In early labor, catecholamines (the stress hormones) have the potential to stop labor. When a woman is very frightened—of pain, of the hospital, of the unknown—labor fails to progress. Contractions can become very strong and difficult to handle or, more typically, they become weaker.
And Oxytocin, the hormone that gets your uterus contracting (among other things) is suppressed by stress hormones. And less oxytocin means a labour that is slow to start, a longer labour and a labour needing to be augmented with Pitocin, a synthetic oxytocin.
During pregnancy, stress can increase the chances of having a baby who is preterm (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or a low-birthweight baby (weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces). Babies born too soon or too small are at increased risk for health problems.
Specifically, both prenatal anxiety and depression symptomatology significantly affect the labour experience. The higher levels of these symptomatologies tend to predict a worse labour experience in terms of the labour length and the amount of oxytocin and epidural analgesia.
Women who experience disturbed labor due to stress can limit the amount of oxytocin they produce during childbirth. With more oxytocin, contractions can increase in speed and strength. Other disturbances can lead to longer labor like bright lights, muscle tension, and pain.
In the day or two before you go into labour, you may notice heightened anxiety, mood swings, weepiness, or a general sense of impatience. (This may be hard to distinguish from the usual 9-months-pregnant impatience, we know.) It can also manifest in extreme nesting.
Spending most of your time in bed, especially lying on your back, or sitting up at a small angle, interferes with labor progress: Gravity works against you, and the baby might be more likely to settle into a posterior position. Pain might increase, especially back pain.
Doctors will generally aim to delay the birth until at least 34 weeks and after this induce labor artificially.
Tocolytics are medications used to delay delivery, sometimes for up to 48 hours. If delivery is delayed even a few hours, it may allow more time to give corticosteroids or magnesium sulfate. This delay also may allow time for transfer to a hospital with specialized care for preterm babies.
Babies in the womb can pick up on some sounds, visuals, and emotions. A mother's stress can lead to the release of stress hormones, like cortisol, which may impact the baby's in utero development.
Most recently, some studies are suggesting that stress in the womb can affect a baby's temperament and neurobehavioral development. Infants whose mothers experienced high levels of stress while pregnant, particularly in the first trimester, show signs of more depression and irritability.
If the stress is acute, your period might only be a few days late, but some people who experience severe chronic stress can go months without getting a period.
Several recent studies have found links between the women's levels of day-to-day stress and lowered chances of pregnancy. For example, women whose saliva had high levels of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that marks stress, took 29% longer to get pregnant compared to those who had less.
Go window shopping or online browsing. Listen to your favorite music and make a playlist for labor. Make some meals and freeze them for after the baby's arrival. Print out easy, healthy recipes to make when the baby arrives.
And studies have found that women who maintained regular antenatal exercise can shorten their labour by up to one hour.
However, if the body is not ready then all that happens is you get tired out. After taking a bath the next thing to do is head into bed. With the contractions a bit farther apart and not as long and strong this is the best time to rest. Sleeping helps to pass the time so you are not as focused on the contractions.
Insomnia generally worsens right before labor because of the secretion of oxytocin, a wake promoting hormone.
For up to a week before labour starts, you might notice that you're feeling a bit different. This is because changes are taking place in your body as it prepares for birth.
If you start to experience symptoms you can't shake (like feeling worried all the time, losing interest in your life, feeling hopeless, sleeping or eating more or less than usual, or having difficulty concentrating), you should let your doctor know.