Adaptation to pregnancy and motherhood among subfecund and fecund primiparous women.

Objective: To examine the effects of infertility treatment on women's ability to adapt to pregnancy and motherhood.

Methods: Fecund (n = 261) and subfecund (n = 103) primiparous women receiving obstetrical care in southeastern Michigan participated in this descriptive, correlational, prospective study. The subjects completed Lederman's Pre-Natal Self-Evaluation questionnaire during the third trimester of pregnancy and Lederman's Postpartum Self-Evaluation questionnaire during the first postpartum appointment.

Findings: Mean scores showed that the two groups of women were not significantly different with either adaptation to pregnancy or motherhood.

Conclusions & implications for nursing: Although subfecund women may experience stress in order to achieve a pregnancy, there do not appear to be any latent effects of this stress on their ability to adapt to pregnancy or motherhood.