Listening to the baby’s heart rate during labor and birth tells the doctors or midwives how your baby is tolerating the normal changes in blood flow that occur with contractions this process is called Foetal Monitoring.
What are the Different Types of Foetal Monitoring Pinetown?
- AUSCULTATION FOETAL MONITORING
Auscultation is a method of periodically listening to the foetal heartbeat.
- How is auscultation performed?
Auscultation is done with either a special stethoscope or a device called a Doppler transducer. When the transducer is pressed against your abdomen, you can hear your foetus’s heartbeat.
When auscultation is used, your obstetrician or other health care professional will check the heart rate of the baby at set times during labor. If you have risk factors for problems during labor or if problems appear during labor, the foetal heart rate will be checked and recorded more frequently.
- ELECTRONIC FOETAL MONITORING.
This is a procedure in which instruments are used to continuously record the heartbeat of the foetus and the contractions of the woman’s uterus during labor.
- How is electronic foetal monitoring performed?
Electronic foetal monitoring uses special equipment to measure the response of the baby’s heart rate to contractions of the uterus. It provides an ongoing record that can be read. Your obstetrician or other health care professional will review the electronic recording of the foetus’s heartbeat at set times. The tracing may be reviewed more frequently if problems arise.
Electronic foetal monitoring can be external, internal, or both. You may need to stay in bed during both types of electronic monitoring, but you can move around and find a comfortable position.
- EXTERNAL FOETAL HEART RATE MONITORING.
This type uses a device to listen to or record the foetal heartbeat through the mother’s abdomen. A fetoscope (a type of stethoscope) is the most basic type of external monitor.
- How is external monitoring performed?
With this method, a pair of belts is wrapped around your abdomen. One belt uses Doppler to detect the foetal heart rate. The other belt measures the length of contractions and the time between them.
- INTERNAL FOETAL MONITORING.
involves placing an electrode directly on the foetal scalp through the cervix. This test is performed to evaluate foetal heart rate and variability between beats, especially in relation to the uterine contractions of labor.
How is internal monitoring performed?
With this method, a wire called an electrode is used. It is placed on the part of the foetus closest to the cervix, usually the scalp. This device records the heart rate. Uterine contractions also may be monitored with a special tube called an intrauterine pressure catheter that is inserted through the vagina into your uterus. Internal monitoring can be used only after the membranes of the amniotic sac have ruptured after your water breaks.
Dr Sunkaran a trained specialist in Foetal Monitoring Pinetown, who practices at the following establishments:
1) Life The Crompton Hospital
2) Life Westville hospital
3) Netcare St Augustines Hospital
4) Netcare Parklands Hospital
You can book an appointment with Dr Sukaran here.