It is very important to assess the vitality and condition of the baby before giving birth. This will help doctors navigate the choice of tactics for the correct obstetrics. It is possible to assess the condition of the baby and timely identify the approach of contractions in the mother using cardiotocography.
What does the method show?
This research is very popular in many countries. Such popularity is no coincidence. With the help of this examination, doctors get quite a lot of information they need about how the baby is feeling. They evaluate his heartbeat, physical activity, and also determine how much the uterine walls of the mother contract.
This examination is not invasive. It does not require any surgical techniques at all. The examination does not cause any concern to the expectant mother and her baby and is not dangerous. These features of the method have served as its strong popularity.
Cardiotocography (CTG) can be performed at different periods of intrauterine development of the baby. It helps to assess the presence of dangerous complications during pregnancy. Also, this study can be done immediately before a pregnant woman is about to give birth. According to certain changing indicators, it is possible to assess the presence of contractions.
In some cases, this method is carried out directly during childbirth. This helps doctors track the progress of labor.
If, during the passage of the baby through the birth canal, the cardiotocography indicators significantly deviate from the maximum permissible, then this can lead to a change in the choice of tactics. In such a situation, the woman will undergo a cesarean section.
What indicators are used?
To assess the condition of the baby, several evaluated parameters are used at once. This allows doctors to make a comprehensive assessment of the child's well-being.
The main parameter that is monitored during this method is the baby's heartbeat. Throughout pregnancy, this indicator changes significantly.
As the baby grows, the work of his cardiovascular system changes. This is due to the fact that it needs chemicals and oxygen for active growth and development. They are carried by blood. For normal blood flow, a sufficient number of heartbeats are required.
With various pathologies, the number of contractions of a child's heart can vary. Often, fetal hypoxia leads to the development of such an unfavorable symptom. In this case, the supply of essential nutrients for the functioning of the child is significantly reduced.
To measure this indicator, special sensors are used. They are fixed on the belly of the expectant mother. Its best position when measuring this indicator is lying on a couch on your back or on your side. You can also attach the sensors during physiological (real) or training contractions.
The woman herself is also involved in the research. She needs to press the button of the device in the event that she felt the active movement of the child. During labor, such a study helps the doctor understand how the child is tolerating this condition.
Currently, doctors are trying to perform cardiotocography during the entire period of labor. This helps doctors get information about how the baby feels during active labor.
It should be noted right away that such studies are performed during all childbirth. not in every medical institution... A lot depends on what level of material and technical base it has.
However, it is very important to conduct such studies in childbirth for all women who are at risk for the development of dangerous pathologies of labor. As a rule, many of them give birth in specialized perinatal centers or specialized maternity hospitals.
With this method, you can also determine the intensity of the contractions. Doctors evaluate the strength of contractions using several clinical parameters. Such an assessment, which can be excessive or, on the contrary, sharply weakened, helps specialists to establish in time various pathologies of labor.
If childbirth is proceeding well, and the strength of the contractions is within the normal range, then the baby's condition is simply continued to be monitored until he is born.
How to identify contractions?
Doctors can identify the onset of labor activity with the help of special devices on which research is carried out. Before starting the examination, the patient's initial data must be entered. It is also important to record the period when she does not have uterine contractions. This kind of bottom line will be the reference point of the study.
Experts note that all contractions start from the genital floor area. This is where the sensors are fixed. This is necessary so that all arising impulses are well displayed on the monitor of the apparatus or on film.
The process of general contraction is ensured by the successive contraction of each individual muscle fiber. As soon as the entire uterine wall contracts and reaches the bottom, this is displayed on the monitor screen.
The changing pattern tells doctors that contractions are starting. During such an episode, they assess its duration as well as its intensity. All indicators are recorded. During labor, the assessment of the dynamics of contractions is very important. Using this method, you can identify not only real, but also training uterine contractions.
Such contractions appear more in the second half of the intrauterine development of the baby, as well as in the last weeks before childbirth. They look like irregular contractions on the film or the monitor of the device. They are not long lasting.
