“Being mother”: High level of stress during pregnancy and maternity after the birth

Abstract

Conceptions of the social imaginary about the female gender define the motherhood as a synonymous of an unconditional love and an integral dedication to the child, which can result in stress for the woman, when she understands that she must adapt to the demands imposed by “being a mother”. Considering pregnancy as a biopsychosocial phenomenon, it can be assumed that there are relationships between the typical stress of pregnancy, which may even worsen face to the demands of pregnancy, and the influences of socio-cultural pressures, which legitimize what to be a mother and a woman mean. Relationships between gestational stress, maternity and maternal function were analyzed adopting the systemic perspective in a qualitative study with 15 women with high levels stress during pregnancy, who were interviewed after the baby´s birth. Her speech was analyzed in the categories: (1) “Expectations about maternity in gestation and changes after birth “; (2) “Mother's responsibility, dedication to motherhood and maternal role”; (3) “Maternity as a sacred function and the place of the baby in the family”. Considering the sociocultural pressures for woman to be a mother, it is suggested that there is a “contemporary maternal ideology”, in which stressful situations affect the experience of motherhood since the gestation.