Prayer Difficulties During Pregnancy

[Kristen]

Hi, all. I am especially seeking the responses of my fellow mommies, though I would welcome anyone’s response.

I am in the early stages of my third pregnancy and I find myself again having problems with my prayer life, namely that I really, really do not want to pray, and that when I do pray, I am very distracted and even upset. Now, like most folks, I struggle with these sorts of things to a lesser degree and infrequently when I am not pregnant, but when I am pregnant, it sometimes becomes overwhelming. Like now…

So, my questions are:

1. Do you other mommies have similar problems when you are pregnant?
2. If so, how do you keep your prayer life healthy?

Thanks in advance for your responses! God bless you all!

Kristen

 

[maria29]

I felt like it was harder for me to get the words out, but finally I settled on this. I would just talk to God whenever i happened to have a few seconds in the day or seemed to be struggling with various things. THis helped me instead of having a specific prayer time. I also many times just said you know my thoughts and what i need, please help me get through this…and left it at that.

 

[Catherine_W]

Hi,

I have never been pregnant, so I have no idea what that is like.

However, I would suggest going to Stations of the Cross on Fridays during lent. I really enjoy going and it helps me to stay focused on Jesus and all he does for us. Also daily mass is always nice. Good luck with your prayers and pregnancy.

 

[SuzieB]

When my prayer life is difficult I make time to pray at least one decade of the Rosary before I go to sleep. I actually do this in bed snuggled up with my rosary

 

[MommyZ]

I’m a mom and I don’t recall having difficulties with prayer during pregnancy specifically. But I did have a time when I was really frustrated in prayer. Think about changing up your prayer time. I read the Magnificat which has an abbreviated version of morning and night prayer plus the daily readings. I try to do morning prayer and the readings in the morning while I’m eating breakfast. (The kids have already finished their breakfast so I have a moment of peace… sort of. ) Then on other days I put in a praise cd and listen/sing along while I’m making dinner or washing dishes. I definitely don’t feel like I get in the prayer time that I used to without distractions like I did when I was single, but I think that God appreciates my efforts. I try to get some prayer time in also when I’m driving in the car or in the shower. But there are also a lot of days that prayer gets mixed in the shuffle of my day and before I know it, the day is done and all I’ve said to God was, “Please give me patience.”

 

[Teakafrog]

Yes, it’s mommy brain. You really are more fuddled when pregnant, all those gallons of hormones floating around there really mess with every aspect of your body and mind. I had the same problem. Getting better, but since I’m nursing, still have the hormonal stuff to some degree. Just try the best you can, and offer it up. He understands.

 

[sanctareparata]

Yes, it’s mommy brain. You really are more fuddled when pregnant, all those gallons of hormones floating around there really mess with every aspect of your body and mind. I had the same problem. Getting better, but since I’m nursing, still have the hormonal stuff to some degree. Just try the best you can, and offer it up. He understands.

I agree. It’s definitely mommy brain.

I was the same way (and still am - still pregnant). It is very hard to concentrate and prayer does require concentration. I do what the PP said - just pray throughout the day. When I am moved to stop for a moment and pray a decade of the rosary, I do it, but forcing myself to pray it at a specific time made me end up not really praying anything at all - just mumbling the words - because I couldn’t “think.”