I'm 23 and not thinking of having a baby any time soon. In fact, I've always been against having children. But in the recent years I have considered it more. However pretty much the main thing that always get me straight back to thinking "no way!" is the thought of the stress, anxiety, and potential panic attacks I may experience during pregnancy, childbirth, and then of course motherhood.

Something that causes anxiety for me is pain. I get anxiety &amp; feel overwhelmed from just having cramps on my period, leave alone labour/childbirth. I just feel like I'm not mentally strong enough to handle it. I have a lot of health anxiety too, and I'm really sensitive to touch &amp; feelings inside my body. I feel like feeling a baby inside me would just make me feel so anxious. And then not the mention all the general anxieties that normal people would have, such as worrying bout having a miscarriage or that your child will have a deformity or whatnot. I'm a huge worrier, and I feel like my life will just be taken over with anxiety.

And all that is only 9 months. Then you've got your child to raise for the next 18 years at least. I think back to myself as a child/teenager and I can't believe what I put my parents through. So many times when my mum would scream at me because I would do something (such as not answer the phone) that would make her think I was dead or harmed. I feel like I would just constantly be terrified that my child is dead as I tend to be like that with my boyfriend. When my boyfriend doesn't answer his phone I get so worried that he's dead.

I've talked to my mum about this, however she doesn't suffer from anxiety or panic attacks. She said that the good times are worth the stress. I guess it's just hard to imagine that from someone-who-hasn't-had-a-child's perspective. I just don't think I could handle it, I don't feel like I'm strong enough. I honestly feel like I'd be more open to having a child without the reality of all this. Of course I know that having a child would have it's stresses, I just feel like I would have an extra layer of being overwhelmed by genuine anxiety. 

But, I can only assume that loads of mothers out there also suffer from anixety. I just wanna know how you do it.