Resting Heart Rate Early Pregnancy

[Eggcellent29]

Hi all

As some of you have probably figured out by now, I am a massive worrier!!! So here is another (probably silly) question!

Has anyone else worn a Fitbit during early pregnancy?

My resting heart rate increased from 66/68 to 76, and has dropped down to 73 over the last four days.

I am freaking out that something is wrong with bubba!

My hubby pointed out that I’ve spent the last few days relaxing/having lazy days and that may be it but I am stressing none the less. It still shoots up if I do something as easy going as walking, but the resting rate has plummeted

Has this happened to anyone else who went on to have a healthy pregnancy?

So pleased to see this thread. I am really worried I'm having a 4th mc in a row because my RHR is dropping and it was certainly a sign in my mmc. I'm only 4+3. Time couldn't be going any slower! 🤯

Glad I found this threat again & it’s had people continue to post on it. I had a MMC on Oct & resulted in a D&C. My RHR did start to decline but by the looks of it this had no relation to the MC. I’m now 5+6 & so so worried it could happen again. Reading this has made me feel better as my RHR is up & down right now!

We are planning an 8 week scan, but defo have scan anxiety so that’s how I found out I had MC before.

I'm 9 weeks tomorrow and only know my heart rate for the past 2 days as I've just bought an Apple Watch and it's sitting between 65-69. I'm finding it's higher during the day as it's usually 70 during the afternoon but does gradually drop of an evening, is this normal? Didn't even know rhr meant anything during pregnancy and after a scan with a healthy heartbeat last week I'm now worrying over it!!

Hi all I was so glad to find this thread a few weeks ago! And great advice on here. In case it helps put anyone's mind at ease, my RHR went from around 58 post pregnancy up to 72 at around 5 weeks. It's been slowly creeping down as you can see. I'm now almost 8 weeks and had a scan and all is fine with baby - midwife said your RHR spikes as your body starts it's changes / produces more blood etc and then as it starts to get used to the changes it becomes more regular ie up and down a every so often as opposed to big spikes. So don't worry if there is a big spike and then drops! It's just our clever bodies! Good luck to everyone xx

@Eggcellent29thank you for this because I am literally worrying about this right now trying to get a scan booked in with my docs cos of severe cramping and bleeding, you would think I was asking for their first born! I have been passed from pillar to post and this has provided me some respite this morning

Thank you SO much for posting this question and outcome. 7w3 and I’ve seen the same trends over the past week and was so anxious. Have my first scan tomorrow morning. Had a missed miscarriage this winter and a chemical pregnancy this spring, so more anxious than necessary. Thank you and so glad for your good outcome!

Thank you @Eggcellent29 for starting this thread. As a regular Fitbit wearing runner who's 6weeks pregnant I've been driving myself crazy watching my RHR fall a few beats per min the past two days.
Can I ask how your pregnancy's progressed? I have an early scan next week xx

@Eggcellent29 thank you for the updates. I hope you have a gorgeous pre-schooler by now!
I’ve been googling if RHR drops if I should worry. I’ve had three miscarriages so it’s impossible not to overthink everything! I wish there was a way to turn the HR function off on my Fitbit!

Take your fit bit off, I obsessed about it after my MC. I decided not to wear it and haven't work it since. All these devices emit electromagnetic waves that aren't that good for us anyway. I am pregnant again, second child, and still get anxious. I think whether it is due to HR or something else, you may find other things to feel anxious. That is completely understandable and perhaps you can focus on how to focus on something else, as much as you can. Best of luck

My RHR dropped and I am now the proud mum to a 2 month old who's currently napping on my chest 🥰

My resting heart rate was 56-58 but as soon as I got pregnant it raised to 66. Now I'm week 13 it has dropped to 63 but still feels really high!

Be aware pregnancy drops your blood pressure but your body is working harder as 1/3 more blood and fluid, plus a little monster demanding your energy :)

This thread calmed my nerves when I was stressing about every symptom in early pregnancy so wanted to add another experience. Like others have said, my HR went up at first then began to sharply plummet around week 6. I was terrified!

