Sunday, April 20, 2014

Reflection Blog #2

During my reading of chapter 2 I found it very interesting that a fetus can sense different sounds and flavors. This was very interesting to me because I have always wondered about how much influence surrounding the baby actually has an effect on the fetus. This also makes me wonder if say the mother was sad or cried a lot, or the baby heard a lot of yelling would that affect the fetus at all? Would it make the baby react/cry to loud noises once it is born? Would there be a long term effect? After reading all of this I want to always make sure that I remember this for my future pregnancies, and make sure that I keep calm and surround myself with a healthy environment for the life growing inside of me. If I could discuss this with the author I would ask about how strong of an influence are these different things, and would the babies grow out of bad reactions if the surrounding how changed? Would the children be able to grow up and lead normal lives or will it affect them throughout their lives?
            When my sister in law was pregnant with her first child a boy, I remember her being very stressed out, and a nervous wreck. One day she was experiencing intense contractions, and we all thought she was going to labor early. Luckily the hospital found her just extremely dehydrated and malnourished. This reminded of one of the other sections I was reading about on how stress can harm prenatal development by weakening the mother’s immune system. She was so stressed out that she wasn’t eating or drinking and we all had to keep an eye on her and give her a hand to make sure she was all right. Thank fully everything went well and I have a healthy 6 year old nephew.

            If I had all the time to learn about something I would want to know more about how badly can a fetus be damaged by unhealthy surroundings and whether or not these effects will be reversible once the baby is born.

2 comments:

  1. I know the doctors and some of the reading that I've done with having three kids has showed me that the environment that surrounds the mother impacts the baby a lot during pregnancy. When I was pregnant my exhusband and I were fighting a lot and so the male voice that she heard the most was angry and yelling and she could tell that i was stressed. To this day she is still very sensitive to my moods and is still very cautious around people but especially men. It takes her at least a year of being exposed to a person for her to open up and be willing to let them talk to her.

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  2. I wonder if babies who are carried by a mom who is relaxed and in a good environment her entire pregnancy are more mellow? Maybe the environment the fetus is developing in also has an impact on their temperament? And if it does affect them in what ways? Very interesting!

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