Snapshot · Modern Wisdom
Darby Saxbe's lab found that couples who fought more negatively during pregnancy experienced more medically complex and risky births, and both partners rated the birth as more stressful.
Where this was said
At 9:16 · chapter starts 8:18
Long before the baby arrives, the transition to fatherhood is already underway. Saxbe describes a cluster of changes in expectant fathers: hormone shifts, heightened anxiety, couple relationship strain, and sleep disruption that begins during pregnancy itself. Her neuroimaging study began mid-pregnancy, which she acknowledges may mean some brain changes were already underway — a limitation she would correct with earlier scans given more funding. The conversation turns to an arresting finding from her own lab: couples who engaged in more negative conflict during pregnancy experienced more medically complex and risky births, with both partners rating the birth as more stressful. [1] The mechanism, Saxbe explains, is physiological — stress and tension physically impair the relaxation required for effective labour, making emotional relationship health a literal obstetric variable.
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