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WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S | Family Maternity Center | Pregnancy Resource Center | Pregnancy Library | Delivery Risks | Monitoring can provide early warning for problems during birth
Monitoring can provide early warning for problems during birth
Fetal monitoring gives you and your doctor important clues about what's happening to your baby while he's still inside you. Monitoring can't stop a problem from happening, but it can provide important information and warning signs that can allow your doctor to help the baby. This technology is most often used during high-risk pregnancies.
There are several kinds of monitoring that are used. Some gather information externally, meaning no monitoring instrument goes inside you. Others involve inserting a device into the vagina to record the baby's heart rate.
The type of monitoring used depends upon several factors: - The equipment on hand at the hospital
- The number of nurses on duty
- Your risk of problems
- How your labor is progressing
- Hospital policy
Auscultation: Checking in on baby's heart rate
Auscultation means there will be set times that your baby's heart rate will be recorded. The timing depends on how your labor progresses and your particular risk factors. There are two ways of finding the baby's heartbeat: - A fetoscope is a kind of stethoscope. Your doctor or midwife will press one end to your tummy and listen to the baby's heartbeat through earphones.
- A Doppler ultrasound is a hand-held device that's placed on your tummy. Sound waves create the signal of your baby's beating heart.
When either of these procedures is done you will be asked to lie down. There aren't any known risks to auscultation.
Continuous monitoring
The other way to monitor the baby's heart rate is by using electronic equipment. This provides a continuous record and is used during high-risk pregnancies. - If you are monitored externally, two belts will be placed around your stomach. One uses ultrasound to detect the heart rate, and the other measures and times contractions. The advantage to external monitoring is that your doctor can glean information about your baby even if your cervix isn't dilated.
- If you are monitored internally, an electrode will be inserted through your vagina and placed on the baby's head. You might also have a catheter inserted to gauge how strong your contractions are. This kind of monitoring is done only after your water breaks (rupture of the amniotic sac). This isn't painful, but you may have the same kind of discomfort you have during a pelvic examination. Internal monitoring gives a more accurate picture of what's going on. The use of a monitor may restrict your ability to get up and walk or to shower during your labor.
- Telemetry is the newest kind of monitoring. It uses radio waves connected to a transmitter on your thigh to transmit the baby's heartbeat to the nurses' station. This state-of-the-art monitoring allows you to move about freely.
Date last reviewed: October 2002.
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