Latest / From Recovery to Wellness | Life After Heart Surgery, Aneurysm Repair & Cardiac Healing / Pregnancy and Cardiovascular Changes

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Pregnancy and Cardiovascular Changes · From Recovery to Wellness | Life After Heart Surgery, Aneurysm Repair & Cardiac Healing

• 0:07
  Welcome to From Recovery to Wellness, the podcast
• 0:11
  where we explore the path to better health, one
• 0:13
  conversation at a time. I'm Arnita Williams,
• 0:17
  heart surgery survivor, wellness advocate, and
• 0:20
  your host. And today we're talking about women's
• 0:24
  heart health issues. This is season three and
• 0:28
  the entire season will cover women's heart health
• 0:31
  issues. And in this first episode, I'm going
• 0:35
  to discuss pregnancy and cardiovascular changes.
• 0:41
  Pregnancy we know is often described as a reproductive
• 0:44
  experience, but what's rarely discussed is that
• 0:47
  it is also one of the most intense cardiovascular
• 0:50
  stress tests a woman's body will ever experience.
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  During pregnancy, your body increases blood volume,
• 0:58
  heart rate, and cardiac output to support both
• 1:01
  you and the developing baby. This is not a small
• 1:04
  adjustment. It's a full system shift. The heart
• 1:09
  is literally working harder, pumping more blood
• 1:12
  and adapting to new hormonal signals that change
• 1:16
  how blood vessels behave. Did you know blood
• 1:20
  volume can increase by 30 to 50 percent during
• 1:24
  pregnancy, placing significant demand on the
• 1:28
  heart? There is a question I would like for you
• 1:34
  to ponder. There's nothing for you to answer,
• 1:37
  but just think about this. And if you have any
• 1:40
  questions or a thought or anything, please feel
• 1:44
  free to reach out. You can reach me via this
• 1:48
  podcast. You can email me, DM me. you know, however
• 1:53
  you want, and I will respond in a timely manner.
• 1:58
  But the reflection, the question to reflect on
• 2:02
  is, how do we begin to talk to women about pregnancy
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  as a heart stress test, not just a reproductive
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  event? Now, because later in life they found
• 2:16
  studies have shown that later in life, the pregnancies
• 2:20
  that you've had in one way or another may affect
• 2:25
  your cardiovascular health. So that's something
• 2:28
  that, again, that we will discuss later on in
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  the series. So I also, before I close out, because
• 2:37
  this is a very brief session since this is the
• 2:39
  first one for the season, so I just kind of give
• 2:43
  an intro and then we'll get into a little bit
• 2:46
  more depth during the... following episode two
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  in the following segments. And so I wanna leave
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  you with another thing. I wanna leave you with
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  the food of the week, which this time it's beets.
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  Beets support nitric oxide production, which
• 3:03
  helps improve blood flow and vascular function.
• 3:07
  So with that, I wanna thank you so much for spending
• 3:10
  this time with me today. If this episode has
• 3:15
  enlightened you or piqued your interest, please
• 3:17
  feel free to come back and listen to our next
• 3:22
  episode. They are broadcast every Thursday, one
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  drops. And so I look forward to having you as
• 3:33
  a listener. And so you can also subscribe to
• 3:37
  the podcast, leave a review, and share this episode
• 3:40
  with someone else who needs encouragement after
• 3:43
  heart surgery, aneurysm repair, or a cardiac
• 3:46
  event, or someone who is expecting. So next week,
• 3:54
  we will talk about preeclampsia and eclampsia.
• 3:59
  That's an interesting topic. So please... Just
• 4:04
  feel free to come back, listen in, subscribe,
• 4:07
  and I will see you next week. Be gentle with
• 4:11
  yourself. Be patient with your body and keep
• 4:14
  building your recovery one heart smart step at
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  a time and be well.