You’re Not Just Healing for You: The Deeper Impact of Maternal Wellbeing

When we talk about maternal wellbeing, it can sound like a luxury. A nice-to-have. Something you might get around to once the baby’s sleeping better… once the house is clean… once the to-do list is cleared.

But here’s the truth: looking after your own wellbeing — your nervous system, your stress levels, your nourishment — isn’t just about you. It’s about your baby, too.

Because pregnancy is not just physical. It’s neurological. Emotional. Epigenetic.

When I was pregnant with my first, I remember rushing to antenatal appointments between meetings, trying to prove I could keep up with everything. I wanted to do it all. I thought if I stayed busy, I wouldn’t lose myself.

But my body was speaking — quietly at first, then louder. It needed rest. Connection. It needed space to integrate the massive shift I was undergoing.

I didn’t know then that what I was experiencing had a name: matrescence — the physical, emotional, and spiritual transition into motherhood.

Matrescence asks us to slow down, but the world doesn’t always give us permission to.

The science is clear: stress in pregnancy has a lasting impact.

Studies have shown that high levels of maternal stress during pregnancy can affect a baby’s developing brain and nervous system. According to the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, the prenatal environment plays a major role in shaping a child’s lifelong emotional regulation, learning abilities, and immune function.

Chronic stress can alter how a child’s stress response is wired, making them more vulnerable to anxiety, mood disorders, and even physical health issues later in life.

This isn’t to create fear — but rather power.

Because if stress can leave an imprint, so can calm. So can safety. So can rest.

As one mother shared after attending our Pregnancy Retreat at Nest:

"I didn’t realise how tightly I’d been holding everything — until I was finally given space to let go. I left feeling like my baby and I had both exhaled."

This is the invitation of matrescence:

To heal the parts of you that were never supported. To create a different experience — not just for your baby, but for you.

When you slow down. When you ask for help. When you honour your limits instead of pushing through them — you’re showing your baby what safety looks like. You’re sending signals to your body, and theirs, that it’s okay to rest. To soften. To trust.

You’re not being indulgent. You’re being wise.

As author and psychologist Dr. Alexandra Sacks puts it: “When a baby is born, so is a mother.” The transition isn’t instant. It’s layered, emotional, and often invisible from the outside.

You can rewrite the script.

Not because your past doesn’t matter. But because your present does. Because every time you choose to care for yourself, you model what it means to be cared for.

At Nest, we believe maternal wellbeing is family wellbeing. It’s not extra. It’s essential.

Our Pregnancy Retreat Days are one way we hold space for this — a calm, welcoming pause in the noise. With gentle movement, thoughtful conversation, rest, and reflection, it’s not about fixing anything. It’s about remembering what already lives inside you.

Come rest. Come reset. Come feel held.

Because when you’re well, everything changes.

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