How Pregnancy Reshapes the Brain

Summary

Chasing Life: How Pregnancy Reshapes the Brain
Release Date: May 16, 2025
Host: Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Guest: Dr. Laura Pritchett, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania

---

Introduction to Pregnancy and the Brain

The concept of "pregnancy brain" or "baby brain" is a common phenomenon many women experience during pregnancy, characterized by moments of forgetfulness and decreased focus. Kourtney Kardashian encapsulates this sentiment when she shares, “[00:18] I have baby brain. I'm like, in a different world. I don't know what day of the week it is, to be honest." This term often evokes images of a scatterbrained expectant mother, but recent scientific research suggests there is more to these cognitive changes than mere forgetfulness.

Dr. Laura Pritchett and Her Groundbreaking Study

Dr. Laura Pritchett, a cognitive neuroscientist, is at the forefront of exploring how pregnancy alters the brain. She explains her motivation: “[02:27] The reason I chose that field is because... I was surrounded by menopausal women who were talking about their cognitive complaints and their attention issues... I thought, we've got to connect these two together and understand this more.” Dr. Pritchett embarked on a pioneering longitudinal study, the first of its kind, tracking the same individual’s brain before, during, and up to two years after pregnancy using detailed scans.

Discovering Brain Changes During Pregnancy

Dr. Pritchett’s research revealed significant structural changes in the brain associated with pregnancy:

• Gray Matter Reduction: “[05:05] ...we saw this reduction in gray matter volume pretty much across the whole brain.” Gray matter is vital for processing information and cognition.

• White Matter Alterations: “[05:05] ...increased white matter microstructure and ventricle size.” White matter facilitates communication between different brain regions.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta delves deeper, explaining that while gray matter decreases, white matter may expand or adjust to maintain overall brain volume. “[07:04] It sounds like around the edge, the cortex... some of those white matter tracks may expand a bit.”

Interpreting the Changes: Adaptation or Decline?

A critical question arises: Are these brain changes detrimental or beneficial? Dr. Pritchett provides clarity: “[05:30]...it's not a bad thing. There's likely two things... physiological adaptation to pregnancy and fine-tuning of brain circuits.”

She draws a parallel with adolescence, another period marked by significant brain development: “[08:00] We see the exact same pattern in other periods of brain development, like adolescence.”

Implications for Motherhood and Cognitive Function

The structural changes in the brain are believed to prepare women for the demands of motherhood. Dr. Pritchett states, “[18:15]...pregnancy is a period of brain plasticity and it's a critical window for brain change.” These adaptations may enhance maternal behaviors such as bonding and caregiving.

She elaborates: “[10:14]...reductions in gray matter volume... showed positive associations with bonding with their infant.” However, she cautions that excessive cognitive complaints could indicate vulnerabilities to postpartum mood disorders: “[11:05]...those who are the most vulnerable to a lot of things that occur in postpartum two, including mood disorders or sleep dysregulation.”

Reassuring Expectations and Future Directions

Dr. Pritchett emphasizes that these brain changes are normal and often beneficial. “[16:01]...this is a window of opportunity to maybe fine-tune certain circuits. It's also a window of vulnerability.” Understanding these changes can help women better navigate the cognitive and emotional challenges of pregnancy and postpartum.

She envisions establishing a “reference range” for brain changes during pregnancy, similar to blood tests: “[23:16]...if you go get a blood test and you have say like elevated iron, but it's within like the normal range, it doesn't get flagged. That's what I want to do for brain changes during pregnancy.”

Supporting Women Through Cognitive Changes

Knowledge is power. By understanding that brain changes during pregnancy are both normal and advantageous, women can better prepare and seek the necessary support: “[25:29]...knowing what's normal or what to expect and just having more knowledge of what this is going to be is really helpful to me.” Dr. Pritchett advocates for enhanced postpartum support systems to address mood disorders and cognitive challenges, ensuring better outcomes for both mothers and their children.

Conclusion

The episode "How Pregnancy Reshapes the Brain" sheds light on the intricate neurological transformations women undergo during pregnancy. Dr. Laura Pritchett’s research demystifies the concept of "pregnancy brain," presenting it as a sophisticated adaptation mechanism rather than a mere cognitive decline. These changes not only prepare women for motherhood but also underscore the brain's remarkable plasticity.

Understanding and normalizing these brain changes can empower women to embrace their cognitive shifts, seek appropriate support, and foster stronger bonds with their children. As research progresses, the insights gained will undoubtedly contribute to more comprehensive healthcare practices supporting women through the transformative journey of pregnancy.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Dr. Laura Pritchett [02:27]: "The reason I chose that field is because... I thought, we've got to connect these two together and understand this more."

