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At the age of 32, Sofia experienced firsthand the emotional rollercoaster that can come with monitoring early pregnancy through wearable technology. After two miscarriages, both of which she noticed through changes in her Oura ring data, she finally carried a pregnancy to term and now has a five-month-old son. Early in her first pregnancy last year, she vigilantly tracked her temperature every morning via the app connected to her ring. “When I would wake up to see the [temperature] line progressing, and then I saw in the app one morning that my temperature had dropped – and that’s how I knew, something’s weird,” she recalled. The data essentially prepared her mentally ahead of the miscarriage she later experienced.
Three months following her initial loss, Sofia faced another miscarriage, prompting both her and her husband to pause their attempts to conceive. It was during this pause, however, that the ring alerted her again with a notification of “minor signs of strain” and an elevated temperature. Encouraged to take a pregnancy test, she was surprised to find it positive. Despite a healthy pregnancy this time, Sofia’s anxiety remained high as she continued to constantly check the data. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, is this going to happen again?’,” she admitted, describing how she frequently woke in the early hours just to monitor her temperature. The stress became such that by seven or eight weeks of pregnancy, she chose to stop wearing her ring altogether for the remainder of the first trimester.
Experts acknowledge the growing role of technology like wearable devices in reproductive health, but caution remains. Dr Stuart Lavery, a consultant in reproductive medicine at University College Hospital in London, noted that while people are eager to use these tools “to try to get a greater understanding, and to try and pick up things as early as possible,” there is a risk of moving too quickly without sufficient evidence. He emphasized the need for more extensive research to validate the reliability of such devices, warning that unclear data could inadvertently increase anxiety levels. “I have no doubt that more people will be using technology, an app-based approach or a wearable-based approach,” he said, “but I think it should come with quite a big health warning about how much we can rely on them for accuracy.”
In line with this perspective, Dr Chris Curry, Oura’s clinical director for women’s health, observed that uncertainty during pregnancy is common even without the use of biometric tracking. She highlighted that many first-time mothers often lack clarity on what constitutes normal symptoms or signs. For those feeling overwhelmed by their data, Oura encourages users to take breaks from actively monitoring the app while the ring continues collecting information quietly in the background. As she put it, “The ring is a support tool, not a replacement for your care team.” Another woman, Ravika, who also experienced miscarriage, reflected on her own experience with the ring and how it heightened her anxiety. Planning to try for pregnancy again soon, she noted, “I didn’t really see myself as being an anxious person, but… I think going forward… it would be the best thing for me to take the ring off.”
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