Here’s my HR for most of pregnancy, I got pregnant in June and after week 6 it went down to essentially the lowest rate I’ve ever had, then started rising again well into the second trimester.

i suspect 6 weeks is sadly a really common time to lose a pregnancy, and so those who’ve experienced it and noticed their HR going down at the same time have drawn a link that maybe isn’t there?

Solidarity with anyone reading this thread and worrying. The days feel so long while you’re waiting for solid info. I’ve been there, the anxiety does get better!

I’m really glad I’ve seen this as my RHR has dropped by 6bpm in the last 4 days (3bpm overnight). It’s a confusing one for me though as I’ve had strep throat so some of the increase was probably the infection and now I’m over it so expected a bit of a drop but it’s dropped back to what it was before I got poorly (so no pregnancy increase in a week) so I am worried as I’ve had 2 early miscarriages/CPs at just under 5 weeks where the RHR drop did mean a loss both times. My RHR before ovulation was 62bpm this cycle.

have to admit I’m really worried.

@allgoodthings84 how many weeks are you? My suggestion is to stop tracking your HR, it will only stress you out more. And I will say what nurses told me before (and I hated it), worrying does nothing and doesn't change the outcome. I stopped wearing HR trackers after the first MC, one less thing to think about. My subsequent two pregnancies didn't have a smooth start but here I ma with a 2 yo and due again in Feb. Sending lots of strength, get a scan as soon as you can as that will help you see what's actually going on. Xx

@drubio I’m 6 weeks today. It went back up by 1bpm after I posted. There’s nothing else to suggest an issue. I have nausea and sore firm boobs and food/smell aversions and most importantly no bleeding. I know I should take it off but I guess I’m hoping it goes back up a bit before I take it off. I can only have a private early scan and can only do that at weekends so earliest I can is weekend 7/8th January.

I’m just hoping the drop is because some of the rise was because of the infection/temperature I had so now I’m better it’s dropped back down a bit or that it’s like lots of others here where it didn’t mean anything

Oh my gosh!

I have popped back on after a long absence and I was so touched to see all the posts on this thread! Honestly, I was almost in tears reading through. So many of them took me right back to that place of all consuming panic - and the feeling that nobody else quite understood why I was so upset. And reading all these posts reminded me that we are never really alone in this way ❤️

I have the worlds most incredible preschooler now (not that I’m biased!) and he continues to throw me into all sorts of panics 😆

Good luck to all of you ladies - the internet can be a wonderful thing sometimes 😊

It’s so lovely to see everyone’s successes
good luck to those still tracking and hoping

@allgoodthings84 how are things going?

@Kona84 I’m now 13+4 weeks. I had my 12 week scan last week and all was good. I’ve had a tiny bit of brown discharge just once a day when wiping (since Saturday) but was checked in hospital yesterday and baby was wriggling away absolutely fine and cervix was closed so they don’t think it’s anything to worry about (I am of course but trying not to) and it’s probably just old blood.

I took my Fitbit off after my post to stop me stressing and not put it back on again yet. The drop didn’t mean anything and just stressed me for no reason

@Eggcellent29 Im not a medical person by any means, but I do have a heart arrythmia so I've asked a few questions.
My midwife said that they expect resting heart rate to increase, your doing more work as your body starts to grow a tiny human. What was pureley resting is now resting + baby. The other thing she said that changes is how hard everything needs to work with an increased blood volume in later stages.

From my recollection from when I got my diagnosis (5 years ago) the concern is your RHR exceeding 80 for "normal" people. Tachychardia was a concern over 90?

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8439506/#:~:text=A%20threshold%20of%20100%20bpm,potential%20to%20miss%20important%20diagnoses.

I'm posting my Fitbit resting heart rate chart to hopefully give some reassurance. My last period was at the end of January. The big peak is from when I had sinisitis (needed antibiotics) and then I had a stomach bug after. I also stopped metformin not long after. So my rhr then went low again so I worried, quite a lot. I'm now 10 weeks and last scan (at 9 weeks) all was fine. So rhr really can be all over the shop, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything! I wish I could turn it off on my Fitbit, but I otherwise love my watch so carry on sneaking a peek!