The Human Nesting Instinct

What do you get when you combine HGTV with pregnancy? Oxytocin-fueled extreme home makeovers, according to this article from the New York Times: Nesting with a Vengeance (and a Deadline).

This is a lifestyles trend piece, not a science story, but the writer dragged in a couple of doctors as well as interior designers to describe the lengths to which some women go to get the house ready for baby:

Typically, projects resulting from the nesting instinct have been small-scale affairs — a cleaning jag, a den converted to a nursery with a little paint and drywall, a changing station built into a laundry room. But lately, even as the housing and renovation markets have slumped, some pregnant nesters have been getting more ambitious, spurred on by the widespread home-improvement mania of the last decade and by the plethora of design-themed magazines and television shows.

I'm sure women who have to work as long as they can before their due dates -- as well as ones who don't have an extra hundred grand sitting in the bank -- still make do with a coat of paint.

Comments

[melissa]

- off topic (except oxytocin) but, i recently found this site when trying to find out if this http://www.fartparty.org/2006/11/06/sneaky-psychology/ comic was telling the truth (about hugs). really cool reading through this but the more i learn about psychology it really makes me wonder about love. do all these hormones and chemicals wipe out deep metaphysical love? does one only "love" because the chemicals are making you? i find it interesting to learn about psyachology (i guess this would go under that heading?) but it seems to take the fun out of relationships. like god vs scientific reasonings. (hope that all made sense, kind of rambly)