ABSTRACT
The nature of becoming pregnant is a physical, physiological act resulting in the conception of a child. But it is, of course, also an event of emotional significance. Whether the pregnancy is wished for or not, whether it arises out of a loving act of sexual inter-course, or a casual ‘accidental’ encounter, something happens which is momentous for all the three people concerned. For the woman and the fetus, from the very instant of conception a physiological relationship begins. While the woman may not be fully conscious that this relationship has begun, many women sense very quickly that they have conceived after a particular intercourse. Intuitively they are aware that something is different this time, there may be some slight physical sensations of discomfort, but more often there is a secret sense of profound change; someone else is coming into being. Immediately cell division and differentiation begin, the exchanges of substances between the mother’s system and the baby’s are underway. The pattern of dependence, of interdependence and the preparation for independent life, as yet very far ahead, is being laid down in the formation of the baby’s biological structure, and also in the foundations of the baby’s psychological being.
