Back in 2012, Superstorm Sandy ripped through 24 states and caused 71 billion dollars in damage. Cleanup efforts continued for years. And expecting mothers during the storm may have children with more fear and distress.
A study published by The City University of New York (CUNY) followed pregnant women during and after Superstorm Sandy and concluded women suffering from prenatal depression were more likely to have more nervousness, fear, less smiling and laughter.
Dr. Yoko Nomura, a psychology professor at CUNY, led the research.
"Our research found that, compared to other babies, infants born to women who were prenatally depressed and pregnant during Superstorm Sandy had higher rates of distress," said Nomura.
This research studies the science of epigenetics, the idea that environmental factors can cause genetic changes in utero.
Dr. David Colombo, Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Spectrum Health, agrees that major stressful events can play a role in developing babies.
"We have found that during stressful periods of time, and these are major stressful periods of time like famine and World War II in Japan, the preterm birthrate did go up," said Dr. Colombo. "We don't know if that was due to nutritional changes, people weren't eating as well. We just don't know."
But stress is difficult to measure and therefore studies focused on stress levels are hard to uphold.
"People had thought that stress during the pregnancy were changes that caused the baby to be more stressed later in life and that's a lot of pressure on a mother because every time she's nervous or scared, she thinks she's condemning her poor child to a life of misery and that's not the case," said Dr. Colombo.
The bigger risk to an unborn child has to do with a mother's physical health.
Dr. Colombo adds, "Most of the risk to a baby comes from risks mothers take to themselves."
For example, icy surfaces in the winter can mean falling on ice, or traffic accidents. Both are hazardous to expecting mothers.
Summer weather can impact pregnancies, but not in the way you might guess. An old wives' tale told that births increase when thunderstorms pop up.
"The pressure outside is lower all the sudden, there could be an increase risk of breaking your bag of water," said Dr. Colombo. "We've never really found that to be true."
But extreme heat should be taken seriously. There is a small risk for birth defects during heat waves if the core body temperature exceeds 102 degrees.
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