Stress Can Affect The Pregnant Women Fetus

"Women's emotional performing during pregnancy -- their anxiety level, stress, individuality -- ultimately affects the temperament of their babies. It has to ... the baby is awash in all the chemicals produced by the mom."

So, how does a mom's tension get passed on to her fetus? Research workers aren't exactly sure which stress responses play the largest role, but it's clear that when a pregnant woman encounters anxiety, her body produces chemicals that affect the baby, too. Her nervous system, for instance, stimulates the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and reduce oxygen to the uterus.Since a very significant decrease in blood flow is most likely necessary to compromise the growth of the fetus.

Another stress reaction is more likely to affect fetal growth and pre-term labor. That is, when pregnant women practical experience stress, particularly in the first trimester, the placenta increases production of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which manages the duration of pregnancy and fetal maturation.

CRH is one of the most exciting recent technological discovery that could explain why women go into labor when they do. Called the "placental clock," CRH levels calculated in the mother's blood early in pregnancy -- between 16 and 20 weeks -- can predict the onset of labor months later. Those with the highest levels will likely deliver prematurely, and those with lowest levels are apt to deliver past their due dates.

And it seems to be that stressful events occurring during the first trimester are most critical in signaling early labor. "That's very important because it used to be thought precisely the opposite -- that women become fragile as term approaches. Indeed, our data suggest that women become psychologically stronger,"

"It appears we will be able to show that anxiety in pregnant women early in pregnancy leads to an early rise in CRH, which then leads to an early delivery," she says. "What we can't do yet is diagnosed which women is most at risk. But we're close, and very soon it will be appropriate for women to be asking their doctors if their level of stress should be assessed systematically."

Like most women, Pomerance had no idea how much stress could put her over the edge. "I was under your everyday type of anxiety. I thought that I would do it all, plus work out every day at the gym. Now I tell anyone who's pregnant to slow down a bit."

That's what makes health vendors so reluctant to emphasize the connection between stress and pregnancy problems. They say a lot of the differences come down to the women's personalities and how they cope with stress. Besides, who wants to lay even more guilt and anxiety on a woman who is already stressed?

"Stress can be lots of things," she says. "What you'll see in the literature (are) these lists of life events -- 'Did somebody die? Did you lose your job?' But those events are not what's leading to early delivery. What I see in our work that's leading to early delivery is being a generally anxious person ... for instance, a lot of fear about the pregnancy and delivery."

Sharing the Case By DR Noore Hrum