When we hear the word pregnancy, the first thing that enters our mind is there is a new life growing inside the mothers womb. Along with this experience, the health of the mother and the baby is taken into special consideration. Most pregnant women go through a series of fetal monitors test during the entire period of their pregnancy. It is suggested to have fetal monitors at your convenience. Some women who suffer from certain health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, enclampsia, abnormal amniotic fluid or high risk pregnancy is suggested to go through different types of test like fetal monitoring by the use of fetal monitors. Also, the doctor might probably order the mother to undergo a fetal biophysical profile on the third trimester of her pregnancy. The doctor can evaluate whether the baby is healthy and developing normally by monitoring the heart rate, oxygen level, breathing movements, muscle tone and the amount of amniotic fluid. As a result, this will help determine whether the mother needs special treatment or whether the baby should be delivered earlier than planned.
The physician may also employ a fetal biophysical profile to monitor the pregnancy especially if the due date already came to pass and if the pregnancy continues for more than 42nd week. Some pregnant women who suffer from high risk pregnancies are suggested to have fetal biophysical profile at least every week or twice a week on the third trimester of their pregnancy. The assessment of fetal biophysical profile involves performing a fetal non stress test with electronic fetal monitoring and fetal ultrasound. These procedures are being applied to monitor the fetal heart rate when the baby moves. A fetal non stress test is done by placing two different belts around the stomach. One is attached to the fetal monitor that records the babys heart rate and movement and the other is for monitoring the uterus contractions. During the fetal biophysical profile, four factors are being determined such as breathing, fetal movement, level of amniotic fluid and fetal tone. Each of these factors is being recorded to know the normality and if a certain abnormalities on each of these factors, the physician may suggest the mother for some other fetal tests.
Among these factors are the fetal positions that limit the ultrasound measurements, inability to lie still throughout the entire procedure of fetal biophysical test, being overweight, when there is an infection in either you or the baby, low or high blood sugar levels, medications such as magnesium sulfate, alcohol, illegal drugs and in rare cases wherein stool or air in rectum interferes with the fetal ultrasound. Before the mother should have fetal biophysical profile test. She must need to know basic information and guidelines about the fetal biophysical profile test. She must need to know how the fetal biophysical profile test is being performed, the indications, the preparations and as well as the complications and contraindications of the fetal biophysical profile test. It is stated before that the main purpose of the fetal biophysical profile test is to assess fetal well being. The fetal biophysical profile is a test employed by clinicians to assess the potential risk of fetal compromise or demise due to fetal hypoxia or acidosis. When the result of the fetal biophysical profile test is below the normal level, follow up intervention and maternal hospitalization is needed. Moreover, the fetal biophysical profile test is done to determine the health of the baby if the mother has serious threats on her health such as hyperthyroidism, bleeding problems, lupus, chronic kidney disease, type 1 diabetes or gestational diabetes, hypertension, pre eclampsia, abnormal volume of amniotic fluid and multiple pregnancies. In preparation for the fetal biophysical test, the patient is told to do specific preparations. Normally, a full bladder is needed for the fetal biophysical test so the patient will be asked to drink water or other sort of liquids just before performing the fetal biophysical test. The patient is also advised to avoid urinating before or when the fetal biophysical test is ongoing. If the mother is smoking, she will be advised to stop smoking two hours before the fetal biophysical test because smoking decreases the activity of the baby. Commonly, an obstetrician is the one that performs the fetal biophysical profile. However, the fetal biophysical profile can also be done by an ultrasound technologists or radiologists. A fetal biophysical profile can be performed on the hospital and your doctors clinic. There are many factors that can affect the accuracy and efficiency of the fetal biophysical profile test.
The mother must also be aware of the precautions of performing fetal biophysical profile. In order to obtain a reliable and accurate score of fetal biophysical profile, make sure that a well trained and experienced ultrasonographer performs the fetal biophysical profile test. However, the complete fetal biophysical profile test can take more than an hour or two and therefore fetal biophysical profile test is time consuming. During the fetal biophysical profile test, a transducer is used to visualize the fetus and the amount of amniotic fluid. A gel or lotion is placed on the transducer and the mothers stomach for a more accurate test. A towel or cloth can be used to wipe off the excess gel or lotion on the abdomen when the fetal biophysical profile test is done. When it turned out that fetal biophysical profile test results indicates fetal compromise, the physician should remain at the side of her patient to provide emotional support and to answer questions as needed. Pregnant women need not worry about the complications of the fetal biophysical profile test. Since the fetal biophysical profile test is non invasive in nature, this test is safe and complications are unexpected. The collective experience with fetal biophysical profile as a method for ante partum fetal risk assessment is now widespread and every hospital nowadays are embracing it. There are organizations that conducted further clinical study regarding fetal biophysical profile over the advantages and effects to the patients being tested compared to those who dont. Therefore they conclude that mothers who have done fetal biophysical profile test has less incidents of having a child with cerebral palsy than from those who dont. Health providers often suggests that regular monitoring is an excellent way to discover problems long before they manifest but of course we must need to know that uncertain test results does not necessarily mean that your baby has a problem. You must seek the help of your health care providers regarding that matter and most definitely they can design the best possible care for you and your baby. |
