PSYCHOLOGICAL

CHANGES OF
PREGNANCY
  SOCIAL INFLUENCES
CULTURAL INFLUENCES
FAMILY INFLUENCES
INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCES
 
Social Changes
• The heavy emphasis on medical management for women
during pregnancy was a 9-month-long illness. The pregnant
women went alone to a physician’s office for care; at the time of
birth, she was separated from her family and admitted to a
hospital. She was hospitalized in seclusion from visitors and
even from the new baby for a week afterward.

•Today, our society has come to view pregnancy as a time of

health. Women now bring their families. Instead of being given
general anesthetics so they can “sleep through” labor and birth,
they are urged to participate actively in the experience.

•The way a pregnant women and her partner feel about

pregnancy and childbirth may be affected by their cultural
background, their personal experiences, and the experiences of
friends and relatives, as well as by the current public philosophy
of childbirth.
 Cultural Influences

•A woman’s cultural background may strongly

influence how active a role she wants to take
in her pregnancy, because certain beliefs and
taboos may place restrictions on her behavior
and activities.

•To learn about the beliefs of a particular

woman and her partner, ask at prenatal visits
if there is anything they believe should or
should not be done to make the pregnancy
successful and keep the baby healthy.
 Family Influences
•The family in which the woman was raised can be as
influential to her beliefs about pregnancy as her
cultural environment.

•No matter how often a woman is told that pregnancy

is natural and simple, she will not be overjoyed to
find herself pregnant if all she has heard are stories
about excruciating pain and endless suffering in
labor.

•The woman who views mothering as a positive

activity is more likely to be pleased when she
becomes pregnant than one who devalues
mothering.
 Individual Influences
•A woman’s ability to cope with or adapt to stress plays
a major role in how she will resolve conflict and adapt
to the new life contingencies that are coming.

•This ability to adapt – to being a mother without

needing mothering, to loving a child as well as a
husband.

•The extent which a woman feels secure in her

relationship with the people around her, especially the
father of her child, is usually very important to her
acceptance of a pregnancy.

ACCEPTANCE is usually easier if she has confidence in

the stability of her relationship with the child’s father
and knows that he will be there to give her emotional
WORRYING whether her partner may soon
disappear, leaving her alone to raise the child, may
make her examine whether the pregnancy is a wise
life step.
 
•A woman who thinks of brides as young but mothers
as old may believe pregnancy will rob her youth.

•If she thinks children are sticky-fingered and time-

consuming, she may view the pregnancy as taking
away her freedom.

•If she heard that pregnancy will permanently stretch

her abdomen and breast, her concern may be that
she will lose her looks.

•She may feel that pregnancy will rob her financially

and ruin her chances of job promotion.
 “One door closes, another one opens”

“You shouldn’t think that way; you’ll love

having a baby in the house”

Whether the father of the child is able to accept the

pregnancy and the coming child depends on the
same factors that affect the woman:

• Cultural background
• Past experience and relationship with family
members
  
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
TASKS OF PREGNANCY
During the 9 months of pregnancy, a woman and
her partner run a gamut of emotions ranging from
surprise at finding out the woman is pregnant (or
wishing she were not) .

•To pleasure and acceptance of the fact as they

begin to identify with the coming child

•To worry for themselves and the child

• To impatience near the end of pregnancy

When the child is born, the woman and her partner

may feel surprised again that the pregnancy is over
and that the mother has really given birth.
 FIRST TRIMESTER: Accepting the Pregnancy

-WOMAN-
• The task of women during the first trimester is to accept the
reality of the pregnancy. Often women immediately experience
something less than pleasure and closer to disappointment or
anxiety at the news that they are pregnant. Fortunately, most
women are able to change their attitude toward the pregnancy
by the time they feel the child move inside them.

-PARTNER-
•For partners, accepting the pregnancy means not only
accepting the certainty of the pregnancy and the reality of the
child to come but also accepting to woman in her changed
state.
•A partner should try to give the woman emotional support while
she is learning to accept the reality of pregnancy, and she
should reciprocate when the partner begins to go through
process.
•An unwed father may have the difficulty accepting a pregnancy
unless he is involved in prenatal care.
Psychosocial changes: Woman and partner both
spend time recovering from shock of learning they
are pregnant and concentrate on what it feels like
to be pregnant. A common reaction is ambivalence,
or feeling both pleased and not pleased about the
pregnancy.
 SECOND TRIMESTER: Accepting the Baby
-WOMAN-
The psychological task of the woman is to accept that she is
having a baby, a separate step from accepting the pregnancy.
•The woman feels fetal movement
•She may think of the life inside her as an integral part of
herself rather than as a separate entity.
• She eats to meet its needs and takes special vitamins to
help it grow, but it seems more like just another part of her
body.
•She is able to give the child an identity.
•She begins to imagine how she will feel at the birth when the
physician midwife announces, “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”

-PARTNER-
•As the woman begins to actively prepare for the coming baby, a
partner may feel as if he is left standing in the wings, waiting to
be asked to take part in the event.
•Some men may have difficulty enjoying the pregnancy if they
have been misinformed about sexuality, pregnancy, and
women’s health.
A man might believe:
•Breast-feeding will make his wife’s breasts no longer
attractive and will advise against it.
•Childbirth will stretch his wife’s vagina so much that
sexual relations will no longer be enjoyable and so will
advocate for a cesarean birth.
  
Psychosocial changes: Woman and partner move through
emotions such as narcissism and introversions as they
concentrate on what it will feel like to be a parent. Role-
playing and increased dreaming are common.
 THIRD TREMESTER: Preparing for
Parenthood
Couples usually begin “nest building” activities:

•Planning the infant’s sleeping arrangements

•Buying clothes
•Choosing names for the infant
•Ensuring safe passage by learning about birth.

Couples at this point are interested in attending

prenatal classes or preparation for the childbirth classes.
To be ready to be parents, a couple must complete a
number of specific tasks.
 
Psychosocial changes: Woman and partner grow with
pregnancy as they ready themselves for birth.
 REWORKING DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS
One of the tasks of pregnancy is working through
previous life experiences.

•Primarily among these life experiences is the

woman’s relationship with her parents, particularly
the mother.
•For the woman to work through past fears and
conflicts of this kind, she needs to think about them
when she is alone as well as to discuss them with
others.
•A pregnant woman’s partner needs to do the same
reworking of old values and forgotten development
tasks.
  ROLE-PLAYING AND FANTASIZING
The second step in preparing for parenthood is role-
playing or fantasizing about what it will like to be a
parent.

-WOMAN-
The pregnant women spend time with other pregnant
women or mothers of young children to learn how to be
a mother.
A pregnant woman may offer to babysit for a neighbor
or relative so she can “practice” caring for a new baby.
Women’s dreams tend to focus on the pregnancy and
concerns about keeping themselves and their coming
child safe.
-FATHER-
He has to imagine himself as the father of a boy and as
a father of a girl.
A first-time father may have to change his view of
himself from being a carefree individual to being a
significant member of a family unit.