Hi doctor, I just found out that I am pregnant (5th week). At first, I was excited then I realized that I went into a very hot sauna (90 degrees) celsius for one and a half hours when I was around 4 weeks pregnant (2 weeks from conception). The whole point of the sauna is to detox, and I definitely was overheating (sweating and red-faced). I did however take two breaks where I jumped in cold water to cool down. Anyways, I read that overheating when pregnant can cause horrible neural tube damage that can lead to birth defects especially in these crucial early weeks when it is forming. My question is how worried should I be? Should I go to a specialist for this? Is it so bad that I should consider termination? My first scan is at 12 weeks and that is the only time I will be able to ask anything and I will be worried it is too late.
Hello. Neural tube defects (NTD) in the baby mostly occur in women deficient in Folic acid, or who are diabetic, or if they have any family history or as an associated defect with other chromosomal anomalies. Yes, the baby's organs do develop in the early weeks of pregnancy, and any extreme exposures can pose risk for maternal health and also for fetal development. But I have never come across the risk of developing NTD with exposure to sauna. But anyway it would be better if you avoid it for the future. As of now you need not worry too much about this exposure, stay calm and stay positive. The first-trimester scanning at 12 weeks is good enough to pick any NTDs and I do not think that would be too late, or you need to go for any termination of pregnancy just because of the exposure to sauna. At this early pregnancy, there is no means to find out if the baby has developed any abnormalities or not. And also the second TM scan detailed anatomical scan at 18-20 weeks can also pick most (90-95%) of any structural anomalies. Also regarding your gestational age calculations, if your cycles were always regular, then you should calculate the weeks from the starting day of your last menstrual period. It would have been really helpful if you had mentioned the same, it would have helped me correlate if your assumption of weeks of pregnancy are correct or not. I am assuming, as you said you are in the fifth week now, so you just skipped your periods a few days back. Tablet Folic Acid 5 mg daily once after food. Avoid sexual intercourse for the first three months of pregnancy.