Can stress lead to early pregnancy loss?

[HopefulC]

I had a FET on 1/10 and I'm currently 6 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately, a rather painful and shocking family crisis came up this week and now I have a constant fear of MC. There are so many mixed messages regarding the connection between stress and MC. I wanted to hear from women who have and have not experienced a MC and whether you dealt with significant stress during your pregnancy. It's hard to define significant here, but I think it could be thought of as a crisis or anything above and beyond the typical stress associated with TTC or fear of MC or abnormalities.

[FrancyItaly]

I had a miscarriage and I had no stress whatsoever. In fact, I was sitting or lying down most of the time, in the hope it would prevent a miscarriage but that’s not the case at all! According to my Midwife lots of people have a life full of complications of all sorts, even domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and end up giving birth to a healthy baby.

[Hidden]

I can understand what a worry it is for you.

If its any help I have had three miscarriages and a chemical and they were a variety of stressful and non stressful pregnancies so no real correlation.

When I asked my consultant about maybe taking time off work and explaining how stressed I can get/have been he said it didnt make any difference whatsoever

I do think stress can cause various chemicals in your body which aren't ideal but I think you would need to have a prolonged and very acute stress for those levels to reach dangerous. ( am not a doctor though)

Take time to try and chill out (mindfulness is great) but most importantly stressing about the impact this stress has had won't help things.. its making you even more stressed! Focus on remaining positive and doing the best you can for this baby.

Wishing you a healthy and successful pregnancy xx

[ttcemmie]

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Easier said than done, but try not to worry. My clinic told me that regular life stress doesn't usually have an effect. I have got pregnant while under massive work stress and not get pregnant whilst sitting around at home doing nothing, so I can concur that TTC and pregnancy can be a random chance game and that hopefully the stress shouldn't have any impact. Like you, though, I probably would worry even if it's completely illogical. As I'm always being told - drug addicts and people in war zones have pregnancies and give birth.

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi HopefulC. So sorry to hear of your family crisis. never easy to deal with at the best of times. Try not to get too involved if possible - in "whatever" if you can. If you haven't had a 6-7 week scan, then perhaps it might be an idea to request one to help put your mind a rest a little. Just try and put you first as much as possible for now. Thinking of you. Diane

[HopefulC]

Hi All, I appreciate your willingness to talk about your experiences. For all you ladies who suffered a MC, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm back home now but the stress is ongoing due to a relative's unexpected illness. I'm still concerned about possible complications or even a missed miscarriage. I have an US scheduled for this Friday and I'm just counting down the days until I can actually see that everything is okay.