Question:
I was due on Friday Feb 13th (only me), my Dr. said at my appointment
tomorrow she want's to give me a stress test. What is this for? Do I need
to be worried something could be wrong with me or the baby? I'm very
worried about every little thing, not to mention being convinced I will be
the 1 in a million that either goes into a coma, or dies from the epidural,
and other meds they will give me when I do deliver. I'm an absolute basket
case, and have taken all the joy and excitement out of what everyone else
says is the most wonderful experience in the world. I've robbed that from
my poor husband too. I'm surprised he was able to stay married to me during
these 9 months of nuttiness he has had to endure. I'm really worried I
won't get back to my somewhat normal pre-pregnant self. Any advice will be
greatly appreciated.
Answer:
Perfectly normal procedure. I had them weekly in my last month (gestational
diabetic). All it does is checks how your baby is doing since he/she is
overdue. The longer a baby is overdue the more the placenta ages and weakens.
The older a placenta gets the less efficient it is at supplying the baby with
nutrients, oxygen, etc. All the test is is strapping a monitor to your tummy
and monitoring the baby's heart rate etc.
As I reread your post I see that you said Stress Test. Is this the same as
a non-stress test? I was describing a non-stress test...I'm not exactly sure
what a stress test involves or if it is the same thing. Can someone help us out
here? Clarify?
I was going through the same thing almost exactly two years ago to the day!
(BTW Maddie just celebrated her 2nd birthday and she is happy and healthy, as
is my marriage! ) I went through three stress tests, and at the time was told
that they were checking the baby's heart rate whenever she moved to make sure
that it was not too high or too low, which could indicate she was in distress.
Everything was fine, but they did induce me the following week, because of my
high blood pressure. The labor and delivery went perfect and I only have great
memories of the whole experience!
I think (although I never had one) that a stress test involves giving the
mother a tiny dose of something to induce contractions, and seeing how well the
baby copes. I think probably that what Suzy will be having is a non-stress
test, as you described it - stress tests are quite rare.
If it is a non-stress test, then it really is nothing to worry about - I had
them every other day with my son for the three weeks before he was born. You
can get to feel really attuned to the baby when you see their heartrate go up
and down, knowing when they're moving about and when they're taking a rest. If
you have this test, one thing to remember is that in general, a heartbeat
changing rate a lot is a *good* thing - I used to freak at first seeing the
line on the graph go all over the place. Also its normal for the heartbeat to
change during/after a contraction (it slows down, I think - can't quite
remember) but what they are looking for is how quickly it recovers.
Please try not to worry any more! The only time the baby has even a smallish
chance of not making it is in the first three months of pregnancy. Once you're
at your stage, there's nothing that is likely to go wrong.
