Understanding Pregnancy Anxieties During The Patient Journey With Online Conversations

Pregnancy is a deeply personal and often uncertain journey, one marked by emotional highs, persistent questions, and a constant need for reassurance. For healthcare marketers, pregnancy care brands, and support service providers, understanding this emotional landscape is crucial to building meaningful and resonant connections with expectant individuals.

Between December 2024 and June 2025, we analyzed 601,481 online documents using Infegy Starscape to gain a deeper understanding of how people navigate the experience of pregnancy care. Through this analysis, we found a powerful insight: people aren’t just seeking medical facts; they’re looking for a space to vent, along with a sense of empathy and belonging. Throughout this research, using our Narratives clustering algorithm (shown in Figure 1), we were able to map these anxieties and quests for support into the four key clusters that comprise the pregnancy patient journey.

Figure 1: Narratives About Pregnancy Care (December 2024-June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

In this brief, we’ll dive into those four key areas shaping the pregnancy journey and reveal how brands can shift from being mere information sources to becoming trusted companions on the journey forward. Let’s dive in!

Trying to Conceive (TTC): A Journey of Data, Doubt, and Desire

Every pregnancy journey begins with conception, and each person's conception journey is unique. When we examined the narrative surrounding those trying to conceive, we found a deeply analytical audience. The "trying to conceive" audience lives in a world of contradictions. They're highly technical, tracking everything from LH strips to IUI cycles, yet emotionally vulnerable because they can't control the outcome. These conversations are filled with clinical terms and raw emotion.

Figure 2: Word Cloud Showing Top Topics Related to Trying To Conceive (December 2024 through June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

The data shows frequent discussions around "negative" "tests" along with "trying" and "sex." Sadly, "miscarriage" appears regularly in these conversations. Tracking becomes a central topic, along with concerns about "tests," “symptoms,” and “waiting.” The emotional weight of these technical discussions is heavy.

Figure 3: Deeply Negative Sentiment and Emotional Distribution (December 2024 through June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Opportunity for Brands:

Create empathetic, science-backed tools that provide reassurance. Position your brand as a trusted "companion" during the emotionally taxing TTC process. Develop educational content that normalizes the ups and downs of conception efforts.

Pre-Delivery Medical Anxieties: Searching for Control in a Medical Maze

Unfortunately, the anxiety and stress associated with pregnancy doesn't end after the often emotionally draining trying-to-conceive (TTC) phase. As individuals progress into pregnancy, they're immersed in a new wave of medical touchpoints, ultrasounds, bloodwork, screenings, and symptom monitoring, all of which can introduce fresh layers of uncertainty. For many, this stage feels like navigating a medical maze without a clear map. To deal with this uncertainty, especially because it's common for pregnant women not to talk about it until the end of the first trimester, we see a large number of them flocking to social media.

Our analysis of over 600,000 online conversations revealed a common emotional thread: the deep desire for control and clarity in the face of unpredictable and often uncomfortable physical symptoms. Terms like "morning sickness," "weeks," "feel," "sick," and "different" appeared frequently in conversations, reflecting a pattern of people trying to make sense of their changing bodies.

Figure 3: Top Topics Associated With Pre-Delivery Pregnancy Symptoms (December 2024 through June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Opportunity for Brands:

In this territory, brands have an opportunity to step in as educators but as empathetic guides. Offering consistent, calming, and clearly explained content about what's typical can help people feel seen and supported. The more you can help expecting parents feel in control, through tools, content, or community, the more likely you are to become a trusted part of their pregnancy journey, and after.

Relationship Anxieties: Emotional Labor Behind the Scenes

Pregnancy doesn't happen in a vacuum; it ripples through every corner of a person's life, especially their closest relationships. While the focus is often placed on physical health and medical milestones, our data reveals that one of the most emotionally charged aspects of the pregnancy journey is managing the social dynamics that surround it.

Figure 4: Relationship Topics About Pregnancy (December 2024-June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Terms from Figure 4 like such as "boyfriend," "relationship," "trust," "bestfriend," and "sleeping together," point to recurring narratives of emotional distance, unmet expectations, and even past relationship baggage resurfacing under the pressure of new responsibilities. These aren't just throwaway frustrations; they're fundamental concerns that shape the emotional well-being of the pregnancy experience.

Opportunity for Brands:

These relationship flashpoints are rarely addressed directly by pregnancy brands or healthcare services, yet they represent a significant opportunity for impact. Brands that acknowledge the emotional labor of pregnancy and advocate for shared responsibility can build powerful trust. Whether through campaign narratives that normalize co-parenting tensions, content that offers communication tips for couples, or tools that help partners better participate in care decisions, there is space to shift the narrative from a maternal burden to a shared journey.

Delivery Day Anxieties: Uncertainty Meets Urgency

As the due date nears, the emotional tenor of pregnancy conversations takes a sharp turn. What was once a focus on preparation and anticipation quickly shifts toward vulnerability, frustration, and fear. The delivery day, imagined for months, often unfolds unpredictably, and for many, this unpredictability becomes a significant source of emotional strain.

Figure 5: Topics Pertaining To Delivery Day Pain (December 2024 through June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Our analysis of conversations referencing labor and delivery reveals key anxieties surrounding the loss of control at the very moment when people hope to feel most empowered. Hospital policies, induction protocols, and sudden changes in birth plans (like surprise C-sections or the need for Pitocin) are common triggers. In the word cloud, terms like “hospital,” “unmedicated,” “pushing,” “pitocin,” and “pain” echo the language of plans disrupted and expectations unmet. The frequent pairing of “want” and “need” signals the negotiation between agency and necessity that many people face in the delivery room.

Figure 6: Top Emotions Pertaining to Delivery Day Pain (December 2024 through June 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Opportunity for Brands:

This is where brands have a clear opportunity to step in. Offering decision-support tools, interactive birth plan templates, or real stories that reflect a variety of birth outcomes can help expecting parents feel more mentally equipped and emotionally validated. Content that sets realistic expectations, “what you might hope for” vs. “what might happen”, can be the difference between fear and confidence.

Key Insights For Your Medical Social Listening Practice

Social listening isn’t just about monitoring mentions, it’s about decoding emotion at scale. In the context of pregnancy care, this means going beyond keywords and clinical terms to understand the nuanced fears, frustrations and needs that shape each stage of the journey. The four emotional territories identified, trying to conceive, pre-delivery medical concerns, relationship anxieties, and delivery day stress, each point to the same underlying truth: expecting parents are seeking both answers and affirmation.

Ultimately, effective pregnancy care communication isn’t about controlling the narrative, it’s about reflecting it honestly and compassionately. Social listening can illuminate what people aren’t saying to their doctors or even their partners but are willing to share online. If you can meet them there, you can build trust where it matters most.

Key Takeaways:

Humanize Information: Make clinical advice feel like it's coming from a peer who understands the emotional reality of pregnancy.

Design for Dialogue: Build forums, chat features, or content prompts that invite two-way engagement.

Support the Supporters: Offer tools for partners and family members to understand and participate in the journey meaningfully.

Normalize the Range: Combat the pressure of idealized pregnancy narratives by normalizing diverse emotional experiences and outcomes.