Calming presence

When I was pregnant with Maggie, a friend asked me if I could tell anything about her personality from her behavior in utero or how I felt with her in utero.  She mentioned that a friend of hers had felt that she temporarily acquired some of her children's personality traits during her pregnancies -- and then saw those traits in her children later.  It made me stop to think; I had never really considered this as a possibility or noticed it.

While I did notice that Shay was a pretty active baby in utero and then was a pretty active baby (and toddler) after birth, I couldn't really think of personality traits of his that I had temporarily acquired while pregnant with him.  But, as I thought about this question while pregnant with Maggie, I did notice that I felt calmer and less anxious than I have ever felt as an adult.  I was in a (luckily very minor) car accident while I was pregnant with her, and even as I was transported via ambulance to the hospital to make sure that there were no internal injuries hurting the baby, I felt calm and confident that everything would be okay.  I had less of the palms-sweating-before-teaching-a-class or before important meetings than I have ever had. I never had little anxious moments in the middle of the night, wondering if I had said the right thing in that conversation, or mailed that form in to the right place.

I sort of forgot about the question, though, until this last week, when I started noticing little minor flutters of anxious thoughts -- did I remember to do that thing?  Should I be worried about this?  At first, it felt unfamiliar -- I wondered why I was suddenly such a worrywart.  But then, I realized that I've always had those little flutters of worry here and there, save for the last year.

So, I think that Maggie's presence in my life has been a very calming one, from way before her birth.  But now I'm interested in seeing how this will translate into her behavior out in the world.  She is already a pretty calm baby -- a good sleeper, pretty easy-going, with lots of happy smiles and coos.  I wonder if or how this calmness will play out as she grows?

What about you?  If you have children, did you notice yourself acquiring any of their traits during your pregnancy with them?