Strange heart rate on doppler?
I am 19 weeks pregnant and my home doppler usually shows the fetal heart rate at 145-155 however on a few occasions it seems that the heart rate will suddenly drop very low and become uneven (skip beats) for about 3-5 seconds. When this happens I immediately adjust the doppler to try to get a better reading and the heart rate always returns to sounding normal in seconds. 99% of the time the heart rate is perfect however it’s these occasions of irregular beating or simply the disappearance of the heart beat for a few seconds that scares me. Also, the heart rate has been perfect during ultrasounds and doctor visits. Could these variations in what I hear be due to the baby moving a lot or maybe other beats around the uterus that I am confusing with the FHR? BTW - I had a level II u/s with a perinatologist last week and all looked well. Thanks for any help!
Filed under: Fetal Doppler FAQs
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THAT is the very reason I did not buy an at-home Doppler. That would have stressed me out! Your baby’s heart rate is probably changing because the baby is moving and changing position and your Doppler is missing the turn; and starts back up to normal range when the baby stops moving.
I don’t think those things are necessary. I think you should ONLY use that Doppler when you’re concerned that you haven’t felt your baby move.
If you use it a lot, you’re only going to stress yourself out.
Most likely it is the baby moving around. I have had 2 babys before this one and everytime my doctor has monitored the heartbeat when he started moving we would lose it for a second or two. Dont worry, you probably have a very active baby as well as one with a strong heartbeat.
Baby is probably moving around on you. They know when your pressing down on them. My girl used to move around to try and get away from everyone when I was pregnant. When I had u/s she would move away from the wand, listening to the heartbeat, she’d move away from there too. I wouldn’t worry too much.
This is a perfect example of why I never bought an at home doppler. If your u/s was okay last week, I’m sure that the baby is fine. Are you sure that you are getting the baby’s heartbeat all the time and it doesn’t somehow pick up your heartbeat?