Prayer During Pregnancy

O most glorious Mother of God, have mercy on me, thy servant, and come to my aid amid the pains and dangers in which all the poor daughters of Eve bear their children.

Remember, O blessed among women, with what joy and love thou didst go in haste into the hill country to visit thy kinswoman Elizabeth during her pregnancy, and what a wondrous effect thy grace-filled visitation had upon both mother and child.

In thine inexhaustible compassion, grant also to me, thy lowliest servant, to be safely delivered of my burden. Grant me this grace: that the child now resting beneath my heart, coming to awareness and leaping joyfully like the holy infant John, may worship the divine Lord and Savior, Who in His love for us sinners did not disdain Himself to become a child.

May the ineffable joy that filled thy virginal heart when thou didst behold thy newborn Son and Lord sweeten the sorrow that awaits me amid the pains of childbirth. May the Life of the world, my Savior born of thee, save me from the death that cuts short the lives of many mothers at the hour of delivery, and number the fruit of my womb among God’s chosen.

Hear, O most holy Queen of Heaven, my humble supplication, and look upon me, a poor sinner, with the eye of thy grace. Put not my hope in thy great mercy to shame, but overshadow me.

O Help of Christians and Healer of the sick, may I also be granted to know by experience that thou art the Mother of mercy. May I ever glorify thy grace, which has never rejected the prayers of the poor and delivers all who call upon thee in times of sorrow and sickness. Amen.