stress in pregnancy

[LKS]

I was very interested when reading the thread about right and left handers in what waccoe said about increased testosterone(sp) in pregnancy. I remember reading an article once can't remember where in which research had been done on the effects of too much stress in pregnancy and how it could effect social and communication skills and sometimes intelligence.This made me think, as during my pregnancies with my 2 AS children I was under a lot of stress. With my son my mother-in-law had died , my husband had been made redundant and one of the twins I was carrying had died at about 17 weeks into the pregnancy. With my AS daughter she had been conceived while I was taking the pill, my husband had a nervous breakdown and we lost our business and livelihood! I know obviously stress would not always affect pregnancies otherwiswe there would be many more problems but it makes you wonder doesn't it

[tsmom]

Sure does i was worried sick all through my pregnancy with T as id lost a babyat 18weeks pregnant a month before she was conceved .Sounds mad now but i was convinced id never have a healthy baby.How wrong was i thank god.

[Suze]

My ASD son was also a twin ,lost at 12wks.The rest of the pregnancy was stressful,he failed to grow and I was scanned weekly.

[annie]

I had 4 miscarriages and 1 eptopic pregnancy before I had Alex. The problem was to do with anti-paternal antibodies, in case anybody else had similar problems. I had weekly scans right the way through as well as HCG injections 3 times a week

 

This bit has nothing to do with AS, but when we were having treatment for the problems, we met up with 2 other couples that we knew going through exactly the same. In each couple was 1 person that was a hairdresser, us included (hubby)......we often wandered if that was just a co-incidence or something in hair colouring

[lindy-lou]

my pregnancy with india was stressful,i had lost a baby in september and conceived indy in november,i also had a massive falling out with my sister,and then found out i had placents praevia and had to stay in hospital for the last 3 weeks of pregnancy til i had a c section,i would be interested to know the ratio of children born by c section that are on the spectrum.

[adamsmum]

I was in a violent relationship when i was having my two. It was very stressful and Adam was prem as a result. Not with him now but lost house when pregnant with third ended up in refuge he was prem due to stress and has speech delay. I think there is something in it but i wonder about a genetic link making certain people more at risk

[smiley]

My pregnancy with little one was stressful, i was working 13hr days, in a unhappy relationship, absolutely exhausted and had previously miscarried. I also had placenta previa and M was born at 30 wks - emergency section (tiny little 4lbs!).

 

His prematurity is always brought up when we meet a new 'professional'. But i have also been asked several times about any stress during pregnancy - there is probably a link there, amongst other things.

Edited January 3, 2006 by smileymab

[rainbow queen]

you could be right about this

when i was pregnant with my first boy who has the probs-i was living with his dad who was abusive mentally and psychically to me throughout our relationship and my pregnancy.

 

when i was pregnant with 2 nd son i got a court order to keep him away from about 3 months on till i had 2nd son i was on my own but my stress levels were better and i always think my 2nd son is very more chilled person because of this. i even refused to have dad at 2 nd birth as well.

 

also like to add my labour was awfully long and hard going and my first son was born with cord around his neck and was blue and needed oxgen[so weird as this was the case with my nephew too -he was first son -had really bad birth -didnt get enough oxgen-and he dx with aspergers /tourettes and ocd.--her 2nd son is fine and her daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

 

time and time again i have brought this up with my sons peadtriction -he dismiss it and his answer was well its done now -you cant change that.-i personally think they were scared id sue----and my son had first mmr -then found out these probs so i said no way hes having the rest and i refused my 2nd son having any.

Edited January 3, 2006 by rainbow queen

[BuntyB]

Wow. Can you do a poll on this?

my first two's pregnancies were pretty stressful due to domestic violence and divorce. I then remarried (unknowingly!) to an alcoholic and took on 3 step-children who had a lot of problems. I had a child who was still-born at 30 weeks which I put down to stress, although I was told there was no proof of that. My next 3 were born premature but survived. The two I had during the first marriage have some ASD traits, the second two are worst affected. My last child, although prem was born in a happy relationship, thank goodness. She's 100% problem free!

[Lynden]

Both my pregnancies were really stressful for health reasons, as well as moving house, changing jobs etc but my pregnancy with my NT daughter was probably the more stressful so not sure its true in our case.

