Prenatal Effects Of Stress

For most women, the good is that stress is unlikely to cause problems with their pregnancy.

For women who are concerned about prenatal stress and their ability cope with stress, they should discuss their concerns with their health care provider.

In teaming with the healthcare provider you will be able to uncover resources within your community that can be very effective in showing you simple steps to effectively reduce stress and help you cope with both physical and the emotional stresses of a pregnancy.

Prenatal stresses are indeed both physical and emotional.

Physical stresses come in the form of all the usual pregnancy stresses such as; fatigue, nausea, swelling, and body aches. This is especially true if the pregnant woman tries to carry on and do all of the things and responsibilities she was keeping up with prior to becoming pregnant.

As a pregnant woman you can help reduce your feelings of stress toward your physical condition by reminding yourself that this is a temporary situation, and it is a situation that has your body literally stretched to its limits. Again, work with your physician or health care provider in leaning different ways to cope and what works best for you.

Also, at the very minimum, work on cutting back on some of your responsibilities and activities… especially when you aren’t feeling well or are uncomfortable.

All women are aware that prenatal hormonal changes contribute to mood swings and that during pregnancy this is quite normal. However, you should be mindful that these same mood swings make it more difficult to deal with stressful scenarios. Understanding the ‘what’ and ‘why’ can be good steps toward managing a stress attack.

Aside from the physical stresses of pregnancy (and in addition to) many parents to be worry about such things as the health of their newborn, the labor and delivery process itself, and for first time parents – the ability to even be a good parent. All of these, add even more opportunity to trigger stressful thinking.

Prenatal stress may contribute indirectly to adverse effects by affecting your behavior. If for example, when under high levels of stress (perceived or otherwise) you abandon good health and diet habits you can put yourself and the unborn at a higher degree of risk.

This risk becomes especially acute if your answer to coping with your stress begins to involve smoking, alcohol, and drugs.

Continued...
Prenatal Effects Of Stress 3