Non-Stress Test (NST)

I do mines weekly for the past months they pretty much monitor baby movements , heartbeat and if your having contractions the minimum time on the monitors are 20min, can be longer depending on the baby cooperate, nothing to worry about.

Your just hooked up on the monitor for minimum of 20 minutes, if baby passes that portion then all is good and you can go home, depending on your doctor you may have a quick ultrasound to check baby’s position and fluid levels. If after 1 hour, baby still doesn’t pass the first portion on the monitor, you will have a more in depth ultrasound checking for more things like movement stuff. It’s really not what I thought it would be, I never could pass them though and had to always get an ultrasound.

I had them weekly. They attach monitors to you belly. One monitors baby’s heart rate and one monitors your uterine activity. You sit for 20 minutes. They look to see if baby has the appropriate amount of acceles I think she called them. If not you sit for another 20. If they still don’t see what they want you’ll need additional monitoring. I had to have a BPP ultrasound. But, they did tell I may have to go l&d for more monotoring. They’re super easy I brought my 2yr old to all of them with me.

I’d suggest eating like 30minutes to an hour before you go so baby is active and awake during the test and drink some ice water to get baby moving.

Everyone covered the logistics! Non-invasive, and a great way to gauge how baby’s doing. I love getting them weekly as a way to feel more connected to my little guy before he’s here. I’m at a birth center, so if they don’t get all the expected fetal heart rate accelerations over the course of 40 minutes (minimum is 20m), then they’d transfer me to the hospital for more intensive monitoring.

Thank you ladies!

I had to do one with my 1st baby! Nothing to worry about! They strap a couple of monitors on you - 1 to measure for any contractions, the other to measure babies heart rate. These are similar monitors they use in the hospital to monitor you as well. They’re looking for any irregularities with your baby. I had to do mine as a routine 40 week thing! It actually caught a major issue with my little gal and we went straight to the hospital to be induced.