• Dr. Laura Pritchett [05:05]: "We saw this reduction in gray matter volume pretty much across the whole brain."

• Dr. Laura Pritchett [07:04]: "It sounds like around the edge, the cortex... some of those white matter tracks may expand a bit."

• Dr. Laura Pritchett [10:14]: "Reductions in gray matter volume... showed positive associations with bonding with their infant."

• Dr. Laura Pritchett [16:01]: "This is a window of opportunity to maybe fine-tune certain circuits. It's also a window of vulnerability."

• Dr. Laura Pritchett [23:16]: "If it's impacting my quality of life and I had a more severe version of that, maybe I'll do my own sort of like cognitive exams on myself."

---

This comprehensive exploration into how pregnancy affects the brain not only normalizes the experiences of expectant mothers but also highlights the brain's incredible ability to adapt and evolve in response to life's most significant changes.

Transcript

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Join Dr. Sanjay Gupta as he goes inside a breakthrough organ transplant procedure. Could the organs from animals be the answer for thousands of waiting patients? Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports Animal Farm, Sunday at 8 on CNN.

[Lifelock Advertisement]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. Not everyone is careful with your personal information, which might explain why there's a victim of Identity theft every five seconds in the U.S. fortunately, there's LifeLock. Lifelock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity. If your identity is stolen, a US Based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year by visiting lifelock.com podcast terms apply.

[Degree Advertisement]

Ladies, you'll end up shopping for your guy's deodorant. Right, so try Degree's Original Cool Rush. You see, last year, Degree changed the formula and men were mad. One guy even started a petition. So Degree admitted they messed up and brought the original Cool Rush scent back. It's clean, crisp, and actually smells like someone you want to cuddle. And it's in Walmart, Target and other stores now for under $4. So toss one in your cart and find out why it's the best selling men's antiperspirant for the last decade. Degree Cool Rush is back and it smells like victory.

[Host]

You've probably heard the term pregnancy brain or baby brain.

[Kourtney Kardashian]

I have baby brain. I'm like, in a different world. I don't know what day of the week it is, to be honest.

[Host]

It's a phrase that's often used to mean that someone is kind of scattered or unfocused.

[Kourtney Kardashian]

I love baby brain. I mean, I don't know exactly. I'm not a scientist, but supposedly so that moms focus on their baby, you can't really think of other stuff. And it's true, because I can't really think of anything else.

[Host]

That's Kourtney Kardashian. And you know what? She's probably onto something. Because the brain isn't static, even though we often think it is. Our brains are changing and they change throughout our lives, especially women's brains. They change during the three Ps, puberty, pregnancy, and perimenopause. Now, for women, these transitions aren't just happening in the body. They are happening in the brain as well. That's a really important point. And it's exactly what cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Laura Pritchett studies. How the brain actually changes across the many phases of a woman's life.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

The reason I chose that field is because I was a budding neuroscientist as an undergrad, interested in brain networks and obsessing over how intricate everything was in the brain to simply allow us to have a personality or remember things at the same time. In my personal life, I was surrounded by menopausal women who were talking about their cognitive complaints and their attention issues specifically in that time. And I thought, we've got to connect these two together and understand this more.

[Host]

Dr. Pritchett recently published the first ever longitudinal study, meaning that she actually followed the same person over a long period of time, specifically tracking the brain before, during, and after pregnancy, not just in a few snapshots, but in these dense, detailed scans that then continue two years after the birth of the baby.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

It showcases this choreographed dance between major features of our brain that are changing over pregnancy itself, which in theory can underlie this sort of preparation for the next stage, which is parenting, caregiving, motherhood.

[Host]

So I wanted to talk to her about how and why brains change during pregnancy and what those changes might really mean for parenthood and even beyond.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Dr.

