6 ms·

> "By staying home, a pregnant woman may have less stress from commuting and from work, and that might have helped them," Alshaikh said. Ah yes, I'm sure my 7

> "By staying home, a pregnant woman may have less stress from commuting and from work, and that might have helped them," Alshaikh said. Ah yes, I'm sure my 7-months-pregnant wife would agree that this has been a lovely, low-stress time. Wouldn't have it any other way.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
anoncareer0212 6y ago
You seem to be dunking on them for making a qualitative judgement, but they made a comparative one.
- spenczar5 6y ago
  No, I'm dunking on them for the comparative judgement, that a reason for fewer preterm births might be less-stressed mothers. I think it's very silly to claim that this is lower stress than your typical year just because you don't have to commute.
  - Jolter 6y ago
    Maybe we should all refrain from speaking for all pregnant women without having any facts to support it.
- klyrs 6y ago
  I think spenczar5's reaction is fairly understandable in the context. Live in close quarters with somebody in their 7th month of pregnancy and 5th month of lockdown and we'll see if your goto reflex is to explain further. There's a need for a lot of sensitivity in this conversation. It's easy for us to armchair-expert this to death... that isn't necessarily a good thing.
  - erulabs 6y ago
    I mean, "armchair quarterback" doesn't really apply to posing a hypothesis, does it?
    - klyrs 6y ago
      I didn't say quarterback, did I? For all that HN loves to rip on studies with small sample sets or sketchy statistics, or worse, deriding people sharing their experiences as anecdotal, this community is sure fond of positing alternative hypotheses with zero evidence.
  - mistermann 6y ago
    It's maybe also possible that some people find it more stressful than their normal routine, and some find it less.
ramraj07 6y ago
Emotional stress? Yes. Physical stress? Hopefully not?
ninjanomnom 6y ago
From a purely personal perspective I have genuinely been less stressed recently and like the current situation. Obviously I know this pandemic is an awful event for many people and you were (I think?) being sarcastic. But I would be surprised if there wasn't at least some portion of mothers feeling similarly. Is it enough to account for the changes we're seeing? I suspect it's more than one factor.
- spenczar5 6y ago
  Believe me, I get it. I kind of have preferred this myself. But for pregnancy, which is already a terrifying ordeal, consider: - Can't go to the hospital for ultrasound or other routine procedures; the hospital is too dangerous. Gotta fly pretty much blind. - Haven't met any other first-time parents, haven't been able to do PEP classes. We feel pretty alone. - Going to need to take parental leave... indefinitely? Early childcare doesn't look like an option. But can we risk our jobs by taking a lot of leave? Maybe we have to. - We can't see her parents since they work in the healthcare industry. She has a great relationship with her mom, so this is really tough while pregnant. - Nobody really knows how bad CoVID is for a newborn, or what its effect on gestation is. It's easy to get sucked into spirals of terror about this. While we'd (probably) be fine if we caught it, the effects on the baby, even from asymptomatic infection, are unknown, and there are hints of brain damage which are _really_ scary. So, it's pretty damn stressful, at least for us.
  - pizza_boy 6y ago
    I hope this comes across as helpful and not one-upmanship: it is natural to think that having a child is like many of the other things you're used to in life where you can control the outcome. That can lead to you worrying about and optimising for lots of things that won't matter too much in the grand scheme of things. I can tell you from first hand experience that you are not in control. You will know you are in a truly stressful situation when you've forgetten about all of the items you've listed above because you're standing there watching, not sure what is going on, just hoping that everything is going to be ok. I hope you never get to that point and in the meantime try enjoy the ride. I wish you and your family all the best!
mithr 6y ago
Came here to say this. The past few months have been some of the most emotionally stressful in recent memory. Even work-wise -- less of a commute, sure, but unless you already had a job that was compatible with working from home, the transition by itself has been anything but easy and relaxing. Not to mention the incredibly sharp rise in unemployment, the lack of physical social interaction, the fear (or reality) that your parents/grandparents contact the virus, etc etc. And as for physical stress, exercise is generally good, not bad for one's health, including during pregnancy. Unless your job involves doing physically taxing work, which you continue to do even while pregnant, it's a little hard to imagine how being forced to stay indoors would be particularly good for your overall physical health.
mattlondon 6y ago
My wife gave birth just before the lockdown here in the UK. The stress continues after the baby is born too - regular check-ups, midwife visits, getting vaccinations, emergencies etc all now come with a brand new stress factor of "Am I or my baby going to contract COVID by <doing something that was totally normal in the past> and end up in intendive care? Or maybe will I contract COVID and give it to my spouse/family?" Even having relatives visit their new grandchild/niece/nephew/cousin/etc feels like a risk, but there is a lot of pressure from friends and family to get hands-on baby time. Babies cannot wear PPE either. I've certainly got some more grey hairs now!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

anoncareer0212 6y ago

You seem to be dunking on them for making a qualitative judgement, but they made a comparative one.

