Please give a quick Recommendation - re: Fetal Heart Monitors

[Lizbiz]

Dear Birthing Professionals,

I am living in China and am planning an unassisted homebirth with my second baby (a girl!) in two months.

My husband and I would like to purchase a fetal heart monitor to assess the baby while I'm in labor.

Can you recommend your favorite brand(s) of heart monitor? Or even a specific model? We don't need it to function underwater, and it doesn't have to be the highest professional grade (in fact - we are hoping to purchase something in between the non-professional heart monitors you can buy at Babies R Us and the top professional grade monitors owned by midwives).

I'm receiving prenatal care here, and so far, everything looks great to proceed with a homebirth. We have great hospital back up if needed.

Thanks for any feedback you all can give! I wish one of you lived in China and could just come on over and assist me!

Warm regards,
Liz

[jljeppson]

I use a Nicolet and have been quite happy with it. I know you can get used ones online, which cuts down on the cost.

[MsBlack]

Ebay sells one called Sonotrax that several midwives I know are using. It's good, and it's cheap compared to many other professional grade (under $200). For your purposes it should be just fine.

[MamaRabbit]

You might be able to find a Sonotrax in China. I bought mine over here and it was imported from China.

So no longer planning to come to BKK to birth?

[Lizbiz]

Hi - The Sonotrax looks great - and yes, should serve our purposes very well. I'm sure it's made in China - but I'd bet it would be pretty tough to find here unless I had contacts in the medical supply black market (which surely exists!). The price is good.

Thank you all for responding - very helpful!

Warm wishes,
Liz

[Jane]

Ebay, ebay, ebay. You might consider one with a readout display of heartbeat. Otherwise you could beats for 6 seconds and multiply by 10. No biggie, but no fun if you're in labor.

[Xiaohua]

I bought one on TaoBao and the quality was fine. Depending on the features you want you can expect to pay 300 - 800 RMB. I can dig up the brand name if you want...

Serena

[Lizbiz]

Thanks Serena,

We were able to borrow one from a friend here, so we're all set.

~Liz