Electronic Fetal Monitoring Essay

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Electronic Fetal Monitoring

Technology has had a very prominent influence on electronic fetal monitoring since its appearance in the 1960’s and 1970’s. For many years, fetal monitoring was simply done by listening to a fetal heartbeat through a stethoscope. Dramatic changes in the heartbeat, such as a long period or a drop in the rate or intensity, could be detected,. Now, not only is the electronic fetal monitor used on the outside of the womb by strapping electrodes to the mother’s abdomen but electrodes can also be inserted during the first stage of labor and placed directly on the baby’s head. With advanced technologies such as this the acidity of the infant’s blood as well as the heart rate can be measured.

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It is currently the best way of making sure that an unborn baby is doing well during labor.” Not only does the electronic fetal monitor keep a paper record of the baby’s heart rate, it also records uterine contractions to see how well the baby is handling the stress of contractions. Fetal monitoring is used in many cases of birth; premature, Cesarean sections, when the mother is anesthetized with general anesthesia, or when a spinal anesthetic is used.

Between five to ten percent of all infants are born more than two weeks before their due date due to several factors that include infections, illness, poor nutrition, or complications during the pregnancy. Fetal monitors are used in the cases of C-sections because there is a much higher risk of detecting the infant’s distress and therefore can go in more quickly to remove the baby from the uterus. When the mother is under general anesthesia, which is rare in the United States, the mother is not aware of any kind of pain or even the birth of her child. When the mother has spinal anesthesia she has no feeling from the waist down. Sometimes, the best indication that the baby is in distress is the mother- an unfamiliar pain occurs or something else could be a sign of problems. Thus the reason fetal monitoring is important in the case of

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