Waking up the kids for NST

Hey ladies,

I need help getting the twins going for NSTs. Yesterday, at 28 weeks 4 days, we went for our first NST. I admit, I set the alarm wrong and we were all sound asleep about 45 minutes before the test. When the test got started, baby B woke up and showed great results, but baby A's heartbeat was mellow and consistent. Eventually, they put this buzzing, vibrating thing on my belly where baby A was and they jolted her awake. After the buzz she passed her test with flying colors, but I feel terrible for what we did to her. It nearly brings me to tears thinking how we took a gentle, mellow baby and overstimulated her just to force some test results. Not an example of good parenting. I promised A I would never do that to her again; so, now I need to find other more natural ways of waking her up.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

One of my co-workers swore by chocolate milkshakes. Sounds fun!

 

My Baby A was a quiet one during the NST's, one of the things that I tried to do to "wake" her up was have Dunkin Donuts white hot chocolate before appointments. One of the reasons why I feel she was always the quiet one because of where she was. Good luck!

 

Probably not the best route here but I really didn't want to sit there for hours while Baby B 'chilled' I would drink a tall caramel latte from Starbucks about 30min before the test - my boys always passed with flying colors. It was my one bi-monthly indulgence (okay I had more :blush: ) Drinking OJ should work as well.

 

Often I would get a glass of orange juice.

 

I will second the chocolate milkshake suggestion. Granted I have not had any NSTs so I really don't have any hands on experience but I have noticed that when I drink or eat something cold it always gets my little ones going.

 

The Dr would give me juice, or really anything with sugar should do. I would stop for a candy bar or something on the way. Milkshake should also do the job.

 

Eat and drink some juice about an hr before you go. It helps.

 

Sugar and caffeine. Lots of sugar, small caffeine. I would get a large Dunkin Donut iced coffee (decaf) on the way there and drink a diet coke in the room. It was my bi-weekly treat.

 

popsicles always woke my guys up

 

Today we went in for our second NST. This time I woke-up on time, did a bit of yoga to get my circulation pumping, ate some coffee ice cream with chocolate sauce and took my prenatals with orance juice. I thought sure this would do the trick. Once again, B was active and she passed quickly (after nearly kicking her monitor off). A, however, was still Ms. mellow... despite the exercise, sugar, and trace amounts of caffine. I resorted to jiggling my belly to get her moving. She eventually got going, but I think I am seeing a pattern. B is a morning person, A is a night owl. Thanks, however, for all of the suggestions.