Many expectant mothers begin to worry greatly if doctors have identified training contractions in them. You shouldn't worry about this at all. This condition is physiological and is recorded in many women.
As a rule, such contractions of the uterus are not felt by the expectant mother. However, some women do feel them. They may complain to their doctors about slight discomfort or "pulling" soreness in the lower abdomen. During the examination, the doctor may find that the fundus of the uterus is becoming more dense.
This condition is also well detected using highly sensitive strain gauges. With their help, it is possible to determine a slight tension in the area of the uterine fundus, as well as a slight increase in it in this area. In most cases, the duration of one such "training" episode lasts no more than 60-90 seconds.
How to decode correctly?
Deciphering the obtained values is very important. She helps doctors assess the condition of the child and the mother in a timely manner and, if necessary, quickly adjust the method of delivery.
If during the study the contractility of the uterus is too strong, then this, as a rule, is accompanied by strong and painful contractions. It is very difficult for the expectant mother to endure such contractions. However, they are of little use.
In most cases, the cervix in this condition opens very slowly and poorly. Such a situation against the background of active and violent contractile activity of the uterus can lead to pathologies dangerous to the fetus.
In order to avoid this, doctors may introduce antispasmodics to the expectant mother. Often this remedy is drotaverine hydrochloride... It helps to "gently" open the cervix and significantly facilitate labor, as well as the baby's condition.
Again, the effectiveness of therapy can be assessed using CTG. In this case, during the next contractions, the device will show that the fetal heartbeat and its active motor activity are within normal limits.
In obstetric practice, there are also opposite situations. They, on the contrary, are accompanied by a weakening of labor. This condition can also be seen with cardiotocography. At first, as a rule, labor activity is active. Over time, it slowly begins to decrease.
The strength and frequency of contractions, which are determined using this research method, begin to gradually decrease. The time intervals between such contractions of the uterus increase significantly.
With the development of this condition, the doctor must also assess the time of the onset of contractions, as well as the general condition of the mother. Another important parameter to be assessed is the anhydrous period. This is the time from the moment of discharge of amniotic fluid. It is he who many mothers consider the beginning of childbirth.
If the amniotic fluid has not yet come out, then lengthening the inter-grasping period is not a frighteningly dangerous condition. In this case, doctors, as a rule, give the woman in labor a little rest. After him, labor activity resumes again, without any outside participation.
In order for the woman in labor to sleep a little, she may be injected with special medicinal substances. One of these drugs is "Promedol"... The need for its setting is determined by an obstetrician-gynecologist who gives birth to a particular woman.
A long anhydrous period against the background of impaired labor is already a dangerous condition for the fetus. While the baby is standing in the uterus, the risk of hypoxia (oxygen starvation of tissues and organs) increases many times over. Delay in the provision of medical care can even lead to a threat to the child's life or to the development of pathologies and consequences dangerous for him.
It so happens that the expectant mother is hospitalized in the maternity hospital with suspicion of the onset of labor. In the emergency room of the hospital, doctors do cardiotocography for her, evaluate her contractions and understand that the process of childbirth has not yet begun.
There are also reverse situations. A woman in late pregnancy comes to an appointment with her obstetrician for the next consultation. The doctor performs cardiotocography on her and realizes that she is actively in labor.
Indeed, such situations take place. The fact is that the intensity of contractions can be different. Pain syndrome is different for every woman. The level of pain threshold (the ability to feel and feel pain) is individual for everyone. In this case, the expectant mother will be urgently hospitalized for childbirth.
Many pregnant women worry about whether cardiotocography can harm the baby. Doctors believe that this study is absolutely safe... It is the safety of the method that allows it to be used before and during childbirth.
However, it should be noted that the technique for conducting this survey is very important. Its violation can not only lead to obtaining inaccurate results, but can also contribute to the infliction of traumatic damage to the fetus.
Usually, such cases are extremely rare in medical practice. If the specialist conducting the research is sufficiently qualified and has clinical experience in conducting it, then you should not worry about the outcome.
