Ooh the excitement of impending motherhood! Ooh the anxiety!
Duke University's Dr. Amy Murtha spends a lot of time reasuring worried moms to be. "You ate a deli sandwich and those sorts of things which just increases the anxiety," says Murtha. And at some point, there's anxiety about all of that anxiety! But the latest research, a review of fifty studies, finds anxiety did not impact a baby's deliver date, birthweight, or the APGAR score which rates the general health of a new born.
Mom to be Michelle Bilodeau said, " Now that I'm in my third trmester I'm getting worried about delivery process and again the unknown what to expect." But Michelle Bilodeau's worry won't impact her labor says the University of Texas Medical Branch researchers, who found no evidence that anxiety affected length of labor or the amount of pain medicine a woman used.
"Knowing the anxiety related to pregnancy is normal and knowing that it's not going to affect the outcome of pregnancy is an important thing." The take home message for moms to be, relax, all that anxiety stays up in your head, at least for now.
Researchers say more work is needed to see if these findings apply to women with high levels of anxiety or who suffer with anxiety disorders.
All content ©Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and KCBD, a Raycom Media Station. 