[Host]

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, and this is Chasing Life.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Was there a specific question that you were trying to answer or were you just trying to establish that there was variations that occurred throughout that time period?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

We've begun shedding light on how the brain reorganizes in response to pregnancy. It's a transformative period in a person's life. It's tied to hormonal change, social change, environmental change, but what changes happen during gestation itself? We're missing huge gaps in what we call this sort of metamorphosis. We know that the 40 week gestational window leads to these body adaptations to support the development of the fetus. We have increased plasma volume, immune function, change, metabolic rate, oxygen consumption, but we don't know what that looks like. So the question was, what does this trajectory look like over gestation? And was also the proof of concept to say, stuff is changing and we need to study this at length. And so that's what we sought to do, just starting with one person. But yeah, that was what we did. This intensive longitudinal design over a single individual who was scanned preconception during IVF along all three trimesters into two years postpartum.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And you noticed objective changes in the brain, gray matter thickening or thinning, did you say so?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Our findings, which looked at a woman's brain pre peripostpartum, found that as women advance through their gestational weeks, zero to 40 weeks, we saw this reduction in gray matter volume Pretty much across the whole brain. That was also shown. If you look at cortical thinning, we saw increased white matter microstructure and ventricle size.

[Host]

Okay, let's take a quick step back here. The brain is made up of gray matter and white matter. Now, gray matter is where most of the brain's thinking and processing happens. White matter helps connect those areas. Think of it like the wires that let different parts of the brain talk to each other. So when Laura talks about changes in gray matter and white matter microstructure, she's talking about real physical shifts in how the brain is organized and, and possibly how it might function during and after pregnancy.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

You know, the inflection point was birth. And we saw that those reductions persisted into postpartum with slight recovery. Meaning that certain areas of the brain showed this rise in gray matter volume in the early postpartum, others did not. But it showcases this choreographed dance between major features of our brain that are changing over pregnancy itself, which in theory can underlie this sort of preparation for the next stage, which is parenting, caregiving, motherhood.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So in this one patient at least, even during the IVF cycle, during pregnancy, and then postpartum, you said maybe there was some recovery back to sort of pre pregnancy brain structures. How far out did you look?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

We studied her up until two years postpartum. We studied her and scanned her brain a lot more in the early postpartum. So we have fewer data points one to two years out. But you can look at that trend and you see there's a little of partial volume recovery, but it never really goes back to baseline for the gray matter volume.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

It's interesting because, as you point out, so if people who are listening can just imagine the brain and people think of brain as gray matter, but it's gray matter and white matter. If gray matter sort of on the outside, you have these white matter tracks deep within the brain, you may have gray matter, what are called nuclei. So these sort of very important areas deep in the center of the brain. You are describing a picture where gray matter sort of shrinks more. So sounds like around the edge, the cortex, as it's called. But when that happens, if the volume stays the same, some of those white matter tracks may expand a bit. Some of the natural fluid filled spaces in the brain may expand a bit to maintain that overall volume. That's the picture you've described as what happens during pregnancy in the brain. Again, not to oversimplify, but is this a good thing or a bad thing?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yeah. So when you hear shrink or like a reduction of volume, right? Most people are gonna say, oh, that's not good. And it's a self fulfilling prophecy. If I've learned anything from talking to people about this paper is, oh yeah, like I could have told you that my brain is shrinking. But in reality, there's likely two things that are going on. One is there's this physiological adaptation to pregnancy itself. So there is gonna be some swelling, some cortical pressure, there's increased flow, all of that. And our brain, just like our placenta, our belly, our feet, all that is going to be adjusting to meet those demands. Some things will go, you know, back to baseline when you don't have that fluid retention. The other thing is, and this is based on evidence, not just from our paper, but from everyone in the field that's leading this work, is that it's a fine tuning of circuits. We know that pregnancy is the lead up to this time in your life where there's a lot of behavioral adaptation that has to occur and a new cognitive demands and a new cognitive load. The idea here is that there is this pruning or this delicate rewiring to make certain networks or to make communication in the brain more efficient to meet the demands that are going to have to occur. Interestingly, we see the exact same pattern in other periods of brain development, like adolescence. Adolescence is marked by this onset of hope hormones. In puberty we see this fine tuning. Gray matter, volume reduction, increased white matter and white matter microstructure. A suite of adaptations that have to occur. Cognitive, mood, behavior changes. But it's specifically, I think, with pregnancy because there is a lot of subjective and sometimes objective changes in cognition. We really tie those changes to like, oh yeah, they're harmful. But in fact, we zoom out, we look at the lifespan. It actually can be beneficial that this is happening. And this is very normal. So don't have to think of it in the sense that there's reduction. So my brain is shrinking and I can't function. And in fact, it's good that this is happening.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Pregnancy brain. And I don't know if that's considered a pejorative term. If it is, I apologize to anybody. But you know, being more forgetful, you know, things like that, does that translate to being a better mom? I mean, like, how do you, how do you correlate those two things?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

That's an interesting way to phrase it. And I do think people are trying to rebrand mommy brain or pregnancy brain, albeit that's what the common, you know, terms are. So that is interesting. Because for a couple reasons. One is the first sort of Pinnacle papers that came out looking at neuroanatomy in human women from preconception to postpartum, found that degree of change in gray matter volume, that sort of reduction correlated with various maternal care or maternal behavior. Again, that's all correlation.

