Dr Emma Black, Clinical Psychologist

Dr Emma Black, Clinical Psychologist Dr Emma Black offers clinical psychology services to support women and young women to improve their lives.

Pregnancy is assumed to be a happy time for women. It starts with the 'Congratulations!' when you share your news with o...
28/08/2026

Pregnancy is assumed to be a happy time for women. It starts with the 'Congratulations!' when you share your news with others. For some women, pregnancy is a happy time.
For many women, it is not.

How you become pregnant, and whether you intended this for yourself and your life, affects whether there is a happy start to pregnancy. Many Australian women do not intend their pregnancies. This does not mean they are necessarily unwanted, although this is true for some women. When you start a pregnancy having to make emotional, psychological, and life accommodations for something that was unplanned - this can take time and work, and may not immediately be 'joyous'.

There are also other life changes that happen when you are pregnant, including career disruption. Growing your family can be important to you – and so can your career or work. This can bring mixed feelings, even if you are happy to be growing your family.
It’s common to have more mood swings or emotional ups and downs in pregnancy, so changes in feelings are often part of the pregnancy experience.

The experience of pregnancy can sometimes be challenging, for many different reasons. The physical impacts, or complications. Worry about the pregnancy or baby. Navigating pregnancy after loss, and the anxiety that this can bring. Facing unexpected things that can turn your world upside down, whether it is getting a prenatal diagnosis, learning you are having multiple babies, or something else. Pregnancy is not always smooth sailing or ideal, which can bring mixed feelings – including grief for the pregnancy and life you’d imagined.

Additionally, things that might not have bothered you previously become more emotionally meaningful. Your partner leaving dirty clothes on the floor is no longer them just leaving dirty clothes on the floor. Instead, this can take on new meanings such as:
- They make more work for me, even when I’m pregnant and exhausted.
- I will need to spend my life picking up after them.
- What kind of example will this set for a little boy or girl?
- Do they even consider me?

With all of the above factors combined, you can see why pregnancy often brings mixed feelings.
Yes, there can be many positive feelings. And it’s also normal to have negative feelings tied in, as well.

However, if you find that you are having more bad days than good ones, or more negative feelings than positive ones, please seek help.

Kind wishes,

Emma

Pregnancy is a time of significant change, and it can bring many different emotions along the way. Sometimes, they are conflicting.

P

Feeling a mix of excitement, uncertainty, or other unexpected feelings does not mean you are not grateful or ready. Understanding these experiences can help create more compassion for yourself during this transition.

All too often, when you don’t feel the ‘right’ way or the way you think you ‘should’, this starts up the self-criticism ...
25/08/2026

All too often, when you don’t feel the ‘right’ way or the way you think you ‘should’, this starts up the self-criticism about all the things you are doing wrong.

Ironically, learning to make room for unwanted experiences or emotions is often relieving and where we can find some peace - and a path forward.

Yes, your inner critic will tell you otherwise – and make you feel like crap in the process, or even worse than you did before. Sometimes, the answer is doing something different to what you’ve done before.

This is why the Motherhood Myths books (The Pregnancy Myths Guide, The Birth Myths Guide, and more books to come) also include acceptance skills. When you acknowledge unwanted experiences or feelings – you can work on changing them. And when you make room for these, sometimes you find that they change on their own, or aren’t as much of a problem as what your mind told you.

When done right: Acceptance creates change.

As a skill, acceptance is often different to what pop culture says it is – because it has never been about wallowing in feelings. It might come as a surprise, but concrete acceptance skills are a way to tolerate distress and improve your circumstances. If you’re curious or want to learn more, check out The Pregnancy Myths Guide and The Birth Myths Guide.

Kind wishes,

Emma



Pregnancy can bring a wide range of emotions, sometimes ones that feel unexpected.Sometimes, you feel differently to wha...
22/08/2026

Pregnancy can bring a wide range of emotions, sometimes ones that feel unexpected.
Sometimes, you feel differently to what you expected.
More negative.
More positive.
Or the messy middle with a wide range of feelings that happen at the same time. Or different feelings that you move between, over time.

We are not two-dimensional with only one range of experiences or emotions. Dualities and mixed feelings co-occur, are normal, and happen for many reasons.

This is also exactly what motherhood is: full of different feelings.

