cannot find heart beat with stethascope

[junglefamily]

how do you spell stethascope? anyway, i can't find the baby's heart beat with one, and no one else (family/friends) can find it. Is that normal? Do those 30$ dopplers work better? should i get one?

is it totally horrible if i can never find the baby's postion before going into labor? (i'm 34 weeks--have time).

recently i have to pee like literally every 10 minutes. does that mean anything? i don't know where the bladder is...?

[lanielayne]

I had a hard time with one of my pregnancies. Fetoscopes seem to work better than stethoscopes IMO. I think her placenta may have been anterior which may be your issue as well. Having to go to the bathroom a lot is also common towards the end with the amount of weight you have resting on your bladder.

[onlyboys]

For me, the stethoscope had to be directly on the baby's back and it had to be SILENT in the room to hear it. Even then, it was very faint and light and peaceful. Not at all like a doppler sound. HTH!

[itsrtimedownhere]

i did the leopold maneuver on myself and found the back. when i showed him, my husband was able to hear the heartbeat at 21 weeks with a stethoscope.

try it out!

[caedmyn]

As long as baby's moving fine, I wouldn't worry about it--it's such a soft noise anyway that I think you're probably just missing it because you're expecting something louder. At my 32 week visit my midwife (not a UC'er here) found the heartbeat with a fetoscope, and I could hear it okay too, but at my 30 week visit she found it and I couldn't hear it at all. By around 36 weeks your DH can probably hear the heartbeat by putting his head on your stomach where the baby's back is.

As for checking positioning, do you ever feel hiccups? If you do that's where the baby's upper back/head is. And the spinningbabies website can help you figure out the position. You can also try poking around a bit if you have BH contractions as your uterus tightens around the baby and (at least for me) I can feel the butt and back quite clearly on one side when I have a BH, and occasionally I feel a little bit of hardness on the opposite side where the legs & feet are (I'm 33.5 weeks).

[cottonwood]

Are you peeing a lot? Or just a little bit? If it's a lot, maybe you're drinking more water than you absolutely need to. If it's small amounts, you may have a UTI. The only time I've felt the urge to go so often (when there doesn't seem to be enough in there to justify that urge) was when I had an infection. Well, an in late labor when then the baby was pressing on my bladder.

[flapjack]

I found I pee more when my babies are breech : The head engaging was always a relief.

[junglefamily]

my peeing has subsided. i did drink more (water) than usual yesterday--went out for decaf with a friend and talked and talked and drank and drank water. about the hickups, i posted about that a few weeks ago, and said i felt them down low on my left side. but 2 people said that they can be felt there even if the baby is breech.......but i feel it really, really low down there. also,when is the head suppose to engage again? at the earliest?

[TzippityDoulah]

the head can engage pretty early in some moms... sometimes in the 8th months... sometimes not tilin labour. it totally depends. one of mine never engaged and one in the end of the 8th month - I knew it b/c it felt like the bab's head was about to fall out of me and i had to walk with my legs slightly apart. some peole just say it feel heavier in the lower uterus and lighter in the upper... I guess it's different for everyone. also different b/c it could be at different stations too.

so maybe I'm making you more confused by my answer lol

[SevenVeils]

Please take this in the very gentle way that it is meant...

If you don't know where your bladder is, or why you have to pee more now, are you sure that UC is your best choice?

I mean, I've had two UCs, but I educated myself as much as I could (besides the fact that I used to be an apprentice/assistant midwife).

I just don't feel that UC should be entered into lightly, that is a very dangerous course of action.

[junglefamily]

hum, well, thanks that really didn't help much even if it is was meant to be gentle. i assume you knew it would sting, but what does it matter. My last birth was a UC, my BA is in the anthropology of childbirth and i had a CPM as an outside evaluator. i've been studying birth for years now...i'm no EXPERT, but i didn't know you had to be to have a baby...?! isn't that the point? I certainly didn't mean for my question to come off as STUPID...what i was trying to say was...if you have to pee really, really often, not just often could it be some clue as to where the baby is.....

[junglefamily]

wow! thanks guys, i'll be sure not to post here again.

[MamaWindmill]

You have a BA in anthro of childbirth? Wow, I've never heard of such a thing. Which university offers a BA in the anthropology of childbirth? I'm an anthro major myself.

[junglefamily]

marlboro college in vermont. the majors are self designed.

[MamaWindmill]

That sounds cool! How are you feeling?

[MamaWindmill]

Oh, and have you heard of the spinning babies site? It's supposed to help you determine the position of your baby. For what it's worth, I never could find the HB with a steth - I got a used baby sounds monitor thing on eBay and used that.

[junglefamily]

thanks--yeah, i'm looking at that site right now

[claddaghmom]

I was really looking forward to finding my babe's heartbeat and listening at home...you know, all that sentimental, reassuring stuff...

But no matter what I did, I couldn't get a good heartbeat. And then we went to an U/S and there it was, strong and obvious.

Maybe I'm just doomed to not be competent enough to figure it out....I also think stethoscopes might not be strong enough, especially the cheapies.

[majikfaerie]

I'm a lay MW and I can't always hear a heartbeat with a stethoscope. I've also found that when a stethoscope doesn't pick up the heartbeat, a pinard horn will. - you can fashion a make-shift pinard horn from an old toilet roll. take the cardboard roll, hold one end firmly to your ear (well, not *your* ear - you need an assistant, unless you're VERY flexible ) and press the other firmly into the abdomen, approximately where you suspect the baby;s back to be. usually low down. press as firmly as you need to get a good seal around your ear and the belly, and try a few spots on the belly if you don't hear it first time. believe it or not, I've had great success with this

that said, I really wouldn't worry about it at all. if you can feel the baby move, then it's fine. during labour, plenty of people who UC (and even MWs) don't check FHTs. sure, a doppler would give you a better sound, but do you really want to expose your baby to the radiation? anyways, you can buy a proper fetascope very cheaply off amazon. they look like a regular stethoscope only the attachment is a little different. search for "fetascope" or "fetal stethoscope"

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by majikfaerie

I'm a lay MW and I can't always hear a heartbeat with a stethoscope. I've also found that when a stethoscope doesn't pick up the heartbeat, a pinard horn will. - you can fashion a make-shift pinard horn from an old toilet roll. take the cardboard roll, hold one end firmly to your ear (well, not *your* ear - you need an assistant, unless you're VERY flexible ) and press the other firmly into the abdomen, approximately where you suspect the baby;s back to be. usually low down. press as firmly as you need to get a good seal around your ear and the belly, and try a few spots on the belly if you don't hear it first time. believe it or not, I've had great success with this

that said, I really wouldn't worry about it at all. if you can feel the baby move, then it's fine. during labour, plenty of people who UC (and even MWs) don't check FHTs. sure, a doppler would give you a better sound, but do you really want to expose your baby to the radiation? anyways, you can buy a proper fetascope very cheaply off amazon. they look like a regular stethoscope only the attachment is a little different. search for "fetascope" or "fetal stethoscope"

For real? Hahaha!