So, this is my fifth pregnancy. With three live births and one early m/c but I have never had a non-stress test. My O.B. told me I will be with this pregnancy. I was just wondering.............. [SIZE=18pt]WHAT THE HECK TO EXPECT????[/SIZE] How many do you have? What week do they start doing them? What do they entail? What have been your experiences with them? TIA!
I think I started having them weekly at 30 weeks. Here's something I found on the internet that kind of explains it (for a singleton, but it applies to twins as well)... Edited to add- my NST's were pretty boring... if they don't supply good magazines, bring one of your own!
The article Jenn linked explains what a NST is well. I also started having them at 30 weeks. Mine were all fine, except once, Jake was not as active as they would have liked to have seen, and I ended up going up for an u/s to be sure everything was ok. By the time I got up there he had woken up and was moving like crazy! It's a good way to measure the babies well-being(heart accelerations/decelerations/movements) and also to monitor any contractions you might be having. The biggest thing I remember is how uncomfortable it was to lay in a position that they could monitor both babies at that stage of pregnancy, especially when they kept jumping off the monitors! BTW...I love your ticker saying, "We've filled the van"...I have said that before on numerous occasions! :lol:
Thanks for the information ladies! Sounds pretty BORING!!!!!! Here I was thinking I was going to be put on a treadmill to walk for thirty minutes after they make me "fill my bladder" just so they can laugh when I pee my pants. :laughing:
QUOTE(MommaJ @ Jan 15 2009, 05:01 PM) [snapback]1148372[/snapback] Thanks for the information ladies! Sounds pretty BORING!!!!!! Here I was thinking I was going to be put on a treadmill to walk for thirty minutes after they make me "fill my bladder" just so they can laugh when I pee my pants. :laughing: Funny! But yeah, boring is pretty much it. Take something good to read!
Definetly boring, I had high bp with my son and had several nst's! I couldn't read tho because they did give me the button to push every time he moved, which was just enough to be annoying!
I had pregnancy induced hypertension with my first so I got to do a lot of NST for both of my prior babies. They were so so boring. I had to click a button each time the baby kicked and I couldn't leave until they saw a certain level of activity. Neither of my kids was particularly cooperative, probably because they tended to kick all night and sleep all day. :lol: One thing I learned was to eat something sugary or drink some OJ right before the test. It seemed to help get me out a bit faster.
I had one with my first when she was 6 days late (to see whether she was still doing good), and I had 2 with the twins at 36 and 37 weeks. Mine were very quick but for some it takes a wihle depending on cooperation.
I had 3/day for the last 51 days of my pregnancy so that makes a total of 153 for me. Mine started at 26w5d and then I spent most of the time helping the nurse hold the monitors on as my girls were still very small and hard to catch. By 30 weeks, they were bigger and easier to place the monitor on and let it go. I would nap or watch TV, but I was in a hospital room. Most of the time, the nurse would stay in the room and we would chat, but I had gotten to know all of them pretty well. Definitely pack a book or magazine and I'd suggest some OJ and chocolate. If my girls were ever "sleeping" and not preforming as the medical team would like, I would drink some juice or eat a handful of m&ms to wake them up and get them going. Just so you know, what they're looking for is variation and accelerations. Don't fret about small downward spikes that quickly jump back up. The things that will cause them to look further are "running flat" (staying at about the same hr with no peaks or valleys on the print out) or bell-shaped decellerations that drop below 100 bpm. Good luck!
You've gotten some great answers already! We started ours around 32 weeks. Basically I sat in a comfy chair and they wrap a belt around your belly with two pads to monitor the babies. They will feel around to get a read on where the babies are. These pads monitor the babies movements and register their movements and how strong they are. If movements are not strong enough to register then they will do an u/s and look for movements that way, we had to have that done because baby A's movements were not strong enough. We started off 2x per week and eventually moved to 3x a week around 36 weeks. Good luck!