 

Lynne x

[LKS]

I think there are some really interesting stories here and very moving as well. I'm sure that stress in pregnancy is not always going to affect a baby but perhaps as has been said there is a genetic predisposition that might factor in. I am going to see if I can find out where I saw the article. annie that is very weird about the hairdressers a little too much of a coincidence I think. I can't do polls but if anyone else wants to thats fine.

[ray]

Alex's mum suffered a loss during pregnancy. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer just after we found out she was pregnant, and she died 6 weeks before he was born.

[supersec]

I wonder, i found out i was pregnant with my ASD son when i was on the pill, then my husband got made redundant and we lost our house (came with the job) and we decided to start our own business up and then moved at 7 months pregant. Mega stress.

 

No major worries with second one and he is fine.

 

Supersec

[fiorelli]

I think Stress in pregnancy can cause problems. but, with me, I don't think it was a contributing factor to Louis's AS/ADHD - (I had more stress with my 2nd son, and he is fine.) With me/Louis, I think it is more to do with genetic factors.

 

My (older) Brother has learning difficulties/social communication difficulties/ behavioural problems. (not been assessed for AS).

My (younger) Sister has AS, and self harms.

My (male) Cousin has AS and ADHD.

My (male) Cousin has AS and is Partially sighted.

My second Cousin (nephew of above cousin's) is being monitored because of 'behavioural problems'.

Louis has AS and ADHD.

[lancelot]

I'm reading this with interest. My heart goes out to all those of you who have had such sad experiences. I would also say C's pregnancy was stressful -- like several other people have said, it followed a miscarriage, and I had a 'threatened miscarriage' with bleeding from three months on; plus I was working full-time, with a two-hour commute each way, for a boss who said his wife had never found pregnancy a problem.

 

C was scanned frequently because of the bleeding and we were told the ventricles within his brain were unusually large, a possible sign of hydrocephalus (I had a brother who died of this as an infant). Yup, all pretty stressful. I had postnatal depression after his birth, and I've heard that this is correlated with AS (though not which way round the link is thought to be).

 

Middle child was a calm, work-from-home, done-it-all before pregnancy. He's VERY laid back!

 

Youngest bucks the trend, though. She was an accidental pregnancy (still not sure what happened, but she's always been a determined child) and we were having such a bad time with C and the school that DH suggested we go for abortion for the sake of our sanity. Given just how much he adores her, he probably can't believe he ever said that -- but it shows the stress we were under. She's a bossy, confident, jolly child who shows no sign of early stress.

 

Oops, better go and see what they're al up to -- school not back till tomorrow!

L

[mum22boys]

I've never thought about it before but now it has been mentioned it's got me thinking. When i was pregnant with M I had my own business which was failing. I couldn't afford to employ anyone and the stress of getting cover just to go to a hospital appointment was terrible. When I was six months pregnant I had the stress of the business being handed back to the company i had taken over from and constant visits to the solicitor (not to mention the huge bill at the end). I left work at six months pregnant with HUGE debts.

Then my husband decided to leave his job and set up his own company. Which thankfully was sucessful!

 

So did this contribute to the problems M has? Who knows.

[Guest flutter]

cant say i had any stresses in pg, not like u guys have had <'> <'>

was still in a lot of pain with my endometriosis, and i do remember that if i got upset, she would get very upset too, and roll around for hours, that wasn't easy for me cos she was a big baby.

she dint feed tho properly, but her bruv was even worse, he was ever registered as failure to thrive, i had to force feed them both, he was ok we used to feed asleep, but my DD lol used to wake up and fight it! as soon as they both on solids no probs at all

[carrieq]

With E I was in hospital at about 14 weeks with flu and they thought I would miscary as I was very dehydrated and couldn't keep anything down. It took weeks to fully recover and I was working 10 hour days at a private school with very few breaks. Dh's contract was not going to be renewed due to him falling out with his seniors and I was trying to pick up the pieces, hold down my job, look after an under 2 and cope with dh outbursts. Dh had lots of interviews that he didn't get the job from until someone showed him his reference which explained everything!! We had just moved house and I liked where we were but knew we would have to move.

I was in labour with E for over 48 hrs. He became distressed and I eventually had an emergency section as he was stuck!

I feel there are so many factors that play a part in this, like genetics, E is his dad's boy!

Carrie

[madmooch]

H was a trouble free pregnancy,but emergancy c-section with muconium (poo) and he's asd but my daughter, i was under a lot of stress and she was born emergency c-section 5weeks prem and was born dead and were looking into any poss brain damage with her.