I remember a few years ago, trying to pack a suitcase for travel; it was just me and my youngest together. There were a lot of questions and discussion. Internally, I was thinking, 'Jeez I wish I could think through what I need and pack in peace, without all the questions'. But the moment he found something else to do, I missed him - it was now too quiet!. I also felt guilty having wished for the space to think + pack. So I flicked between trying to pack and being the one now chasing him, wanting to connect.

Motherhood is mixed feelings - and it often starts in pregnancy or earlier.

Kind wishes,

Emma


Sharing your experience with The Pregnancy Myths Guide can help other parents discover resources that may support them t...
21/08/2026

Sharing your experience with The Pregnancy Myths Guide can help other parents discover resources that may support them through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood.

If you have found value in this book, leaving a review can help more women find these resources.





The way you are engaged with during birth makes a huge difference to how supported you feel - especially when the circum...
16/08/2026

The way you are engaged with during birth makes a huge difference to how supported you feel - especially when the circumstances are difficult. It's not always all about what happens in birth, but how you are supported through it.

Great maternity care is more likely to happen when you have an ongoing relationship with the same provider throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. This is called 'Continuity of Care', and it allows the relationship to grow over time.

And it's probably no surprise, but continuity of care with a wonderful practitioner is a protective factor against birth trauma.

Kind wishes,

Emma




Pregnancy comes with many messages about what you should expect, feel, or do. While myth-busting these is great on its' ...
13/08/2026

Pregnancy comes with many messages about what you should expect, feel, or do. While myth-busting these is great on its' own, knowing how to navigate common challenges goes a lot further.

Managing stress in pregnancy.
Breaking free from the unhelpful expectations, pressures, and demands of pregnancy.
Reducing the emotional load you're carrying.
Learning how to accept and carry the challenges that you can't and don't control.
Bonding with your baby - because this often looks different to what you are told to do, which can feel more like a demand.
And so much more.

Kind wishes,

Emma




Earlier this year, I got to join Mackay's Pregnancy, Baby, and Beyond Expo. It was my first time doing anything like thi...
12/08/2026

Earlier this year, I got to join Mackay's Pregnancy, Baby, and Beyond Expo. It was my first time doing anything like this, and out of my comfort zone.

What helped was connecting with other women, services, and exhibitors. Thanks to Lauren .health.physio.mackay for putting this on and welcoming me.

One of my fave parts was hanging out with , maternity + newborn photographer – who took these photos. Thank you Sarah 😊

Kind wishes,

Emma

Our feelings and emotions exist for many reasons. One purpose is to communicate information to us that is not always 'lo...
10/08/2026

Our feelings and emotions exist for many reasons.

One purpose is to communicate information to us that is not always 'logical' - but this does not mean that it is not valid or helpful information. Sometimes, waiting for enough logical information in a situation means it is too late, and the damage is done.

By the same token, emotions also reduce our cognitive load and demands. Not every single action has to be consciously thought through - we can act, with less mental demands. They can be shortcuts for us.

Honestly, there are more purposes behind our emotional responses. The message, though, is that wee don't need to judge our feelings as valid or invalid - there is always a purpose behind them, and seeking to understand this (without judgement) often reduces our distress and cognitive load.

The way we speak to ourselves matters, and compassion or non-judgement can change how overwhelming our challenges and emotions may be.

Kind wishes,

Emma

Our thoughts can feel very convincing, especially during times of uncertainty or change - and sometimes, they can drive ...
08/08/2026

Our thoughts can feel very convincing, especially during times of uncertainty or change - and sometimes, they can drive our distress.

Several therapies (such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and mindfulness, are built on creating new relationships with our internal experiences (feelings, thoughts, body sensations, memories, and urges).
Our internal experiences are not always pleasant, can cause distress, along with driving unhelpful, habitual, impulsive, or emotion-driven actions.

Stepping back to observe our experiences, without judgement, is one way to gently build new internal relationships.

The beauty of these skills, and gently-changing relationships, is that we have more room to make conscious choices about what matters to and what is helpful in the bigger picture - and use this to guide our actions.

Kind wishes,

Emma

07/08/2026

One time in very late pregnancy, I thought my waters broke.

Wrong... I had done a good job of wetting myself when my dogs knocked me over.

No one ever had to know about it, except I shared it in one of my books, and now here... 😂

What's your embarrassing pregnancy moment?


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Level 1, Clinical Practice Building, 1 James Cook Drive
Hyde Park, QLD
4811

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+61747814495

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