Main Takeaways: Uterine contractions can compress the blood vessels in the uterus, potentially interfering in the transfer of oxygen to the placenta and the baby. In a normal labor, one contraction every two to three minutes or less than five contractions in a 10 minute period is ideal. A uterus must rest between contractions, having […]
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring
The Importance of Ultrasound in Pregnancy
Main Takeaways: An ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create an image of a developing baby, the mother’s placenta, and uterus, usually during the second trimester. An ultrasound can provide very important diagnostic information about a developing baby, including confirming the pregnancy and gestational age; checking for multiple pregnancies, congenital anomalies, and/or problems with the […]
Scalp Electrode for Fetal Heart Monitoring
Main Takeaways: A scalp electrode is applied to a fetus’ scalp which monitors the baby’s heart, similar to an ECG A scalp electrode monitors a fetus’ heart rate more accurately than an external monitoring method for a variety of reasons. Internal methods of heart monitoring are only of use after membranes have ruptured and when […]
Fetal Non-Stress Tests
Fetal non-stress tests are used in pregnancy to passively monitor the baby’s heart rate, which tells health care practitioners about the health of the baby. What A Non-Stress Test Tells You About Your Baby’s Health The number of beats per minute and the pattern of the baby’s heart rate can actually tell a health care […]
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOUR BABY WAS INJURED? FETAL HEART RATE PATTERNS
This is the third in a series of three articles about how medical experts determine when a newborn brain injury occurred. The first article in this series dealt with neuroimaging. The second discussed cord blood gas analysis. A newborn with signs of neurologic injury can suffer that injury any time during pregnancy, during labour and […]
