NST's

we are gonna start our weekly NST'S next appointment. Just wondering what i should expect I only had to have a non stress test with my son because of high blood pressure. So with this pregnancy obviously its gonna be a little different. How long should i excpect to be monitored etc. Thanks!!

 

They are a bit challenging when the babies are still so small. Therefore, the nurse will probably have to stay close by because once the babies are "on" they will be kicking it off or moving lol. Honestly, my longest one (and I started at 26weeks) was about 1hour, with the nurse staying close by, as well as us adjusting it too. Also, they will recommend bringing water and/or juice(or may provide it as well!) in case the babies are not moving as much to get the accelerations they want. Overall, I found it to be a pretty relaxing time. Good luck!

 

I started mine at 24 weeks and had them twice a week because of PTL and like the PP said it's hard when the babies are so small. My longest one was about an hr long and the nurses always had to be close by to chase William around.

 

Mine were usually around 15 - 30 minutes, but I also had one that took just over an hour. I agree with bringing some juice - I always had some orange juice just before an NST. That seemed to get them going.

 

it really depends I had one twin that always passed in 20 minutes, twin A who is a calm one now took sometimes a couple hours! But she was low and behind B, but every week you will get better at helping the nurse find their heart beats and keeping the monitor on them!

 

This is so true about knowing where they are for heartbeats. My guys always seemed to "hang out" in the same area. Nathaniel was always low and right beside my pelvic bone, pretty much along the bikini line, on my left side and William was usually in in my rib cage right beside my sternum

 

i will have to keep that in mind

 

They did them once in office and deemed them too hard to monitor my girls that way after about an hour after that I had twice weekly u/s

 

I just had my first one today. Blek.
(I have had a couple others with other pregnancies (in a different location)- this was my first twin one.)

It took forever and two tries!

I have a mellow baby b.

But finally, they were able to get what they needed.
The nurse had to stay right with me the whole time. Baby A kept kicking off her monitor.

It took forever because they had to do each one individually and then do it again.

I live in a very rural location and nothing is really "high tech." They didn't have a comfortable chair. I had to recline on one of those examining tables. Ugh. I felt so sick.

I am exhausted.

This is totally my experience and I KNOW a lot of it has to do with where I live- so I do not say this to worry anyone.

Rebecca

 

I had so many of them and they always took at least an hour I learned to take my own pillow with me because they always had me lay back on the exam table with their flat pillow and it made me feel so bad like I was going to puke or pass out or both so I took a big firm pillow and that helped tremendously.

 

Just curious, is this standard procedure where you ladies are from, or was there a reason you had them? (other than twin pregnancy) I never had one, only had 2 ultrasounds (not including the one during labor to determine position),and my doc pretty much treated my twin pregnancy like my singles.

 

yeah according to everything i have researched it is normal procedure to do NST's and with twins for my doctor they also do high tech sonos once a month at our imaging center but they also do a little sono at each visit too.

 

I think it depends on a few variables - some of it simply having to do with regional practice. In my case, I was having twice weekly NSTs (at home - they have a nursing program in my city that provides this) because I was on bedrest for PTL & because there was some concern that my girls were developing TTTS (they shared a placenta).

 

I had an ultrasound at every visit starting at 5 weeks. at my 28 week visit it was found that Addison had not grown in 2 weeks and her fluid level was low and she was lethargic ( they had to wake her with the buzzer) I do not know if that is why they did the NSTs or if they would have anyway. I think it was probably a huge factor because they wanted to see how she reacted to the stress of contractions - they threatened to take them at each visit after that. After 28 weeks I was seen 2 times a week. And had an NST at least once a week unless I reported a high number of contractions at the 2nd visit. And a quick ultrasound at both visits. They did BPP ultrasounds every 10 days. Up until 28 weeks my girls had been very very close in size and fluid levels were great. That 28 week visit still sends chills down my spine. Addison's fluid level never improved but didn't get worse. I always wonder if it was just position because the poor girl was always being attacked by Ava she probably had to stay in a dark corner to hide LOL!! We were sure she would come out with a foot print on her little head and funny thing is that is how they are to this day. Addison is my laid back go with the flow girl and Ava is my there is NO flow battle cat girl LOL!!,