[Host]

What does that mean?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Like what, though? Because again, you know, your memory centers are sort of in, you know, your hippocampus, sort of these certain areas of the brain with cortical thinning. What did that translate to in terms of what the women were experiencing?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yeah, so what they found was that reductions in gray matter volume, especially in regions that overlap with theory of mind, that are important in caregiving and all of that emotional processing, higher order cognition, if those areas that changed the greatest, so they had the greatest decline in gray matter volume, which again, could be a fine tuning, showed positive associations with bonding with their infant. And they also showed that sort of there was less hostility to their infant. Again, that's an area we need to do a lot more research on. And it needs a lot of context because. Because anytime you're about to say the more forgetful you are, or your brain changing, maybe that's out of your control, is going to predict how good of a mom you are. It's like, just like. I don't think we can actually answer that at all. But it is. The overarching question is like, how can we tangibly contextualize that gray matter change? But you can expect that if there's fine tuning in these circuits that underlie sort of cognitive or behavioral process, that the more fine tuning it goes, the better performance you're going to have. That's the idea. But it's so much more complicated than that. But, yeah, there are people who are looking at the degree of cognitive change in relation to how their postpartum experiences are. Now, those that are struggling the most, that maybe have the greatest degree of cognitive complaints or feel those cognitive change, could be those people that are the most vulnerable to a lot of things that occur in postpartum two, including mood disorders or sleep dysregulation, and don't have that support. And all of that compounds your relationship to your offspring. And that's why we need to have as much support in the postpartum as possible.

[Host]

Okay, after the break. We've talked about how the brain shrinks during pregnancy, but I think the next question is, what happens after that? We're gonna dig into how these changes could sharpen social instincts, help people tune into a baby's needs and also answer the question of what this might all mean for your brain long after the diapers are gone.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

This CNN podcast is supported by Sleep Number when something's made for you, it simply fits you feel special. That's the sensation of a Sleep Number Smart Bed. You'll sleep comfortably, hot or cold, soft or firm because it's personalized, scientifically made for you. The tech in a Sleep Number Smart Bed automatically responds to your movements throughout the night, keeping you comfortable and most importantly, sleeping soundly. Only Sleep Number Smart Beds let you each choose your ideal comfort and support. Your Sleep Number Setting Sleep Too Hot the Klymit Series Smart beds cool up to 20 times faster than leading competitors. Getting great sleep is the journey of a lifetime, and your Sleep Number Smart Bed tracks the evolution and improvement of your sleep for you and your partner. It's designed to make each night's rest even better. Why choose a Sleep Number Smart Bed? So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side. And now it's the Sleep Number Everything Smart Bed Sale Every Smart Bed and base are on sale during our Memorial Day event. Up to 50% off limited time, exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. This podcast is supported by Wonderful Pistachios. Whether you're running between meetings, dropping off the kids or listening to a podcast, Wonderful Pistachios is the perfect healthy snack for when hunger strikes. Each 1 ounce serving of Wonderful Pistachios contains 6 grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value. It's one of the highest protein nuts out there. The fact that Wonderful Pistachios is a complete protein, providing you with all nine essential amino acids is why these little green wonders pack such a protein punch and that satisfying crack of opening each shell that's like snack meditation. You can also do Wonderful Pistachios. No shells for that grab and go ease. Wonderful Pistachios come in a variety of flavors and sizes, perfect for enjoying with family and friends or taking them with you on the go. When you're looking for a protein pick me up or a late night tasty treat, get snacking on wonderful pistachios. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more.

[Viori Advertisement]

This episode is brought to you by Viori. Give the active people in your life something they'll truly appreciate. Performance appare from Viori Whether they're into running, surfing, hiking, or even just casual walks around the block, there's something for everyone. And if you're not sure what to gift them you can't go wrong with something from Viori's dream knit collection. It's the perfect gift and so comfortable. Get 20% off your first purchase today at Vuori. V-U-O-R-I.com Spotify.

