The main purpose of this article by Davis & Sandman was to determine whether the gestational age and time of stress effected fetal development. Detail was given as to the production of cortisol, which derives from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or HPA axis which is the human body’s response system to stress. This axis is regulated by another human hormone called CRH which then releases another hormone into the bloodstream that will trigger the release of cortisol. David & Sandman state that as the fetus develops it reaches a gestational age that will provide partial protection from the harmful effects of cortisol; however as the pregnancy develops further the decrease of placenta allows for more cortisol to reach the fetus and in normal
