My Heart is going Insane! --And some check-outs and exercise that may cope with it

I have been feeling short of breath ever since I found out I was pregnant. In fact, the very first thing my mom noticed after I told her was that I was always out of breath when I was talking to her over Face time. She was concerned and told me to do some regular exercises.

It was not until a few days ago did I experience some craziness of my fast heartbeat. Before I was pregnant, my heart was always in the healthy "low" range of normal: about 62-64/minute. Yet the other day when I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep (insomnia has been bothering me these days as well), I felt that my heart was beating so fast that it felt like I was running in a race. Again today when I was just walking up and down the stairs in the library, my heart started all over again. I felt my pulse right away: man, it must have been beating like more than 100/minute, like right after I did some aerobic exercises!

I started to get worried. When I was first suspicious of being pregnant, I have read it somewhere that short of breath was a sign of early pregnancy. But increased (or insanely fast) heartbeat? Never heard of it.

I feel so blessed to live in an interconnected and informational society right now. Mostly if one knows how to use search engines and evaluate web sites (which is an important digital literacy that schools should emphasize in their students, so says research and me as an education major in grad school), one could fairly easily find the answer she is most anxious for. I have used Google a lot as a first time mom who knows basically nothing about being pregnant, so this time there is no exception.

Turned out that it is also a normal symptom to have increased heartbeat during early pregnancy (or pregnancy at all), because your heart is pumping more blood to support the growing baby. I have read a post here that some moms even feel like she skipped a heartbeat sometimes.

Another issue for shortened breath and fast heartbeat might result from a too-tight bra. As one gets pregnant, the breasts start preparing themselves for breastfeeding for postpartum. Therefore, sore- and/or enlarged breasts are common among pregnant women. Therefore, reconsidering one's bra size may be a good idea. Here is a link to some red flags that your bra doesn't fit anymore. If any of these shows up, definitely go to a maternity store or (personally I prefer) Victoria's Secret to have your bra size re-measured and buy a comfortable bra.

Exercises
A reader of the blog before wanted to know some safe exercises during pregnancy--there are different ones targeting in different stages. But in general, here are some rules to evaluate and find out what are the exercises that are most suitable for the individual. One of the rules is to "steer clear of dangerous sports", which I found interesting because it is definitely subjective. While I found it absolutely disturbing and terrifying to see pregnant moms in any stage booking a ski trip, I have also found a lot of comments on the fact that it is OK to go skiing when pregnant. In fact, my husband's co-worker who is about the same weeks as I am just booked her a skiing trip somewhere in the country.

After synthesizing the websites on suggested exercises, I found that swimming, doing Yoga (or stretching and practicing breathing), and walking are the three most-commonly recommended exercises during pregnancy (and early pregnancy). However, I do want to reserve some thoughts on whether the chlorine water in a public swimming pool would be healthy for the growing baby; also I am concerned whether some bending exercises in Yoga might be potentially harmful for the growing fetus.  Therefore, I have adopted walking as my routine exercise (although my hubby does not see walking as an exercise at all). It is perfect that I have a puppy right now so that walking with her provides a perfect bonding time with me and the little one. Meanwhile, having a puppy walking with me greatly increases my willingness to get out and get walking.

In all, increased heartbeat is perfectly fine with pregnant women, and there are several things to do to check on different aspects of the causes. Definitely check into the fitness of your bra, and start exercising so that your heart gets stronger for the growing baby.