[Host]

So, just for the audience, because we're.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Using a lot of neuroscience terms here, you know, talking about cortical thickening and of changes obviously in the brain as a result of pregnancy. What do you think the message is there for people?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

I think where I always start is that this is a critical period of brain development and there's going to be this period of neuroplasticity, our ability to adapt to physiological and environmental demands where we can ease up on the inhibition and change things as necessary. And that's normal and that's really cool. And just as you would expect every other part of your body to change, so is pregnancy. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. But it's a window of opportunity to maybe fine tune certain circuits. It's also a window of vulnerability. Anytime your brain is in flux or you're in a transition stage, there's going to be vulnerability to say, mood disorders or neurological related conditions that we can get into as well. But it's just almost a way to provide quantitative evidence for all of the things that women have been feeling for time and time again, that there's this choreographed dance that's occurring between your gray and your white matter over this gestational period, ultimately to prepare you or to be able to adapt to all demands that are happening now or happening in.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

The future, this should be reassuring. It sounds like, to some extent.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yeah, I think so. And from the people I've spoken to, it's helped them understand a little bit more of why things are happening. And I think anytime you provide evidence that this is occurring and it can fit within them, saying, yeah, if you talk to any person who's gone through pregnancy or parenthood, they're gonna say, yeah, like my brain feels different now, like my auditory cortex has to have changed. Cause I hear things differently now. And so to be able to say, like, look, that's that region over this gestational period changing is I think, reassuring and hopefully interesting. And if we show that and tie it to this message of this is adaptation and it's not this sort of shrinking, but rather like this shift, this metamorphosis, this etching, however we want to package it, it's a really powerful and cool thing that's happening for a reason and to mostly everyone.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And that reason fundamentally I mean, and again, I am very careful as a fellow neuroscientist not to oversimplify, but the reason that these brain changes happen, could you make the case that it's to better prepare you, equip you to care for this child?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

That's a leading theory for sure. And I think you have to ask the question of like anytime that your brain is gonna undergo change like this, it takes a lot of energy and it's resource heavy. And so why would we be doing that if it wasn't for some sort of reason? And pregnancy itself is a central facet of reproductive life. That's how we, you know, it's happening ubiquitously across women and 85% of women are gonna experience this.

[Host]

It does raise this question as well.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

About whether you didn't, I don't know how old the woman was that you original the study on, but would it make a difference for women who are older when they have their children?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yes. This was just almost a proof of concept study to say we haven't been doing this and there are a variety of reasons why, but we need to ask this. And here are a ton of low hanging fruit. So one is the age component. So our subject was 37. And if you hear, I always like to start my lectures or talks with what comes to mind when you hear brain development. And it's always, oh, it's you know, in utero or infant or adolescent brains. And it really is like the first couple decades of life. And then I always HEAR the like 25, your brain is done developing. And then I showcase this data and I'm like, this is a 37 year old female who look at her trajectories of the brain compared to adolescence. But it opens up. And the reason I'm saying that is because another huge question then is, okay, what if you undergo pregnancy at 20 or 18 when there are other sorts of periods of brain development occurring, or 40 or 45, how does that influence your menopause trajectory? How does that influence brain health later on? We don't know. We also have no real idea of what these changes look like in a second or a third pregnancy. If that second pregnancy happens one year later or five years later. Low hanging fruit that we just have not mapped.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Fascinating. So the person you followed through pregnancy was 37 years old. Everyone is different. And you mentioned this at the top, Laura, but how you want to reproduce these findings, obviously that's the nature of science. So what can we say at this point? How valid do you think the study is in terms of what this means for brain changes in pregnancy overall.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yes. So I feel very confident in having spoken to all of my colleagues and all of the pioneers in this field field that one of the most consistent findings in neuroscience is this sort of persistent reduction. And this.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

That persistent reduction in gray matter cortical thickness.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Exactly. We see this in about because other people have looked at this and measured this, maybe not in the way we did, but these sort of snapshot or one or two times during pregnancy now is coming online and it's just consistent. Like 90% of an above of participants are showing this. We have prelim data from the people who've followed up and done this exact protocol that show nearly the same patterns. We have all of the translational research too. One, that there are these. That pregnancy is a period of brain plasticity and it's a critical window for brain change. And two, that you're going to see this persistent reduction in gray matter volume cortical thickness. The white matter microstructure finding that we found, that we saw is actually quite interesting because we saw this sort of nonlinear rise and it's the measure of diffusion along that myelin that's protecting the axon. You could think of it, for anyone listening as like the integrity of that white matter tract to help signal processing as like a weak celery stock or a really fresh celery stock, things like that. We saw this sort of nonlinear rise. It peaked in second trimester and went down the third trimester and then back to baseline, which kind of fits with anyone who's done the snapshot approach of pre and post pregnancy seeing no changes in that measure. But I would say that I feel very confident that this is a finding we're going to see. I think there's a lot of signal because, you know, your hormones, which can act as neuromodulators, are rising by 100,000 fold in your body, which is the highest it's ever going to be. And it really, I think, is hormonally mediated neuroplasticity. So very confident that these changes hold up.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And as you said, I guess in some ways this is revelatory what you found, but not surprising at the same time.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yes, exactly. And it was really fun to sit with that data and be playing with it and trying to break it. And I took it to all these different labs, including someone at the National Institute of Health, and I was like, what? This is just so beautiful. Like, it has to. It can't be this linear. It can't be this, like, fitting within this literature because it's like that science is so messy. It just was fun to see, kind of because you're sitting on data that no one has, at least to our knowledge, published on yet 26 time points during that perinatal period of a person.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

