Fetal heart rate monitoring and frequent fetal movement hazards

Pregnant women will have fetal heart monitoring done at a certain period of time, because the baby often has some problems that the mother cannot feel. Fetal heart monitoring can observe the fetal heart rate very well, but the fetal movement will be frequent, which will bring certain harm and should be taken seriously. So what are the harms of frequent fetal movements during fetal heart monitoring?

Please don't be nervous. Reactive fetal heart monitoring is to continuously monitor the fetal heart rate for 20 minutes. There must be at least 3 fetal movements with a fetal heart rate acceleration greater than 15 times/minute, and the duration must be greater than 15 seconds. If the fetus is in a sleeping state, the monitoring time must be extended or the fetus must be awakened. Specifically, it is better to do fetal heart monitoring during the period of active fetal movement, so that the effect will be better.

When doing fetal heart monitoring, everyone should pay attention to the two lines. The upper line represents the fetal heart rate, and the lower line represents the intrauterine pressure. Under normal conditions, the fetal heart rate is a wavy straight line, and fluctuations between 120-160 are considered normal. If the baby's fetal heart rate fluctuations are within this range within 20 minutes of fetal heart monitoring, then there is no problem.

However, if the baby's fetal heart rate does not change, or does not move for a long time, then this is what we call unqualified fetal heart monitoring. At this time, the doctor will usually do another fetal heart monitoring for you one hour later, or arrange for you to do other examinations. If your doctor thinks your baby is not doing well, he or she may recommend inducing labor. In fact, you can also do fetal heart monitoring at home. You can go to a pharmacy or hospital to buy some related home devices and check it at home at any time to have a better idea of ​​the situation.

Abnormal fetal heart rate

The normal fetal heart rate is between 120 beats/minute and 160 beats/minute. If the fetal heart rate remains <120/minute or >160/minute for more than 10 minutes, it indicates that the fetal heart rate is abnormal.

During fetal heart monitoring, if an abnormality is found in the fetal heart graph, it is often used to indicate fetal heart abnormality. In most cases, abnormal fetal heart rate means that the fetus is suffering from hypoxia in the uterus. The more severe the abnormal fetal heart rate, the more severe the fetal hypoxia. However, not all abnormal fetal heart rate is caused by hypoxia.

In addition to the above situations, the condition of the pregnant woman herself also affects the changes in the fetal heart rate. For example, if the pregnant woman has a fever, the fetal heart rate will often exceed 160 beats/minute. If the pregnant woman has hyperthyroidism, her own heart rate is very fast, and the fetal heart rate will often exceed 160 beats/minute. If the pregnant woman takes certain medications, such as salbutamol taken during premature delivery to preserve the fetus, or atropine, it can cause the mother and child's heart rate to accelerate. In addition, in the case of umbilical cord entanglement, the entanglement may sometimes be aggravated due to fetal movement, and the fetal heart rate may continue to accelerate. This entanglement may be transient. If it occurs after 36 weeks, the fetus's position is relatively fixed and this entanglement can cause fetal distress or even death.

In addition, after more than 40 weeks of pregnancy, due to problems in the development of the fetal nervous system, the fetal heart rate may sometimes be lower than 120 beats/minute. Therefore, when there is an abnormal fetal heart rate, it is necessary to carefully analyze the situation, make correct judgments and deal with it. If fetal hypoxia does exist, delivery should be carried out as soon as possible.