Did i cause my sons Autisum?

'Cause' is an interesting concept. Everything has a 'cause', and genetics is one 'cause' that technically speaking  derived from your bloodline or his fathers, so in a sense, you are right. But there is no point feeling guilty or bad about this. You also 'caused' your child's looks and other attributes, to an extent, because all we really are is vehicles for the perpetuation of our genetic code - see Dawkin's The Selfish Gene.

You are also thinking correctly when you wonder whether or not the stress caused the autism. However, it is not as simple as thinking that the stress itself was the original cause, and this is why many stressful pregnancies do not result in an autistic child. What the stress can do is to trigger the susceptability genes for autism, switching them on, and setting in motion the development of autism. In fact, research has been carried out examining the possibility that a stressful pregnancy could trigger autism when the genes are already present. I am not saying that this is conclusive, and all cases vary, but you could be right.

My mum was extremely stressed during my pregnancy because her mum was dying of cancer. I was born with Aspergers, after a failure to grow in the womb, while my brother was born without the condition, but my mother was relaxed during this pregnancy.

Other 'autistic pregnancies' are normal, but events might happen in the womb that we are not aware of, hormonal or chemical, that could trigger the autism in these unproblematic cases.

'Cause' is an interesting concept. Everything has a 'cause', and genetics is one 'cause' that technically speaking  derived from your bloodline or his fathers, so in a sense, you are right. But there is no point feeling guilty or bad about this. You also 'caused' your child's looks and other attributes, to an extent, because all we really are is vehicles for the perpetuation of our genetic code - see Dawkin's The Selfish Gene.

You are also thinking correctly when you wonder whether or not the stress caused the autism. However, it is not as simple as thinking that the stress itself was the original cause, and this is why many stressful pregnancies do not result in an autistic child. What the stress can do is to trigger the susceptability genes for autism, switching them on, and setting in motion the development of autism. In fact, research has been carried out examining the possibility that a stressful pregnancy could trigger autism when the genes are already present. I am not saying that this is conclusive, and all cases vary, but you could be right.

My mum was extremely stressed during my pregnancy because her mum was dying of cancer. I was born with Aspergers, after a failure to grow in the womb, while my brother was born without the condition, but my mother was relaxed during this pregnancy.

Other 'autistic pregnancies' are normal, but events might happen in the womb that we are not aware of, hormonal or chemical, that could trigger the autism in these unproblematic cases.