It's a pretty laborious study. I mean, you know, congrats to the study subjects. Right. If you do become pregnant in your life based on your own research, would you do anything differently? Is there a message in there for women who might be listening, who are thinking about pregnancy?

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yes, I think that I've been asked this a few times and I've thought about it a little bit more and I think for me it's. I would feel so much calmer. And I do feel calmer going into that life stage knowing that certain things are normal. And I think that I think of it as like a reference range. That's what I'm trying to build actually right now is if you go get a blood test and you have say like elevated iron, but it's within like the normal range, it doesn't get flagged. That's what I want to do for brain changes during pregnancy. Because that can call me into saying, I know the literature. I know that I'm going to have maybe these memory or attention, subjective feelings of that changing. And okay, that's fine here. I'm going to talk to my physician, I'm going to talk to my partner and say if I. If it's. You're seeing that it's impacting my quality of life and I had more severe version of that, maybe I'll do my own sort of like cognitive exams on myself. Why stop? Then I would ask, I would want to talk to a doctor about that and you know, try to seek maybe help there. But knowing what's normal or what to expect and just having more knowledge of what this is going to be is really helpful to me. Additionally, knowing how vulnerable that first four weeks are in the postpartum, because I've seen hormones, I've seen how they drop very steeply in that period. And along with this, knowing that this is like one of the most heightened times in a woman's life for mood disorders. And it's very prevalent that I can go into that period knowing I need as much support as possible. And here's who I'm going to ask, or I'm going to ask my partner to make sure that they're monitoring myself. Because you take your baby in and it has all these pediatric visits and you don't have these sort of mental health checks for the moms. You don't have as much care for the postpartum mom as I think we should in our healthcare system. And I think women should definitely be aware of that and talk to their partner and the people around them to help them. And on the science side, we can try to make those reference frames and make the guidelines and try to improve the prediction and the treatment options for pregnant women of like, who's gonna go on to have the most severe decompensation.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, I hadn't thought about that last part. You're starting to be predictive on one hand. I do find it like just trying to understand this would think that it would be reassuring for people. I think understanding that there are changes that happen in the brain, it's something that is common. It's related to pregnancy. In this case that you're talking about, I think that's in some ways reassuring for folks. Thank you for sharing all that with us.

[Dr. Laura Pritchett]

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me.

[Host]

That was Dr. Laura Pritchett, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, studying the effects of pregnancy. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Erin Mathewson, Jennifer Lai, Grace Walker, Lori Gallaretta, Jesse Remedios, Sofia Sanchez and Kira Dehring. Andrea Cain is our medical writer. Our senior producer is Dan Bloom. Amanda Seeley is our showrunner. Dan Dezulla is our technical director. And the executive producer of CNN Audio.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Is Steve Lichti with support from Jamis Andrest, John Dionora, Hailey Thomas, Alex Manasseri.

[Host]

Robert Mathers, Lainey Steinhart, Nicole Pessarou and Lisa Namorow. Special thanks to Ben Tinker and Nadia Kanang of CNN Health and Katie Hinman.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

When something's made for you, it simply fits. You feel special. That's the sensation of a Sleep Number Smart bed. You'll sleep comfortably, hot or cold, soft or firm, because it's personalized, scientifically made for you. Sleep Number Smart Beds learn how you sleep and provide personalized insights to help you sleep better. Why choose a Sleep Number Smart Bed? So you can choose your ideal comfort on either side. And now it's the Sleep Number Everything Smart Bed sale. Every Smart Bed and base are on sale during our Memorial Day event. Up to 50% off limited time, exclusively at a Sleep Number store near you. See store or sleepnumber.com for details.