think of the fetal body “learning” about the outside world, this time along the lines of, “How stressful is it out there?” Fetuses can monitor signals of stress from the mother, insofar as glucocorticoids readily pass through to the fetal circulation, and lots of glucocorticoids “teach” the fetus that it is indeed a stressful world out there. The result? Be prepared for that stressful world: tend toward secreting excessive amounts of glucocorticoids.
