Process
The best part of this study is that you can choose how involved you want to be in the study. You can elect to participate in all or part of the study. We would like to visit you and your family approximately 7 times throughout the study. We will collect a variety of information at each visit.
With your permission, we will contact the medical practitioner who is assisting your pregnancy (GP or obstetrician), so that we can have access to your pregnancy ultrasound scans and any pregnancy related tests (such as blood tests), and to request additional ultrasound scans at 26 and 34 weeks. This will help us assess your child’s growth prior to birth and give you the chance to see your unborn baby 2 more times before the birth!
We would also like to visit your home during the pregnancy to examine a sample of your blood, urine and saliva. The blood and saliva will be used for hormone analysis to give us an indication of the level of stress experienced by you, your partner and your baby in the womb. Analysing the blood samples will help us understand the role played by genetics in children’s development.
After the birth of your child we would like to collect some umbilical cord blood. The blood sample from the cord will help us study your child’s immune function. If you agree, we would also like to collect a sample of the placenta to analyse its function during your pregnancy. When your child is aged 1, 2, and 3 we would like to follow the development of your child.