Sensitive to Doppler, how will we monitor?

[JamieCatheryn]

If my midwife uses a Doppler at our prenatals the baby's heartrate goes up from it's normal 130-140 bpm to like 170 and the kid starts thrashing about, so for the past few months if we remember she uses the pinard horn instead. There's no way I'm laying down every so often in heavy labor so she can use that, or leaving the tub if I'm laboring in water. But the Doppler won't give us a real reading of the heartrate since it effects baby so much. I'm not sure what to do. Maybe we'll get lucky and labor will go so fast we'll only have the midwife show up at the very end or after, no chance to monitor and baby will be fine without checking. Or maybe I'll want to be laying on my side and she can reach to listen with the horn easily. But I just don't know. I sure am glad I'm not stuck with a constant monitoring belt, though I wouldn't let them pull that on me even in the hospital with my first. With this child something like that would CAUSE distress.

[cristeen]

Does she not have a fetascope? If *she* doesn't, I'd recommend you get one yourself. You should not have to lay down/still for a fetascope, although you will have to be quiet.

[treehugginhippie]

I got a fetascope on Ebay for like $15 including shipping! Works great!