Hello everyone. I am 29.5 weeks along with a pretty uneventful pregnancy. I haven't had one of these tests and I am not sure if I should. I have been reading about women getting an NST. If I am not mistaken this stands for Non Stress Test, is that right? Here are my questions about the test: 1. Should you only get them if you are experiencing contractions? 2. What does the test actually involve? 3. Should I ask my doctor about having one? Those are all of the questions that I can think of right now. Besides the occasional BH contraction, I usually feel pretty good. I have noticed that depending on how much I have exerted myself during the day is directly related to how many and how often I experience the BH, but that is normal, right? Thank you everyone! I just love this site- you all are so helpful and supportive!
During a NST they hook you up with two monitors to monitor heartbeats for the twins and one to monitor your contractions. THey are looking for the rise & fall (fast/slow) of the heartbeats and to see if you are experiencing regular contractions. Yes, non-stress test. I started having mine at 32 weeks when they thought my ds had low fluid.
My dr. started doing mine weekly at 32 weeks (protocol for him) which is what he told me from the beginning before that I never had any. They monitor each baby's heartrate and your contractions. They give you a button to press when you feel movement. They are looking for heartrate accelerations when the baby moves. I suggest drinking juice or eating a sugary snack prior, it will drastically reduce your time spent there!
I had an uneventful pregnancy also and started NSt's around 32 weeks. At your next appointment I would ask you doctor about them. If you do start them, as PP suggested, drink juice or something sugary to get those babies moving around. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.
I'm 31 weeks and I just started having them this week (twice a week). I am only having them because my mono/di twins are showing a large size difference and my peri wants to make sure they are not in immediate danger before we can do another growth scan next week. The NST are being combined with bio physical profile (BPP) u/s in order to evaluate their environment in the womb. Had this problem not presented itself, I would not be having the NST and BPP.
Ditto pps...no need to have them earlier unless there is a reason. They will generally start NSTs around 31/32 weeks.
My pregnancy has been pretty smooth too. My Dr has me doing NST twice a week. They do a little u/s to check positions and fluid levels, then strap on the monitors, one for each baby's heart beat, then one for contractions (which I don't have too many while I'm sitting there). It's probably slightly different from place to place, like I don't get a little button to press if I feel movement like the pp. It can get pretty boring so take a book or someone to talk to. With my Dr it sounds like it's pretty standard to have NST's for twins. I know my friend had them when she was having complications with her singleton.
My doctor is pretty conservative and as long as everything continues to be the same for me (same contractions I always get, no discharge, no dilation) then I won't start NST until 36 weeks.
I had a pretty uneventful pregnancy but my doctor had me go for an NST 2x week starting at 32 weeks and it went to 3x week at 36 weeks. I don't think I had a single contraction there but they want to make sure the babies are moving. Sophia was hard to detect, so I always wound up having to get an U/S afterward and during the U/S they would check for 2-3 movements, which Sophia did. I did not mind going, my nurse was really nice and friendly. Good luck during the rest of your pregnancy and good job Momma!
I should mention that I have a nurse that calls me every week for contraction counts and kick counts, which keeps me on track for actually dedicating time to doing them. I know they would have me go in for NST right now if I weren't doing those counts or if the counts deviated from my norm.
Thanks everyone! That really clears up what I was needing to know! I have an appt. on Monday (they are seeing me every 2 weeks now) and I will ask about them then. I will be just over 30 weeks at that point so they may wait again until the next appt.
