I remember with each of my children what I was doing at that moment when I first felt the first kick. its not painful. kind of just feels like that fluttery feeling any one gets when they are very happy and excited only that feeling didnt come from my being excited. that feeling was caused from feeling movement. another way to think about this is next time you eat something wait about half hour then put your hand on your abdomen. you may feel your body moving as it processes the food you just ate. its like that, nothing abnormal or painful or claustrophobic. its just that moment of wow I felt something exciting and good. at least thats the way it was for me and my wife.

the fears and worries do not go away during the pregnancy. if anything being a mom means your brain has to learn how to balance the caring and worrying about another human being instead of just worry and taking care of their self.

I tend to think the worry factor during pregnancy is just natures way of preparing a mom for refocusing their attention from just their self to include their baby.

that said there are therapy tools that can help a naturally worried and obsessively worried mom get through the hard pregnancy thoughts, fears and worries.

my suggestion is have your friend talk with their doctors. they can help her to decide what she wants to do and how to go about doing it.