Pregnancy: To Love Someone You Do Not Know Yet

A pregnancy lasts for nine months. Where an umbilical cord connects two hearts, two worlds in one where something fantastic but unknown happens at the same time. Believe it or not, but our emotions can cross the placental barrier to embrace our child.

It is interesting how families during pregnancy think about buying a bed and clothes and that the mother has a good diet, but what happens if you experience stress?… According to many scientists, we tend to neglect the emotional world of the mother, which affects the development of the fetus.

Pregnancy is a mystery and a hope: it is to love someone whose face you do not yet know. It is to imagine the child’s laughter and hair color when we put our hand on our stomach and send over our care.

Vivette Glover, a specialist in perinatal psychobiology at Imperial College London, developed the theory known as “emotional upbringing from the womb”, which is important in relation to what we will now share.

The importance of our emotions during pregnancy

Until recently, it was believed that the emotional world of the mother did not affect the development of the fetus. This is not true. Works published in “New Parent Support” explain that the “magic womb package” is very receptive to emotions, especially during the fourth month.

The media, society and the family often elevate the beauty of a pregnancy to the skies. But the importance of being able to connect the body and the emotions with the child is seldom something that is taught, even though emotions will affect its development.

When emotions go beyond the placenta

Vivette Glover herself, as well as specialists in gestalt therapy, point out the importance of taking care of the mother in a more comprehensive way. Ultrasound and blood tests are not enough. It is necessary to take care of her emotional state.

Dr. Glover conducted a study with 14,000 pregnant women where their level of anxiety and stress was measured. The follow-up lasted for 5 years to see how the children grew and matured.

It was concluded that mothers who suffered from high stress levels were twice as likely to have children diagnosed with hyperactivity. When a mother is in a stressful situation, the hypothalamus will secrete a hormone called CRH that causes the adrenaline glands to secrete cortisol.

The placenta acts as a filter and the cortisol, which is identified as a “poison”, usually does not go beyond this barrier. However, if the CRH levels are very high, it tends to go past the placenta and straight into the fetus and “chase it up”.

Emotional upbringing in the womb

We should note that the upbringing of children begins when they are in the womb – the place where they are safe but not isolated . Where they are very receptive not only to what happens outside, but also what happens inside.

It is therefore important that every mother and every parent thinks about the following aspects:

• Rewording of certain concepts: you have probably heard more than once that “the important thing is the child, all sacrifices are worth it”. The child is important, but we must also take care of the body and the heart that gives life: the mother.
• Every pregnant woman is unique: there are women who did not expect to become pregnant, others respond to the pregnancy after being forced to have an abortion earlier. It is necessary to pay attention to each case, to be aware of each reality in order to deal with it with integrity and support.

• Slow down, prioritize yourself, surround yourself with positive stimuli: change the pace of the days and focus on the present, to strengthen the bond with your partner so that you can have happy moments. Fill yourself with hope and naturally meet the changes in your body.
• Try new therapies: today many trainings are offered during pregnancy. Practicing mindfulness or yoga, massaging your stomach when you are calm and listening to music can also bring benefits to both mothers and fetuses.