Module 5 B Flashcards
What is the difference between fetal movement counting and fetal movement awareness?
What is the evidence for each
How should clinicians instruct patients if they choose to encourage formal fetal movement counting?
How should clinicians instruct patient about fetal movement awareness
Formal fetal movement counting has not been shown to decrease intrauterine fetal death and intrauterine fetal death is often preceded by decreased fetal movement, perceptible by the mother.
Tell patients that it is not normal for fetuses to move less near term but it is common for the character of the movements to change.
A fetus near term who is crowded should still move the same absolute number of times as before but the movements might become nudges and swishes, rather than big kicks.
What is the normal range of fundal height in relation to gestational age in the third trimester
A fundal height in centimeters generally corresponds with the weeks of gestational age with a margin of difference of +/- 2 cm
ie…28 week gestation, fundal heights of 26-30 cm would be in the normal range.
What are the factors in the third trimester that can affect fundal height assessments
- Fetuses have a wider range of normal size, compared with the relatively uniform size of early-gestation fetuses
- Amniotic fluid volume and fetal presentation, can affect fundal height.
- Some fetuses drop into the pelvis in the last weeks of pregnancy, a process known as lightening, and that can cause the fundal height to decrease even as the fetus continue to grow normally.
What should a clinician include in a response to a third trimester patient who asks how big their baby is
What are other clinical indicators of fetal presentation, aside from leopold’s maneuvers
- if the majority of the kicks felt near the fundus, a fetus may be in the cephalic presentation
if heart tones are heard more clearly below the maternal umbilicus rather than toward the fundus…could by in cephalic presentation
Ask patient if they felt any large, somersault feeling movement lately
What are the normal range for fetal heart rate in the third trimester
110-160 BPM
Why and how will you differentiate maternal from fetal heart rates
Pregnancy can result in a rise in maternal heart rate and mature fetuses can have a lower baseline…
ie overlapping 110
To differentiate you can listen to the fetal heart rate with the Doppler and palpate the maternal radial pulse to ensure they are beating at different times/rates.
How is a non stress test conducted?
Pregnant person having an external electronic fetal heart rate monitor applied to their abdomen to record the fetal heart rate.
How will you interpret a non stress test
Two accelerations of at least 15 bpm above the fetal heart rate baseline, lasting at least 15 seconds each (for fetuses at or beyond 32 weeks )
Two accelerations of at least 10 bpm above the fetal heart rate baseline, lasting at least 10 seconds each (for fetuses less then 32 weeks)
What is the follow-up for a nonstress test that is not reactive for 20 minutes
Can consider extending the NST up to a total of 40 minutes or using a vibroacoustic stimulator to encourage the fetus to move/wakeup
what is the follow-up for nonstress test that is not reactive for 40 minutes
Biophysical profile
Why do we assess amniotic fluid volume?
Decreased perfusion to the fetal kidneys can result in decreased fetal urine output
Amniotic fluid is in large part, composed of fetal urine so the volume of amniotic fluid can give us insights into fetal well-being
What are the ways we assess amniotic fluid volume
In terms of one or more pockets of fluid or as an amniotic fluid index (AFI)
AFI is calculated by adding up the fluid pockets in the four quadrants of the maternal abdomen.
what are normal amniotic fluid volume results
Single deepest pocket vertical depth of 2.1-8cm
Amniotic fluid index of 5-25 cm