Patient's question:
My wife is pregnant, and she's expected to give birth in a few more months. I'd like to ask how to read the fetal heart rate monitor?Doctor's answer:
During fetal heart monitoring in the hospital, two probes are attached to the pregnant woman's body. One is placed at the top of the uterus, acting as a pressure sensor, primarily to determine if there are contractions and the intensity of those contractions. The other is placed on the chest or back of the fetus to measure the fetal heart rate. The fetal heart monitor calculates the number of heartbeats in each cardiac cycle and records them sequentially on a graph to display the baseline variation of the fetal heart rate. Within a certain range, changes in the fetal heart baseline indicate the establishment of central nervous system and autonomic nervous system regulation in the fetal heart, as well as the development of cardiac conduction function. The fetal heart has a certain reserve capacity.