We had our first non-stress test yesterday. It's a test to check fetal response and, thereby, placental function. Basically, they hook up a heartbeat monitor and a contraction monitor, and give the mother a button (like on Jeopardy!). When the mother feels the baby move, she's supposed to push the button. What they're looking for is for the baby's heart rate to accellerate with the activity and then settle back down to the resting rate. This is to make sure the baby is active and responsive.
The nurse told us that what they look for is a resting heart rate between 120 and 160, and the rate to go up 15-20 bpm upon activity. When she turned the monitor on, the peanut showed a lovely 140. It was actually a bit early in the day for him, as he seems to generally have his first dance party around 9:30 and our appointment was at 8:30. We did get a couple of good readings. He would shift around, the heart rate would climb to 160ish and then settle back down. The nurse told us that the data was a textbook example of a positive reading. She also showed us a tool they use to stimulate the baby if he's sluggish early in the morning. It was an electronic voicebox, such as is used for people with damaged larynxes. It basically makes a somewhat loud buzzing noise. She said they'll put it on the belly and that usually will wake a sleeping baby. However when she pushed the button and made it buzz, she was a good 3-4 feet away rom Nicole and the Peanut apparently did not like it. He squirmed quite a bit and the heartrate went up to 170! (which, incidentally, is the exact tempo that I associate with the clicking of train wheels on the track). So, that was entertaining.
All good so far!
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