The Truth About Stress During Pregnancy
You're exhausted. You're worried. And now someone's telling you to "just relax" for your baby's sake, as if you haven't tried that already.
Between the nausea, the fear, the financial pressure, and the constant unsolicited advice, you're barely holding it together. And honestly, the guilt associated with being stressed may feel worse than the stress itself.
You know something about this chronic stress isn't right, but no one's explaining what's really happening inside your body or inside your baby's developing nervous system.
Here's something many families in Ottawa aren't told: that umbilical cord isn't just delivering nutrients and oxygen. It's creating a connection between your nervous system and your baby's developing nervous system. When you're stuck in stress mode, your baby's nervous system is learning that this stressed state is part of the environment during an important window of development.
This isn't about blaming you. This is about understanding fetal programming and how what you're experiencing right now contributes to patterns in your baby's developing nervous system. And more importantly, what you can do to support your system during this time.
Your Nervous System Is Teaching Your Baby's Nervous System
The umbilical cord is more than a nutrient delivery system. It contributes to the connection between your nervous system and your baby's. When stress hormones like cortisol stay elevated, they can cross the placenta and influence your baby's developing brain.
Your baby's nervous system is being shaped right now. If you're stuck in sympathetic dominance, that constant fight or flight mode, your baby's nervous system begins adapting to that environment.
Think of the nervous system as the air traffic controller for every other system in the body. If the air traffic controller is overwhelmed, everything else works harder to keep up.
Research published in Development and Psychopathology found that infants of mothers with the highest stress levels showed 22 percent higher stress reactivity. These babies were more easily upset, harder to soothe, and showed poorer recovery from stress.
Fetal Programming Creates Lifelong Patterns
Fetal programming refers to how early experiences shape long-term patterns. During pregnancy, your baby's amygdala, the area of the brain that helps process stress, develops in response to the environment. The HPA axis, the system that helps regulate stress, begins building its baseline during this time as well.
The vagus nerve, which supports calming, digestion, immune function, inflammation regulation, and emotional connection, also begins laying down its tone during pregnancy. Elevated stress can influence this development, which is why supporting your own nervous system during pregnancy matters.
Understanding the Perfect Storm
For many families in Ottawa, the Perfect Storm starts long before pregnancy itself. Fertility struggles, emotional strain, financial pressure, and medical treatments can leave the nervous system feeling depleted before pregnancy even begins.
Then pregnancy adds more layers: physical discomfort, worry about the baby's health, anticipation of labor, work demands, and relationship stress. Your baby is developing within this environment.
You Can Help Your Nervous System Regulate Starting Now
You can't eliminate every stressor. No one can. And it's not your responsibility to create a perfectly stress-free existence while growing a human.
But you can support your nervous system in shifting from sympathetic dominance into parasympathetic balance, creating a calmer internal environment that supports healthy development.
This is something many expecting parents across Ottawa, including the Beechwood Village and surrounding neighbourhoods, seek support for during pregnancy.
How Neurologically Focused Chiropractic Care Can Help
Neurologically Focused Chiropractic works at the level of the nervous system. Gentle, specific adjustments help reduce tension patterns, support regulation, and improve communication within the body.
Tools like INSiGHT scans provide a clear picture of nervous system function:
• Heart Rate Variability (HRV) shows how well your system adapts
• Surface Electromyography (sEMG) highlights where your system may be holding tension
• NeuroThermal scans show areas of imbalance or dysregulation
These scans help guide care and track patterns of change over time.
When your nervous system becomes more regulated, many expecting parents share that they feel calmer, sleep better, and notice more ease in their day-to-day. This in turn provides a more regulated environment for their developing baby.
You Have More Control Than You Think
At Ottawa ChiroHouse, we understand how important the prenatal environment is for both you and your baby. Your nervous system plays a major role in shaping calm, connection, and adaptability, and supporting it during pregnancy can make a meaningful difference.
You have more influence than you may realize. Not by eliminating all stress, but by helping your body regulate through it.
If you're local to Ottawa, you’re welcome to reach out to book a consultation with our team. If you're outside the region, the PX Docs directory can help you find a neurologically focused office near you.
Your baby deserves a calm, supported foundation. And it's not too late to begin creating that environment today.
