Question about fetal monitoring

492 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by doctorjen, Jun 3, 2005

Satori

Discussion Starter · Jun 1, 2005

I was on CFM when I had dd while they were trying to induce and I was wondering something, how high do the numbers on the monitors go? I'm not sure how to explain it, but I know I was going to up 100 on the monitor screen thingy. How high does it go? Is 100 even considered a good contraction? I remember feeling my stomach literally form a tall triangle which was really weird and creepy but I never felt any pain and I was not on any pain relief. Anyway I ended up with a c/s after failed induction times 3 over 3 days (Duh! Pit and Mag cancel each other out!

: )

edited to add: i'm talking about the strength of the contrax not dd's heart rate.

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pamamidwife

· #2 · Jun 1, 2005

it can be adjusted to read anything.

really, it can be turned up so it's more sensitive and read a higher number, or it can be turned down so that even a transition-type contraction peaks at only 40.

it's not really the number that the contraction gets to that is important - its' whether or not they're strong enough, frequent enough, and long enough to change the cervix.

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mightymoo

· #3 · Jun 1, 2005

The tightness of the belt will affect it too - if you really tighten the belt, but I assume don't adjust the monitor itself to a lower setting then everything would be on the upper range. My understanding is the point of the contraction monitor is not so much to measure the strength of contractions, but to see when they happen so you can correspondingly monitor the babies heartrate at the same time.

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doctorjen

· #4 · Jun 3, 2005

An external contraction monitor does not measure the strength of contractions. As mightymoo said, it tells when a contraction is happening. The external monitor can't accurately tell a strong contraction from a less strong one. Also, depending on the shape of the woman's abdomen, sometimes they won't pick up well at all, and sometimes even little mild contractions will show up large.
An internal contraction monitor can accurately measure pressure, if it is placed correctly. Generally, adequate contractions are considered to be 50 mm or more. It is rarely necessary to know exactly how strong a contraction is.

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