maxiblur and mummies,
i used the digital one for my first pregnancy and to me, it saved my baby's life as his heartbeat was found to be decelerating at times. we monitor only random times within a few days and noticed that hb differs very greatly, out of 10 times, 4 times will be low although it bounced back within a few seconds. we brought it up to our gynae and he immediately ward me in delivery suite to be monitored 24hrs under ctg, then we found out that 1) i was having premature contractions at week 24 - i thought the tightenings were brackton hicks ; everyone told me it's false contractions and it's normal but with each contraction, bb heartbeat drop and rebounded. 2) bb was playing with the cord, squeezing it with his hand, constricting the blood flow.
it got so bad that i was on bedrest in hospital for the remaining pregnancy, and regular scans to ensure the cord is not entangled and on drip to prevent further contractions. at any point, if cord entanglement is noticed, will have to do emergency c sec.
but the decelerations continued and bb hb was affected, in he end, we chose to bring bb out at week 34+, which was a good decision as bb already was facing breathing difficulties. all things end well, the neonatal specialist was able to revive my boy and he stayed in NICU for only 1 day, and SCN for 3 more days before being discharged to the general ward.
now he's an active 24 mth toddler with no long term issues.
so to me, the heartbeat doppler is a life saver and that's why i am strongly recommending it esp after hearing all the horror experiences of still birth due to cord entanglement and strangulation because mummy didn't notice the slowing down of fetal movements.
having had 2 losses before, every baby is precious, and if even one baby can be saved with this device, it's worth the expense and peace of mind.
nana
eh, sotong is old wive's tale but hor one thing is true, the more active the baby, the higher chance of cord entanglement.
