Non-Stress Test 1

For weeks we've known that the "non-stress tests" were on their way.  These are done to measure your baby's heartbeat and make sure he's functioning well.  It seems like a relatively simple procedure when there's one baby concerned.

But we have three babies.

First was the obligatory urine sample.  It's a good thing that pregnant women have to pee so much!  Then back to the NST room where the nurse set me up on the table to monitor the babies.  We located them all, saw their hearts beat, and then someone came in for the next appointment.

Problem? My tests weren't done yet.  And there was only one nurse.  So, she got the other woman set up on a fetal heart monitor (she wore it strapped onto her belly under her shirt) and moved me to another table just across from her.  This meant wiping up all the goop off my belly, wandering across the room, and getting all gooped up again.

Problem? The machine at this station is not as good as the first machine and we're struggling to even see the babies' heads, so we have to go back to the first spot.  Which means more de-gooping and re-grouping and re-gooping.  The first thing we were looking for was "fetal breathing".  Obviously, surrounded by a sac of amniotic fluid, the babies are not actually breathing at this point.  But their little rib cages and lungs are starting to get practice with the mechanics of breathing.  So the drill was to find a baby's chest area and park there until we saw some fetal breathing motions.  Forty minutes later, one of them started contracting.  The motions have to last at least thirty seconds or they don't count.  Baby A was "breathing" hard for at least that long.  Whew!  Then, as if they'd all just figured out what the point of the game was, each of the  next babies did their demonstration right away when we found their chests.  It really seemed like they were saying, "Oh! Is that what you were waiting for? Sorry!"

Next we needed to document the babies' positions.  The nurse was having trouble with this so she called the perinatologist in to figure it out.  His touch with the ultrasound sensor was considerably less gentle than the nurse's, but his conclusions were also quicker - both boys are breech (and both towards my right side), while the girl is still hanging out up top and transverse (laying sideways).

Finally, the babies' heartbeats had to be measured for a few minutes each.  There are only two sensors on the machine, so we had to do them in shifts.  They would be racing along for a while and then the baby would move and we'd have to re-locate his (or her) heart.  But all the heart rates were good - in the 130 to 150 beats per minute range.

An hour and a half after the appointment started, I was finally all cleaned up and ready to go.  The rest of my appointments have been moved to the end of the afternoon, so that I don't "hold up" the other appointments for the day, like I did with the poor other woman who came in.  Since the babies are not guaranteed to "breathe" on command, it is possible that the nurse could sit watching for an hour and a half and not see what she needed to see.  I was assured that that would not mean they were in bad shape necessarily, but if it did happen, I'd have to be monitored in labor and delivery.  I hope that doesn't happen!

After my appointment I ran into the doctor and sonographer in the hall and both remarked on how great I looked.  I choose to believe them.  Tomorrow is the appointment with the lactation nurse, then next week it's back for more ultrasounds and non-stress tests.