 

 

Madmooch

[loulou]

Hi,

 

I think it is quite possible that there is a link, but it would be hard to prove.

 

I was really stressed during pregnancy. Found out at 16 weeks that my partner of 6 years had been behind my back and had a baby with someone else. I was then homeless and moved 3 times during my pregnancy.

 

I always felt that i hadn't "nourised" Kai properly while i was pregnant with him. I'm sure that hormones play a part in this.

 

As I am a Midwife, maybe it's something i could look into. I've always been looking for something to research!

 

Loulou x

[kirstie]

<'> I am sorry to read of all the heartache everyone has gone through.

I hada stillborn baby boy at 37 weeks and when i got pregnant with Lewis i was a total wreck. My nerves were shot to bits and not to mention his daddy who abused me in every sense of the word.The alcoholic saw us run for it many a time to a refuge. I spent the whole time terrified or cowering in a corner and a syou all know my son has AS. My new son (and partner) is a happy wee soul, he's four months old now and he's as happy as i am. It's something to think about isn't it?

[Nikki]

my sory is not so heart rendering as many on this thread but here we are...

When I was pregnant with S for the first 17 weeks I was so sick all day every day I only ate porridge for 17 weeks & drunk water

No one ever advised me to supplement my diet with any vitamins etc & I remember not even something like taking folic acid as it made me feel worse.

I was still keep fit obsessed despite being sick - it helped me forget and I went 6/7 days per week still doing aerobics until I could not I finally quiet when I had too - 13 days before my due date when they told me I needed a c sec as he was breech

Before being pregnant I was really really fit - I did weights circuit etc & now I suspect i probably had really high levels of testosterone too

I also had a major row with my sister when I was about 8 weeks & that lasted for at least 2 months in a big stressful family bust up.

we definately need a poll about this.

nikki

[LizC]

Hi well I also had a m/c at 14 wks prio to being pg wiht matthew, so I guess it was a bit stressful. but then my third pregnancy was also very stressful in the fact that my grandad was dying of cancer and died when I was 30wks but my third child does not have AS. so who knows but it does like it can have a link.

[lisa]

We'd been trying for kids for 7 years, fertility tests, drugs, operations etc. which was very stressful. I miscarried my first IVF baby and was petrified that I'd lose my twins as I bled the majority of the way through the pregnancy. I also spent the first 2 weeks of my pregnancy in intensive care after reacting badly to the fertility drugs. I suffered from terrible sickness throughout and by the time they were born I weighed less than I did before I became pregnant. They were born 6 weeks prematurely. One twin has AS, the other has dyspraxia and dyscalculia. Our youngest daughter, AS, was a frozen embryo, so I suppose you could call being put in the freezer for 3 years a bit of a stressful start. She was born 4 weeks premature which wasn't too suprising considering my AS son was 3 at the time and a "runner". I remember chasing him down the road time and time again with this great big beachball belly shouting to people "stop him"!!

 

Lisa

[LKS]

This wasn't the article I read but is still interesting.

http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/about/...oup/stress.html

[Malika]

Hi to all <'>

 

Stress in pregnancy, yes I have read something like this respective to the incidence of ASD AS, with my first child who is NT I was stressed by a very demanding job but I was not nervous just physicaly tired while with my second one ASD I was under terrible pressure from my ex who wanted me to have an abortion because he could not see how I would cope with another child, or more openly how he could cope with my attention taken away from him to a new baby (my ex had NPD) he was emotionnaly abusing me and even once punch me in the stomach out of anger on my continual refusal to listen to him.

I always thought that it was the worry who had an impact on my developing baby . Yes it would be interesting to do a pool.

 

I feel sorry for all of you in reading what you have been through, but definitely I was not alone <'>

 

Malika.

[UltraMum]

I started bleeding at 6 weeks and this continued until 15 weeks. My blood pressure was raised and I was told to rest from 22 weeks onwards.

 

I had lots of scans and J was always very active after a scan - I wonder how much ultrasound affects babies in the womb? There is increasing use of ultrasound ...

 

I also had problems in labour, coming within half an hour of a caesarian and J kept having to have tests via his head for his oxygen levels ...

[LKS]

It's all very interesting isn't it. Still can't find the original article I read but here is another one

http://www.alspac.bris.ac.uk/press/cortisol.shtml