I read this article on the internet about a recent study done analyzing the effects of stress on pregnant women and their babies, especially stress due to working full-time or even longer hours.
 
It makes sense to me that a person’s body goes into a degree of “survival mode” when it is under stress, and for a woman this could lead to her baby being adversely affected. It’s tough, however, because I perceive that there is pressure on women to work just as hard while they are pregnant to show that they can still be productive at work even while carrying a baby.
 
I have also perceived the negative effects of our culture’s “homogenization” of men and women that seeks to ignore the differences between them, such that supervisors and coworkers are almost afraid to give special treatment to a pregnant woman because that could be construed as being sexist in some way. All this can add to pressure on women who are pregnant.
 
We should all be very encouraging to women who are pregnant that we work with, in a considerate and generous way, to show them how much we value their openness to the gift of children!