by Erin Barker

Created on: October 26, 2008   Last Updated: November 12, 2008

Potential parents, expecting parents or ones that already have children will all give different opinions on whether or not they would have wanted to know if there were going to be complications. However, any mother to be will also tell you that high levels of stress during a pregnancy are very negative. Stress causes things such as headaches, stomach aches outside of the pregnancy itself, worry, body aches and exhaustion, all of which cause more stress and strain on the fetus. Mothers to be will also say that they will love their child no matter what may come their way, however, knowing that their child may be born with a disability, illness, a defect, may be something that could cause them to reconsider the pregnancy. This statement is not to say that every woman would reconsider having their child because of a potential problem, but for some it does become a concern.

Some women have found themselves incredibly lucky to have gotten pregnant, myself included. Whether it be because of their own bodily issues or because of damages to their bodies before conception. Personally I have been very lucky to be carrying my daughter because of damages that have happened to my body in my life, so it would not matter if there was a potential problem or not. I would still want to keep her all the same. However, there would still be a great deal of stress placed on my shoulders for the future. What health care does she need? What medications will she need? What school will be best for her? Is this problem going to effect her developmentally or physically? How will this influence our lives? When any person's mind begins to race, our bodies go on auto-pilot to deal with the fight or flight syndrome. Stress can cause fear and one's body will decide if it is strong enough to relax and deal with the situation at hand calmly or not.

A woman experiences a lot of hormonal changes during her pregnancy. Mentally she has the potential to have great days and also very low sad days. Dwelling on the potential issues that may be present for her child causes undue hormonal imbalances for the woman. But because she is pregnant, there is a limited number of things that she can do to counteract these mood swings. If the symptoms of a mood swing last long enough, causing her to experience extended days of depression, she cannot take most medications because she is pregnant. If prior to pregnancy the woman is an exercising extremist, she cannot do the things that she did before she was pregnant. This presents another confounding problem for her that she is changing and she is at the will of her changing body, hormones, thoughts and feelings. Pregnancy has enough changes, ups and downs, and physical stress, there is no need to add mental stress as well. A woman has a right to know if something is wrong with the child inside of her, if it is confirmed and there are no questions about the issues. But if it is only a potential issue that may come up or may not, there is no reason to give the mother to be undue stress and potential loss of her child.

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