While others have filed a lawsuit against Fitbit over allegations of inaccurate heart rate tracking, one woman has her Fitbit’s heart rate tracker to thank for giving her a heads up on her pregnancy.
It all started when a husband and wife in New York City noticed some unusual readings coming out of the fitness tracker the wife was using. With the unusual data in hand, the husband — who identified himself as David, his first name, to BuzzFeed News — took to Reddit in search of some feedback.
After posting about his wife’s unusual Fitbit data on Reddit, one Redditor’s deciphering of the fitness tracking device’s readings led David to suddenly realize that he may be en route to fatherhood.
As it turns out, David and his wife had been trying to conceive a child, but neither had any idea that an above normal heart rate was any indicator of pregnancy. Subsequently, in light of one Redditor’s insightful response, the couple decided to verify the pregnancy and in the words of the future father himself, he and his wife “were both obviously very surprised” and “very happy” with the results: they’re having a child.
Just one day after he opened the thread on Reddit about his wife’s Fitbit tracker, he posted a confirmation of his wife’s pregnancy in which he wrote, “Im going to be a dad!” But before he confirmed the good news on Reddit, he responded with a comment which read, “I might be a dad, YIKES.”
Dr. Mary Jane Minkin with Yale-New Haven Hospital told BuzzFeed that while it is true that significant spikes in heart rates can occur during pregnancy, she believes that what the couple witnessed with the increased heart rate readings was actually the result of an increase in body temperature seen in the early part of pregnancy, which can result in a slightly elevated heart rate.
