Article by Jana Mendez

When you are pregnant, you might hear strange stories about pregnant women from your friends and from your neighbors. You tend to get frantic about all those side effects of being pregnant. You don’t understand yourself whether you believe them or just laugh the info on pregnancy. However, when you consult your doctor, your doctor would say some things that only pregnant women can experience and you are left with no choice but to deal with it. You can’t just possibly ignore those side effects when they are way too irritating and noticeable. However, you have to convince yourself that you need to pass everything because you know it’s for the sake of your baby.

Every expectant mother tends to be over protective with their babies and they want nothing for their babies but the best. However, because they are not on their normal state, they cannot resist the urge to do something that they really want. Here are some of the strange side effects of pregnancy that pregnant women should be aware of:

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effects of stress and or depression during pregnancy

I recently started taking birth control pills, within the first month I had unprotected sex (no pull out, or anything) I know you’re supposed to have a back up method, but we didn’t use one. It happened to be one of the days I was ovulating, about 14 dpo I started bleeding, a little late for implantation bleeding I thought. It started out brown but ended up as a light pink color and lasted about 5 days. I know birth control can effect your period so I wasn’t sure which it was. I’ve taken numerous pregnancy tests that came out negative, but i’ve also taken ovulation tests on days I should DEFINITELY be ovulating, and came out with negative, so it actually makes me question the tests? They were ordered from ebay, supposedly the kind they use in doctor’s offices.. I haven’t seen any dramatic side effects, I find myself getting tired, and irritable, but no frequent urination or breast tenderness. I’ve been having some extreme depression, and severe mood swings. Also, I don’t currently have medical insurance, so I’m unable to get a blood test done at this time.

I am 32 and 1/2 weeks pregnant. My husabnd is an active duty Marine. He has recently started his pre-deployment training. He is my support through our whole pregnancy. I have to send him a red cross message when i go into labor while he is in training. Anyway, with him gone, and no ability to contact him at all, it makes me feel so alone and for the past 4 days since he left, i havent been able to stop crying. I cant keep my mind of his absence because everything in our house reminds me of how much i miss him. But i cannot wander too far from the house in case i go into labor. I am a high risk pregnancy due to my RH – situation. I have had an extremely healthy pregnancy so far, this is my first bump in the road. Does anyone have any advice, or know anything about the effects of stress and depression on a 32 week pregnancy? I appreciate your help.

I am wondering what the effects are on an unborn baby when you go through so many different emotions. Does the baby feel what you are feeling at the time such as sadness or bliss? What are the potential long term effects to a baby once it is born if the mother has had depression throughout her pregnancy?

We are having some marital issues, which has caused me to become depressed even before I was pregnant. But since I’ve been pregnant it is much harder to handle it. I also found out that my depression can have very harmful effects on our baby, including irritalbity and behavioral problems as a baby and young child. And depression later in life. I tried every trick that is natural but nothing works. Some (very rare) days, when my husband decides to be loving and show affection I feel great and my depression is gone with the new hope for a better future. But then comes the next letdown again, and at this point I have lost all hope for change. After 2.5 years, I also lost all energy and the will to change myself, although I know that I need to change too. I just want to be mean to him, because it is easier than to keep trying to be the nice wife, when he is unwilling to be loving with me. If we did not have this baby on the way, I’d be moving out. I wonder if some “happy pill” would help?

When the time i got pregant i was emotionally depress. On my 6 weeks of pregnacy i drink alot of alcohol and fell to the stairs.after 3 weeks i went to my doctor and ask me to have an ultra sound test to make sure everything is okey. the result is fine but what are the things that it will cause to my baby afterwards?what can emotional depression do to my baby?

I’m 36 weeks.

The last month has been just horrible. I drove from East Texas to San Diego, CA, because my husband was supposed to be coming home from overseas to be here for the birth of our baby. A week after I got here, we found out that he wouldn’t be able to come. So I had to deal with that, plus unpacking, dealing with well-meaning but overbearing friends and relatives, getting things settled, etc. Last week I had to put one of our cats down because of complications from pyometra. Of course, I blame myself for that because I had been putting off getting her spayed because she was an indoor cat and wasn’t around unaltered males. And you’d think that would make me watch our other cat more closely, but no, and this morning he got out. I found him after 3 hours of walking, half a gas tank and several animal shelter visits.

I’ve been having trouble with the pregnancy as well. In the last month I’ve been to the hospital at least three times fearing for my life and my baby’s life. I’m living by myself, since my husband’s overseas. I’m not really that close with the other wives on my husband’s crew, though some are here.

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The multi-national tobacco companies should continue to receive the utter scorn of the worlds population as science has revealed their product and practices border on the criminal. Without going into to much detail take a look at what happens from the production of cigarettes through to the toxic chemical created and released by the burning process and maybe you will begin to understand what the act of smoking is actually doing to your body.

Taking it one step further, consider what the effects of smoking during pregnancy are on both the mother and the child. The effects range from mild to very extreme. Also, the effects of smoking during pregnancy, has negative repercussions not only on the baby but has continual implications through childhood and possibly into adulthood.

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Have any of you out there taken Lexapro while pregnant, if so when did you start taking it during your pregnancy and has your child(ren) had any adverse side effects whether temporary or long term. I have tried to come off of it but cannot and the stress/anxiety/depression has caused my ovulation to be messed up so I am having trouble pin-pointing my ovulation to conceive, last month I didnt even ovulate at all. Ughh