spenczar5 6y ago
No, I'm dunking on them for the comparative judgement, that a reason for fewer preterm births might be less-stressed mothers. I think it's very silly to claim that this is lower stress than your typical year just because you don't have to commute.
- Jolter 6y ago
  Maybe we should all refrain from speaking for all pregnant women without having any facts to support it.
klyrs 6y ago
I think spenczar5's reaction is fairly understandable in the context. Live in close quarters with somebody in their 7th month of pregnancy and 5th month of lockdown and we'll see if your goto reflex is to explain further. There's a need for a lot of sensitivity in this conversation. It's easy for us to armchair-expert this to death... that isn't necessarily a good thing.
- erulabs 6y ago
  I mean, "armchair quarterback" doesn't really apply to posing a hypothesis, does it?
  - klyrs 6y ago
    I didn't say quarterback, did I? For all that HN loves to rip on studies with small sample sets or sketchy statistics, or worse, deriding people sharing their experiences as anecdotal, this community is sure fond of positing alternative hypotheses with zero evidence.
- mistermann 6y ago
  It's maybe also possible that some people find it more stressful than their normal routine, and some find it less.

ramraj07 6y ago

Emotional stress? Yes. Physical stress? Hopefully not?

ninjanomnom 6y ago

From a purely personal perspective I have genuinely been less stressed recently and like the current situation. Obviously I know this pandemic is an awful event for many people and you were (I think?) being sarcastic. But I would be surprised if there wasn't at least some portion of mothers feeling similarly. Is it enough to account for the changes we're seeing? I suspect it's more than one factor.

spenczar5 6y ago
Believe me, I get it. I kind of have preferred this myself. But for pregnancy, which is already a terrifying ordeal, consider: - Can't go to the hospital for ultrasound or other routine procedures; the hospital is too dangerous. Gotta fly pretty much blind. - Haven't met any other first-time parents, haven't been able to do PEP classes. We feel pretty alone. - Going to need to take parental leave... indefinitely? Early childcare doesn't look like an option. But can we risk our jobs by taking a lot of leave? Maybe we have to. - We can't see her parents since they work in the healthcare industry. She has a great relationship with her mom, so this is really tough while pregnant. - Nobody really knows how bad CoVID is for a newborn, or what its effect on gestation is. It's easy to get sucked into spirals of terror about this. While we'd (probably) be fine if we caught it, the effects on the baby, even from asymptomatic infection, are unknown, and there are hints of brain damage which are _really_ scary. So, it's pretty damn stressful, at least for us.
- pizza_boy 6y ago
  I hope this comes across as helpful and not one-upmanship: it is natural to think that having a child is like many of the other things you're used to in life where you can control the outcome. That can lead to you worrying about and optimising for lots of things that won't matter too much in the grand scheme of things. I can tell you from first hand experience that you are not in control. You will know you are in a truly stressful situation when you've forgetten about all of the items you've listed above because you're standing there watching, not sure what is going on, just hoping that everything is going to be ok. I hope you never get to that point and in the meantime try enjoy the ride. I wish you and your family all the best!

mithr 6y ago

Came here to say this. The past few months have been some of the most emotionally stressful in recent memory. Even work-wise -- less of a commute, sure, but unless you already had a job that was compatible with working from home, the transition by itself has been anything but easy and relaxing. Not to mention the incredibly sharp rise in unemployment, the lack of physical social interaction, the fear (or reality) that your parents/grandparents contact the virus, etc etc. And as for physical stress, exercise is generally good, not bad for one's health, including during pregnancy. Unless your job involves doing physically taxing work, which you continue to do even while pregnant, it's a little hard to imagine how being forced to stay indoors would be particularly good for your overall physical health.

mattlondon 6y ago

My wife gave birth just before the lockdown here in the UK. The stress continues after the baby is born too - regular check-ups, midwife visits, getting vaccinations, emergencies etc all now come with a brand new stress factor of "Am I or my baby going to contract COVID by <doing something that was totally normal in the past> and end up in intendive care? Or maybe will I contract COVID and give it to my spouse/family?" Even having relatives visit their new grandchild/niece/nephew/cousin/etc feels like a risk, but there is a lot of pressure from friends and family to get hands-on baby time. Babies cannot wear PPE either. I've certainly got some more grey hairs now!