Silly, But... What Exactly is an NST?

I know its a Non-Stress Test, But what exactly do they monitor? How long does it take? Tips to staying comphy? I am not to comphy at all these days...

Starting my weekly NST's in 2 weeks.. I guess that means i am getting close!!! :yahoo:

 

Basically for an NST there are 3 belts with monitors, one for each baby and one for your uterus to measure contractions and/or irritability. With the babies they are watching for heart rates and rise/falls, how they react if you are having any uterine irritability and how they react to their own movements. Heart rates should increase with movement and decrease at rest. There are quite a few different ways to do them, I know some moms sit in a chair while others lay on a bed to be monitored. Some moms have a little clicker type thing they hold and have to push whenever they feel the babies move so that movement will not be misconstrued as a contraction, some moms don't have a clicker at all.

It is usually helpful to have something with some sugar on the way to an NST so the babies will be awake and show their reaction. I always drank a juice in the car on the way to the hospital. Usually they want to get a good 'strip' which usually means each baby moves for at least 15 seconds at least twice in a 20-30 minute period. Sometimes this can be a challenge because with movement can also come the monitor losing the baby's heart rate, this could mean starting over. This can happen frequently which is why you might hear that some NST's take forever while others will be in and out in a half hour.

 

With my NSTs, I had a clicker to push when I felt a contraction, but I have heard of people pushing them with baby movements too. I was always amazed at how many contractions I didn't feel & at how much my little guys could get their heartrates to vary (110s-180s)!!!

Best of luck that yours won't last long. As SOON as those straps go on, my boys go CRAZY! I spend the entire time trying to KEEP them on to get a good strip so we're not there forever.

A little pointer, if you have them turn the volume down on the monitor, sometimes babies do better. One nurse mentioned it to me (she was older & had been doing them for years) & so I've asked each future nurse. Hearing themselves move around & hearing the constant heartbeat must rile up my little guys b/c they seem to do better with no noise from the monitors at all. Just a suggestion for if your 2 don't cooperate!

Yeah for getting closer! You're in the final stretch!!!!

 

Thanks for asking this question, and thanks for answering. I too was in the dark, but I had no idea what it involved....

Thats why I love this board, if I forget to ask, I know someone else will!!!
Shannon

 

My babies went nuts during NST's. They were only supposed to last 20 mins and I would be there for at least an hour. Some advise from me would be don't eat/drink anything that makes your babies jump around. For me it was juice and other sweet stuff. Once I stopped doing that, they went much smoother.