Stress & early pregnancy

[cookiemonster100]

Hi all,

I am 9 weeks 4 days pg & I am going through a really stressful time and I am worried what damage I am doing to the baby and even if the stress will cause me to m/c. I have had to reapply for my job and I did not get it and they are offering me a role at a lower level. I am having to contest their decision as they have not followed process and and argue to keep my pay and conditions. This has resulted in the past few weeks being really stressful and I am currently very upset about the whole thing.
I have found my pg symptoms are not as what hey are I.e. less nauseas and I am worried what I have done to the baby .
I have a midwife appt but its not till next week.
Can anyone help with stress and early pregnancy? I did have a scan at 6 weeks & 5 days which showed a heart beat as we had IVF which gave us the all clear to be discharged from the clinic.
Thanks x

Cookie, so sorry you're going through this but congrats on your pregnancy. I lost my lovely dad in jan when I was 14ish weeks and it was a very stressful and emotional time. But I was assured by midwife and consultant that babies are very resilient. But nonetheless you can't help but worry. Try and take time out every day to relax and focus positively on your pregnancy (and forget about work) - the zita west guided meditation for pregnancy is great. Btw I'm now 28+4 and have had a couple of scans that show a healthy and very active little one. I'm sure you and your baby will be fine - good luck with the work thing too. And get some good advice so you can play hardball with them. Btw I think you have more rights when pregnant - check that out - so maybe things will change if you tell them at 12 weeks. Good luck x

Hi Pocket,
Congrats on your your pg and sorry to hear about your dad. Thanks for your response, your right I need to focus on positive pregnancy time out. Going through this saga there have been points where I have forgotten I am pg!
X

Cookie how are you doing? i've had the most awful tummy bug this week but the little one is still wriggline - testimony to the fact that they are strong and tough. Wanted to let you know that to put your mind at rest further. HOpe you're doing okay. x

Obviously stress isn't going to be good for your baby, but I think it would be very rare to miscarry from stress once you have seen the heartbeat etc unless there were other factors involved.

I discovered I was pregnant fairly late as I had been going through the worst most stressful period of my life so had put symptoms down to that. I hadn't slept in weeks, wasn't able to eat so had lost half a stone in a week, and was killing myself running miles every day to numb everything. I honestly couldn't have cared if I'd dropped down dead. My baby was unaffected and weirdly once I realised I was pregnant the need to nurture and look after her helped me focus on happier things and ignore the other stuff.

Try not to worry, eat well, try to sleep and look after yourself.

Hi all,
Thanks for your responses. Spent two hours today in tense meeting discussing future at my work place which should finalise next week. It's not a brilliant place to be in currently.
So I booked myself in for a private scan this weekend. It's more to put my mind at ease than anything,& has my best friend pointed out the cost is a drop in the ocean what you spend on the kids anyway lol!!
Thank you for your kind words, really glad it's the weekend & I don't have to go into the office!
Have a good weekend all,
C xx

Cookie, I am sorry you are going through this and I have my fingers crossed that the job situation resolves well.

I am first time pregnant so not the world's most reliable authority, but the one book I have bought on pregnancy (Do chocolate lovers have sweeter babies? - you might like it too going by your nickname :) ) has a chapter on stress and its impact on the fetus. I only remember it referencing animal studies and not human test subjects (it would be very difficult / unethical to perform human studies, I guess).

The overall picture from that was that moderate levels of stress can in fact be beneficial for the fetus, making it sharper and quicker to think. Permanent extreme stress is unsurprisingly not good because it prepped the baby rats for a hostile world full of dangers. But unless you stay highly stressed for your entire pregnancy, I doubt that the baby would be damaged.

From my limited, personal and human experience, I went through different kind of work-related stress in my first trimester - I was run ragged at work - and my obstetrician said it would not affect the baby at all, but I need to take care in case it affects me. It's a lot more consoling to think that I am the only one suffering!

Hi all,
Hope you are enjoying the sunshine!
Just to let you all know the scan showed that everything is Ok and the baby measurements are inline for the dates. So much happier knowing everything is ok.
Thanks everyone for your positive words and support, I have really appreciated it.
C xx