Most women say being pregnant is the most perilous yet fulfilling stage of their lives. Fulfilling because expecting a child is the most enjoyable experience and perilous because having to carry a child in mothers womb for nine months could cause different threats in her health. There are many changes that she and her body system will encounter. Fetal development is such an amazing process. Health organizations, hospitals and clinics primarily adapts to the rapid changes of technology in providing superior quality health care services to the people. The manufacturers of hospital equipment come up with the most contemporary, reliable and safe non-invasive equipment such as the fetal monitors. These fetal monitors provide satisfactory and accurate monitoring of the heart beat of the fetus and contractions of the uterus. The fetal monitors also detect fetal distress during labor. Primarily during labor, the pattern of the infant’s heart beat usually reflects the health of the baby. The normal pattern of baby’s heart rate during contraction is slow so it is chiefly required to monitor the heart rate during labor by the use of fetal heart monitor.
This is why the fetal heart monitor is invented. The fetal heart rate monitor is chiefly applicable in recording and monitoring the babys heartbeat. This fetal heart monitor allows you and your family to hear the babys heartbeat. The fetal heart monitor is an instrument used by health care providers to hear the heart rate of your baby at your prenatal appointments. The fetal heart monitor also functions accurately for early detection of fetal well-being. A fetal heart monitor is intended to provide parents with peace of mind as early as eight weeks of pregnancy. Most parents find fetal heart monitor very comforting and reassuring. They are satisfied with the specific application of the fetal heart monitor and this fetal heart monitor offers a magnificent benefit and advantages to the majority of parents. The fetal heart monitor also comes in handy for those parents that are presently experiencing complications with pregnancy. There are many benefits we can get from a fetal heart monitor when you have one in your home. Having a fetal heart monitor at home permits parents to know a little more about the development of their babies and what is going on with their babies. Some mothers find it exhausting when they usually makes a frequent trips to their gynecologist clinic or the hospital so it is best to have a fetal heart monitor at home so that it may help reduce the number of hospital trips you have to make. The fetal heart monitor comes in various types and designs regarding to their specific functions. The fetal heart monitor is usually battery operated and easy-to-use. Place the probes of the fetal heart monitor just above your pubic bone and listen and gradually tilting the probe of the fetal heart rate at different angles until you find the wonderful sound of your babys heartbeat. Generally, the fetal heartbeat can be determined between the 10th and 12th week of pregnancy but the fetal heart monitor can also monitor the babys heartbeat as early as two weeks. Fetal heart monitor are lightweight and safe. This fetal heart monitor places no stress on your baby so they are safe and accurate to use during your pregnancy. Moreover, some fetal heart monitor allows you to record the heartbeat of your baby. You can download the recorded sounds onto your computer and share it with your friends and relatives.Interpreting a fetal heart monitor is also practically simple. The digital fetal heart monitor displays the number of heartbeats per minute on the screen of the fetal heart monitor. The fetal heart monitor offers a satisfying results and precise application. With our fast changing technology today, many manufacturers have developed most modern and new type of fetal heart monitor. Like for example the type of fetal heart monitor that uses the fetal ECG. This new type of fetal heart monitor is used when there is a problem that the fetus might be at high risk for metabolic acidosis. The fetal heart monitor will aid the doctor or midwife decides when the fetus can no longer tolerate the stress of labor and needs to be delivered. As the technology improves and the demand increases, the fetal heart monitor is more practical, portable and affordable. Today, the fetal heart monitor is not just only for doctors and health providers so it doesn’t matter even if you are on a budget because you may be able to afford the bliss and pleasure of hearing your baby’s heartbeat anywhere you are and whenever you want by the use of this high-tech fetal heart monitor.
