Fetal heart rate drop???

[sunshine's mama]

Hi there.

Since MY mw hasn't called me back all day.......: I thought I would come here and ask bc I really don't want to go to the hospital for a NST.....

Here's a link to what's going on....posted in I'm pregnant...

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=726835

After much searching through the boxes, I found the doppler a friend gave me to use bc my first dd moved so infrequently that I didn't want to freak out as much this time. This baby however has been soooooooo active, all the time........crazy active...

Anyhoo.....the whole pregnancy (I'll be 37wk in 3 days) her heart-rate has been btwn 152 and 155 at every visit I've had with the MW....last Thursday it was 155.

Today, after the whole sleeping on my back sunday night for many hours (i got mad at my snoogle pillow and tossed it out of bed...) and yesterday, baby girl hasn't moved alot....here and there...a poke here, a poke there, not at all interested in playing toe tag like normal.....

Her HR on the doppler (it's a nice medical grade one) was in the mid-120s....

Like I said, she's normally a super duper active baby and now she's just lazy lazy lazy....I am alot smaller than I was with dd at this week of pregnancy and am ALL baby..literally....she stretches a foot out and my belly looks like a football....

Is this something that should cause some concern????

I have an appt with a MW (not my normal one) tomorrow afternoon so I will ask her then....still irked mine hasn't called me back.....: I am currently almost 3cm and 80% as of last thursday....

I DO KNOW that around this time the movements are less and less pronounced bc of the running out of space, I jsut thought it was a more gradual feeling and not a seemingly overnight thing (the issues started yesterday with the alot alot less movement than normal)....

I did do some kick counts and got 4 in 2 hours......even after drinking OJ the first time and the second time eating a rice krispie treat...

Thanks so much.....

[applejuice]

It has been my experience and understanding that a baby slows down its movements toward the end of pregnancy and the FHT slow down as well because the baby's system is maturing and getting ready for its extra-uterine life. 120 bpm is a bit low, though.

Good luck, mom!

[sunshine's mama]

thanks mama!

i just didn't think that the slowed movements happened suddenly overnight....

i just wish my MW would call me back....the practice's phones shut off at 4pm even though they are still there tonight until 7 so maybe they just have an hour or so where they return calls...hoping hoping.....

the 120s just seem really low to me after it being in the 150s the whole pregnancy....dd #1 her's stayed in the 150s until I started pushing.....unless there was a contraction and it dipped a bit but not this low....

as much as i don't wish to visit LD to be hooked up to something, if i don't hear from my MW i may just so i can sleep tonight.....


.........wanted to add that I normally have a ton of BH's throughout the day.....no matter what I do or how much I drink.....and the past 2 days I have only had a few.....total.....

[applejuice]

Is this your first baby?

[sunshine's mama]

No. I have a 3yo dd....

She was a lazy mover my entire pregnancy.....and her heart rate stayed steady at 154 the entire pregnancy...it lowered a bit when I was pushing and had strong ctx but that was the only time. I delivered her a few days shy of 42wks after walking around at 5cm 90%ish for a month.....I was used to her never moving much and since that was her pattern, it never worried me....nor my MW...

But this pregnancy, once this baby started moving, she never stops.....

MW hasnt' returned my 2 calls yet and Dh is stuck in traffic behind a huge pileup on the freeway.......so here I sit and wait for one of them.....

[Jane]

A rate between 120-160's is normal. However, your mommy intution is not something to ignore. And babies shouldn't just stop moving. Page the midwife if you're still waiting - this is a "pagable offence".

[chlobo]

Just wondering what you decided to do?

[sunshine's mama]

I waited bc I fell asleep...ugh....I think I updated in I'm pregnant but didn't here...oops...

I went to my appt the next day (was able to move it up) and my MW suggested another "formal" count, "go get something ICY and SWEET" and then if I didn't get the # she was looking for to head to LD for a NST..She was on call that night just in case....

She didn't seem super concerned bc the heart rate went back up to where it's been the entire time and I am measuring well and she checked me just in case (almost 4cm and 80-90% as of last thursday at 36w5d) and I came home after getting a nice vanilla shake...YUM....

I got a kick short of the min she was looking for so we went off to LD.....intent on turning around if she started boppin around....

I signed in, got hooked up and even though she still didn't move around a whole lot and I had a few ctx that registered well on the monitor I was deemed ok bc her heart was ok and the quickie scan they did revealed that she wasn't wrapped in her cord or anything (nice to get a quickie 3d pic of her all squished up) so it made me feel better...it was a nice plus that the RN on duty at the time I was there was an old friend of mine I hadn't seen in YEARS.....

She moved a bit more later that evening and then has been pretty ok (although not as active) since then so I am not too worried about it anymore....The MW said that she's just plumb completly out of room......and prolly just got super duper comfy and was sleeping......

So, that's where I am....

She's moving a bit more, lots of hiccups butting her head against my cervix, 4cm and 80-90%.....

Sorry I forgot to update and left ppl hanging...

[blissful_maia]

While I think that your intuition is completely valid and important and deserving of follow-up, there is nothing concerning about that FHR drop. Any rate between 110-160 is healthy for a baby, and the same baby can have a heart rate on either side of this range depending on a number of factors: if the baby is sleeping, his/her neurological maturity and size, activity level... I wouldn't really consider an NST unless there was reduced fetal movements, which it doesn't sound like there was.

Good luck!

[sunshine's mama]

Originally Posted by blissful_maia

While I think that your intuition is completely valid and important and deserving of follow-up, there is nothing concerning about that FHR drop. Any rate between 110-160 is healthy for a baby, and the same baby can have a heart rate on either side of this range depending on a number of factors: if the baby is sleeping, his/her neurological maturity and size, activity level... I wouldn't really consider an NST unless there was reduced fetal movements, which it doesn't sound like there was.

Good luck!

There was a rapid decrease in movement (in the linked thread in my post...just didn't feel like typing it twice and it wasn't letting me copy and paste the whole thing for some reason)...

She went from being crazy crazy active to barely moving.....

Shes back to moving now....not all crazy crazy but more than she was those 2 days....

Which is why I decided on the NST....

[blissful_maia]

Oh okay, sorry, I didn't read the other thread. Glad you followed up on your intuition!