I'm worried I overheated my baby!

[Sasha's Mama]

Ok, this sounds so dumb when I talk about it but I'm seriously worried that I cooked my baby's brain or something! I had super bad sciatic pain last night and laid down w/a heating pad on my butt and I woke up an hour and a half later and had rolled to my back so the heating pad had been on my lower left abdomen for who knows how long! My stomach was hot on that side though. I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on it and it cooled down fast, but I'm still worried that I've raised my uterus' temperature and now my baby is going to have brain damage or something.

[Jaimee]

((HUGS)) mama!  I'm sure everything is fine.  A heating pad applies heat to just a small area of your total body and your body does a very good job of regulating its internal temperature so that baby (and you!) are safe.  Overheating your body is more of a concern during the first trimester when you want to avoid raising your core body temp over 101 degrees.  After that, there is concern if your core body temp goes over 102 degrees.  A hot tub set around 104 degrees can heat your body past that point in just 10-20 minutes, but that's when you're fully submerged and I doubt your heating pad was at 104 degrees!

[Sasha's Mama]

Thanks for the reassurance! My midwife called me back and said the baby was probably thinking how nice it was :) And my husband told me they call it an "oven" for a reason. So... yeah, just totally overreacting! I think I'm stressed out and tired from this move and extra easy to get freaked out.

[Ablemec]

So glad to hear the midwife was able to reassure you.  I'm sure you were totally freaked.
 

Originally Posted by Sasha's Mama 

Thanks for the reassurance! My midwife called me back and said the baby was probably thinking how nice it was :) And my husband told me they call it an "oven" for a reason. So... yeah, just totally overreacting! I think I'm stressed out and tired from this move and extra easy to get freaked out.