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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

NST's = a little bit of worry & a peek at personalities!

I now have to have NST's (non-stress test) twice a week until the babies arrive. Originally, I was told that because each baby has its own placenta and sac, I would not need to come in for NST's. Last week, at my routine OB appointment, my doctor informed me that there is a slightly higher risk of fetal demise (I love my OB but did he really have to say that?) with IVF twin pregnancies and that both he and my perinatologist wanted me to come in twice a week for monitoring.

So, they monitor the heart rates of both babies and also monitor contractions. From what I understand, the primary goal of the test is to measure the heart rate of the babies in response to their own movements. Healthy babies will respond with an increased heart rate (accelerations) during times of movement, and the heart rate will decrease at rest. The concept behind the NST is that adequate oxygen is required for activity and heart rate to be within normal ranges. When oxygen levels are low, the baby may not respond normally. Low oxygen levels can often be caused by problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.

I have had 3 NST's now and Baby A passes in about 5 minutes. He must have my personality! Baby B, on the other hand, is a little more chill or stubborn (oh, and he's breech too) and usually needs to be woken up with the buzzer. Yesterday, he didn't do much for about 20 minutes. I was getting a little worried. He finally woke up when the nurse zapped him with the buzzer. Once his heart rate finally accelerated, it seemed like it stayed there FOREVER!!! Even though everything is fine, I'm still worried about my little guy.


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