I don’t get it. How could anxiety - something in your brain - affect your baby ensconced in your uterus ?

People today are exposed to 10000% less stress than most humans were for hundreds of thousands of years. In addition, the human fetus is designed to withstand the slings and arrows of mother’s fortune.

Of course, anxiety and depression is somewhat genetic so you need to keep an eye on your child’s innate temperament and make sure you are modeling healthy coping mechanisms.

Yes and it didn’t help that I was learning about all the things that could go wrong in pregnancy as a Med student. Post pregnancy has been fine though I have my moments.

Did anyone have fears about something happening to not only the baby but to themselves? Like childbirth? Sometimes become overwhelmed with thoughts about that.

Anonymous wrote:It happened to me. I was compulsively googling rare complications and convinced my baby would have them. I spent much of the pregnancy in tears. Baby is almost 5 and completely healthy and happy.

Highly recommend CBT especially for OCD type obsessions.

I am this poster, would add that this child is mildly anxious, but virtually everyone on both sides of the family has anxiety so it seems like the genes.

I did. Twins. They were perfectly fine.

It happened to me. I was compulsively googling rare complications and convinced my baby would have them. I spent much of the pregnancy in tears. Baby is almost 5 and completely healthy and happy.

Highly recommend CBT especially for OCD type obsessions.

Hi OP, I suffered from extreme anxiety during my pregnancy. I had several panic attacks and overall an awful pregnancy. I received medication but decided not to take it out of fear of what it could do to the baby.
My baby was born completely healthy and today he's a happy 7-year-old, with some slight anxiety.

I had very high anxiety during my entire pregnancy. I think among the billion things I constantly googled during my pregnancy "affect of stress/anxiety on fetus" must have been in the top ten. My baby was born full term, healthy, and is the happiest, sweetest little girl. She does have a moderately anxious personality, but obviously so do I. It doesn't inhibit her ability to have fun or make friends, though.

I think in retrospect, a lot of my anxiety was due to isolation and not have anyone who I could usefully discuss my anxiety with. My husband's father was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer when I was pregnant, and I was afraid to burden him with anything else. My mom and sister were a source of anxiety, not people I could confide in. And I just didn't have friends at the time who would have been able to listen to me.

I saw a therapist after I gave birth for PPD and I think I would have really benefitted from seeing one while pregnant, too.

I have anxiety, I'd had a miscarriage, and then got pregnant with twins, so the fear of another miscarriage plus the concerns about a multiples / high risk pregnancy had me pretty anxious the whole time. My twins are 4, so the jury's still out, but things have been just fine. One of my twins seems to be a little anxious (he is a lot like me, mentally/emotionally), but that probably has more to do with genetics than with the pregnancy conditions.

I had pre-partum depression due to legitimate things going on with testing on me and my baby (none which actually materialized) and my baby was born and still is perfectly healthy, very low key/laidback, and happy. That experience actually contributed to why I think I’m so much more happy, go-with-the-flow, and an honestly better new mom than I would’ve been. Pregnancy itself completely rocked my world and having a newborn is actually nothing compared to what I went through prior to birth. When my child was born it was like a light switched and once I knew she was healthy I feel like life went back to normal (which most people with newborns don’t say!).

Anonymous wrote:I struggle with intense anxiety/OCD. Are you checking, OP?

3 pregnancies with intense anxiety, and 3 totally NT kids. In fact, the one where I was the MOST affected, the kid is as chill and relaxed as a Maui surfer. It’s like I took his ability to feel anxiety.

Makes me so happy to hear that they are so chill. Thanks for sharing your story. I can really spiral into very negative thinking that leaves me feeling drained and so nervous. Working on it!

I struggle with intense anxiety/OCD. Are you checking, OP?

3 pregnancies with intense anxiety, and 3 totally NT kids. In fact, the one where I was the MOST affected, the kid is as chill and relaxed as a Maui surfer. It’s like I took his ability to feel anxiety.

Absolutely. My mother died about a month before I got pregnant. Totally unexpectedly. I had also had a miscarriage prior to the pregnancy. I got Bell’s palsy and the entire side of my face froze... Oh I also got into a car accident and ended up in the ER. Kid is now almost 10 and totally fine. Two years later I had a second child who is also totally fine. For what it’s worth I did take Celexa during both my pregnancies.

I dealt with a LOT of anxiety during my first pregnancy. I got pregnant via IVF, after several years of infertility treatments, and I was convinced something would go wrong, even though both the baby and I were perfectly healthy. I wish I had talked to someone about it. I feel that anxiety eventually led to a diagnosis of PPD/PPA after she was born.

I'm well aware of the risks of stress and anxiety and the potential adverse affects on a pregnancy. I am feeling MUCH better these days but I can't change the fact that I basically was a nervous wreck up to 20 weeks due to heighted anxiety and fear of something going wrong either to baby or to me. Hearing positive stories from those that struggled with prenatal anxiety/ocd/extreme fear of the unknown and all turned out ok would be so helpful! I am still a little nervous about any irreversible effects I may have caused and therefore the risks of preterm birth and other adverse affects that so many people post about. Just trying to take it day by day now and be positive. Thank you!