Stress in pregnancy

[worldgonemad72]

Hi all

having a really stressful time atm, im 22 weeks pregnant, ive already got 2 children but my ds who is 2 and a half is driving me nuts, my job is super stressfull (central heating) so you can imagine some of the calls i take from very angry people and to top it off my dh has walked out of his job. i feel like i haven't got any time to myself, im forever running around after people and tbh i dont know which way to turn.
luckily we haven't got any debts apart from the mortgage so i know we'll manage financially over the next few months, but that means we'll have no savings left. Im not sleeping properly, ive got no appetite and i cant bring myself to talk to my dh about it as he just doesn't 'get' how busy my life, job is.
Does stress affect pregnancy, ive read so many conflicting stories on the net. Im not really sure what anybody can say to me but i just wanted get it off my chest.
Thanks

My first observation is that if your DH is not working and you are he can take over all housework, shopping, childcare in order to reduce the stress you are under, while he looks for another job.

To answer your question there isn't any evidence I've seen to say that stress is harmful in pregnancy but the advice seems to be to to do your best to reduce stress

You poor thing :( stress affected my third pregnancy in my opinion athough of course I could not know 100%. The baby's father had walked out on us and my family were not supportive of my decision to keep the baby. I had a 6lb baby where my first two had been 8lb plus. She is fine now though :)

It sounds like you have an awful lot on your plate. But try not to worry - perhaps you will be able to make a few adjustments which will make it easier for you to cope.

I have been very stressed during this pregnancy and my Gp reassures me it won't harm the baby.

I agree if your DH isn't working at the moment then he should be doing the bulk of stuff at home, it should at least take away some of the pressure.

Your baby is more likely to be affected in the first and third trimesters, so you've got a bit of time yet.

The impact I know about is that the increased exposure to your stress hormones can 'set' your baby's system so that they become easily-stressed in life.

I hope that's not unhelpful. There are always exceptions to these rules, and it may be useful to know that the babies in the study I've read were in utero while their New York mothers witnessed the trauma of 9/11 at first hand. Quite different from your situation!

Best of luck.

Thanks for the replies, had a less stressful day at work today, got in and my dh had cleaned all through so ive had more of a chilled night.
Think everything just got to me yesterday, dont think it helped with the clocks going back, my ds was overtired.
Anyway going try to relax more, seeing my midwife in a couple of weeks so might speak to her about it as well.
Thanks

Glad you had a better day.