As a common knowledge, fetal monitors are device used by health care providers to hear the baby heart rate at the prenatal check up of an expectant mother. The fetal monitors can give parents with peace of mind as early as eight weeks of pregnancy, not only when they go to their gynecologist or their health care provider because nowadays the fetal monitors come in handy especially designed for those parents who are experiencing complications with their pregnancy. This is also a helpful tool for measuring the fetal well being and also valuable in assessing labor progress. The process by which it is done electronically is called fetal monitoring. The electronic fetal monitor is used to detect and trace the fetal heart rate and uterine contractions. These are typically observed at the similar time however, each one can be obtained individually by using a particular instrument called electronic fetal monitor. The procedure can be done outside the body which is called external fetal monitoring or in the uterus which is called internal fetal monitoring. The electronic fetal monitoring procedure is the most logical procedure performed in the hospitals today. Regardless of its disadvantages, especially when continuous electronic fetal monitoring was done, yet, it is the most recommended practice. The electronic fetal monitoring protocol limits your mobility at some point, however, if you are able, sitting up in a chair or on the side of the bed with your legs supported are options of staying restrained to the bed. The electronic fetal monitoring is generally executed to identify and avoid disabilities that the mother and the child often encounter during child bearing and delivery. With the most recent development through serious research, such conditions, like hypoxia, cord compressions, and intrinsic fetal disease are being minimized. With a brief review of history, the stethoscope was invented in 1810 and this instrument aid the physicians and general practitioners in hearing the fetal heart beat. On the other hand, this instrument could not reveal delicate changes or provide constant surveillance. These shortcomings were overcome in 1968 with the development of electronic fetal monitoring. The physician-inventor of the electronic fetal heart monitors, Dr. Edward H. Hon, documented numerous problems which the physician and nurses often come across during fetal monitoring and child delivery. Some of these problems are placental disease, cord compression, intrinsic fetal and maternal disease, drugs administered for analgesia and anesthesia and maternal hypotension from the supine position. The electronic fetal monitoring is primarily applicable for the determination of fetal well being and the early detection of fetal distress. During the process, the heartbeat is continuously being recorded and sometimes inadequate fetal oxygenation often identified as the cause of morbidity or mortality. Designed for high risk pregnancies, the electronic fetal monitoring is also applied in the majority of normal pregnancies. There are different types of electronic fetal monitoring. These are the external fetal monitoring and the internal fetal monitoring. The external fetal monitoring is a type of electronic fetal monitoring which is essentially done through the skin and the procedure is non invasive. This is done while the patient is sitting with knees and back partially elevated with a cushion under the right hip and this will make the uterus move to the left. The patient can also sit in other comfortable positions, as long as her uterus is shifted to the left. The sensitive electrodes are placed on the abdomen over a conducting jelly. Sound waves are then reflected to the belly back to the instrument which then senses both fetal heart rate and the strength and extent of uterine contractions. Normally, the results of this test are stable and are printed out or sometimes appear on a computer screen. This external electronic fetal monitoring permits the physician to check if the baby is experiencing fetal distress. The decision to try another procedure such as the internal electronic fetal monitoring is based on the information first achieved from external electronic fetal monitoring. The NST (non-stress test) is another alternative method of external electronic fetal monitoring. This is effective in measuring the fetal heart rate accelerations of the baby for as early as the first month of the third trimester of pregnancy. The same technique as external electronic fetal monitoring is applied during this test. If there is no activity after 30-40 minutes, the pregnant person will be given something to drink or a small meal which may stimulate fetal activity. Other interventions that might encourage fetal movement include the use of fetal acoustic stimulation (sending sounds to the fetus) and gently placing your hands on your abdomen and moving the fetus. The CST (contraction stress test) is the final method of external electronic fetal monitoring. This test measures the ability of the placenta to provide enough oxygen to the fetus while under contractions. The same technique and monitors are placed on the abdomen to measure fetal heart rate and uterine contractions. If contractions do not occur spontaneously, either a drug called oxytocin will be given intravenously, or nipple stimulation will be used to induce contractions.
The internal electronic fetal monitoring has something to do with placing an electrode directly on the fetal scalp through the cervix. The physician or health care provider may use this method in monitoring the baby well being if external electronic fetal monitoring is not working well or the information is suspicious. A vaginal examination will be performed, and the electrode will be introduced with its plastic sheath into the vaginal canal. This plastic guide is moved through the cervix and placed on the fetus scalp, then removed. The electrodes wire is strapped to your thigh, and attached to the monitor.
The electronic fetal monitoring is performed to evaluate fetal heart rate and variability between beats, especially in relation to uterine contractions. The electronic fetal monitoring tests also indicate the frequency and strength of uterine contractions. Continuous electronic fetal heart monitoring has the risk of indicating distress when your baby is actually healthy, causing an unnecessary cesarean delivery, especially in low-risk pregnancies. On unusual occasions, generally as the consequence of technical problems, the monitor will tell that your baby is normal when it is actually in distress. Infection and fetal scalp bruising are noted as slight risks when performing internal electronic fetal monitoring. However there are no risks identified upon application of external electronic fetal monitoring. Health providers and general practitioners conduct a research regarding the scientific application of the electronic fetal monitoring and they come up with comprehensive information essential in the practice and application of electronic fetal monitoring. Numerous patient feedbacks and experiences were also noted in conducting the scientific research about electronic fetal monitoring. Today, the latest findings about electronic fetal monitoring were published with a common goal to educate and disseminate information regarding electronic fetal monitoring. According to the latest findings of present authors, the electronic fetal monitoring is the most obstetrical procedure performed today in the United States, with 3.2 million or 85 percent of live births related with intra partum monitoring. In May 2000, the FDA provisionally approved the OxiFirst Fetal Oxygen Saturation Monitoring System as an accessory to electronic fetal monitoring based on early data from Garite and colleagues. Their study that was published in the December 2000 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows that the application of fetal oximetry was interrelated with a decrease in rate of cesarean delivery for non reassuring fetal heart rate. The primary goal of fetal oximetry was to tackle an increasing cesarean delivery rate of roughly 30 percent in 2004. Steven L. Bloom, MD, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Maternal and Fetal Medicine Units Network stated that knowledge of fetal oxygen saturation, as an accessory to electronic fetal monitoring may be associated with a considerable change in the rate of cesarean deliveries or the infants condition at birth. Despite its widespread use, there is controversy about the interpretation and efficacy of electronic fetal monitoring. |
