Feb
13
2019
Fetal Monitoring: Birth without Violence
French obstetrician Frédérick Leboyer promoted the importance of birth without violence.
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French obstetrician Frédérick Leboyer promoted the importance of birth without violence.
Amnioinfusion, fetal scalp electrodes, intrauterine pressure catheters: tools for intervention in labor & delivery.
Prolonged decelerations make all labor & delivery caregivers anxious.
Late fetal heart decelerations concern nurses, midwives and doctors alike, especially if they occur frequently and if they are “deep.”
The umbilical cord is the baby’s life line, so prolonged cord compression is problematic …
Early decelerations are common; they generally indicate head compression.
Increased variability or variance in fetal heart rate may signal fetal distress. I discuss it here.
Labor & delivery caregivers would interpret the fetal heart rate in this strip as minimally variable. See what that means and what to do about it.
Normal fetal heart rate is 110 to 160 with variance (called variability in caregiver terms) of 6 to 25 beats per minute from baseline.
Deviations in fetal heart rate may signal fetal stress or fetal distress, which is the central reason nurses, midwives and doctors use fetal monitoring during labor and delivery.
When uterine contractions are too intense and too frequent, fetal distress may occur.
You’ll remember in Uterine Contractions Part One I discussed contraction intensity. When labor is not progressing satisfactorily …