journal Archives of Women's Mental Health, mood instability is common among pregnant and postpartum women.