"It's only natural to worry a little throughout
your pregnancy -- after all, this whole baby thing is
new, nail-bitingly unpredictable, and you just want so
badly for it to go perfectly. And guess what? It usually
does. "
Anxiety in pregnancy isn’t
often talked about.
From the positive test to the moment that you hold your
new baby in your arms, pregnancy is expected to be a
time of excitement and joy.
Yet for many women it is a time of great worry and anxiety.
"In recent research from the IONA test, at least
one in five women report experiencing extreme worry and
many mums-to-be admit to regularly losing sleep over
concerns for their unborn child." Source
"Most pregnancies result in healthy babies (less
than 20 percent end in miscarriage), says Karyn Morse,
MD, an ob-gyn at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Remember
also that most miscarriages also happen within the first
few weeks of pregnancy, when many women typically don't
realize they're expecting and wouldn't know if they did
miscarry. They'd just get a normal-looking period," she
says. "
"Being a parent for many, is one of the most gratifying
experiences in that person’s life and especially
for the mother who nurtures a life inside her womb for
9 months. Every parent tries to offer the best care for
his unborn baby and ensures that it is healthy. One of
the most effective instruments for knowing about your
unborn baby’s health is a fetal doppler.
Fetal dopplers are the non invasive diagnostic instrument
that helps in detecting and measuring the heart beat
of the fetus. Listening to the heartbeat of your baby
inside your womb is both an emotional and exciting feeling.
Fetal dopplers allow you to know about your baby’s
heart rate and monitor it so that you can consult with
your doctor in case there is any change in the heart
rate.
The fetal heart begins to beat
at approximately the same rate as the mother's,
which is typically 80 to 85 bpm. The approximate
fetal heart rate for weeks 5 to 9 (assuming a
starting rate of 80):
Week 5 starts at 80 and ends at 103 bpm
Week 6 starts at 103 and ends at 126 bpm
Week 7 starts at 126 and ends at 149 bpm
Week 8 starts at 149 and ends at 172 bpm
At week 9 the fetal heartbeat tends to beat within a range of 155
to 195 bpm.
At this point, the fetal heart rate begins
to decrease, and generally falls within the
range of 120 to 160 bpm by week 12
Listen
to a Baby's heart beat
Austria-based physicist, Christian Doppler discovered
the Doppler Shift Principle and fetal dopplers work on
this principle. Dopplers give you the flexibility of
monitoring your child’s heart beat at home or even
outside. These are compact, battery operated devices
that you can carry with you wherever you go"
"Although there is no prescription required for
buying dopplers, you could consult with your doctor and
midwife before buying them.
Here are some tips when you are using a fetal doppler –
If a doppler manufacturer claims that the doppler can
pick up heartbeats even at 8 or 9 weeks, completely ignore
this. It is recommended
by medical experts that one must wait until 13 weeks
to start monitoring her baby’s heartbeat.
Use a conductive gel generously before using the doppler.
Normal heartbeat is between 140-160 beats per minute.
Fetal dopplers give a peace of mind to parents who want
to ensure the safety of their baby in their womb. However,
you must consult your doctor before buying and trying
dopplers to listen to the heartbeat of your baby. "Tim
Scott
Hand-held Dopplers are pocket-sized, battery-operated
devices that send out high-frequency ultrasound
waves. There's usually a handset, a built-in speaker,
and a transducer that's placed against your bump.
The ultrasound waves pass through your skin
and tissue, and then bounce back. This bounce
is then translated into sound. You need to
put gel on your skin to help with the transmission
of the waves.
The British Medical Ultrasound Society says
that there's no evidence of harm resulting
from the use of ultrasound in pregnancy, if
used according to the guidelines. Hand-held
Dopplers work by using very low power levels,
The FDA suggests The long-term effects of repeatedly exposing
a baby to ultrasound waves from these devices are unknown.
Doppler Monitor
"While daily use of a fetal monitor probably
does not directly harm the fetus, there has
been little research on its effect. According
to an article in the Cochrane Review on the
use of Doppler monitoring in pregnancy, "evidence
does not provide conclusive evidence that the
use of routine umbilical artery Doppler ultrasound
or combination of umbilical and uterine artery
Doppler ultrasound in low-risk or unselected
populations benefits either mother or baby."
THE MESSAGE
HERE IS, I FEEL, THAT ONE SHOULD NOT USE
IT MORE THAN A FEW TIMES A WEEK AND FOR
VERY SHORT TIME PERIODS...
As a matter
of interest these were found on a chat
site
"I'm on hospital bed rest and they
listen for babies heartbeat twice a day. The
lady in the room next to me gets a monitor
attached to her belly to hear baby and she
has it on almost day. I'm sure
if that were true hospitals wouldn't be doing
it as often as they do. Source
"I used a doppler constantly while
i was pregnant with my son, hes 11 months
old
and perfect :) Don't believe the crap you read
online, talk to your doctor, I
spoke to mine and he said that if they caused
issues why would they use them in the hospital? He
thought it was kinda funny" Source
Doppler auscultation
in adults
The human heart beats approximately 115,000
times per day. Listening to the heart can tell a great
deal about a person’s overall health and well-being.
You can listen to your heartbeat with a Doppler
Having a basic understanding of what a normal heartbeat
should sound like may help reassure you and help clarify
your doctor’s findings as well.
Count the number of times your heart
beats per minute and note any irregularities, extra
sounds, or unusual sounds in the heartbeat. Think about
how you would describe those sounds. Whooshes, clicks,
gallops and plops indicate different heart problems.
It was recently demonstrated that continuous
Doppler enables the auscultation of valvular movements
and
blood flow sounds that are undetected during cardiac
examination with a stethoscope in adults. The Doppler
auscultation presented a sensitivity of 84% for the
detection of aortic regurgitations while classic stethoscope
auscultation presented a sensitivity of 58%. Moreover,
Doppler auscultation was superior in the detection
of impaired ventricular relaxation Since the physics
of Doppler auscultation and classic auscultation are
different, it has been suggested that both methods
could complement each other."
Warning
Any abnormal heart sound should be evaluated
by a physician as soon as possible. Additional testing
may be needed to determine the cause. source
Specification
1. Ultrasound frequency : 3MHz
2. Acoustic intensity: < 10m W/cm2
3. Peak negative pressure: < 1 Mpa
4. Dimension:104.5mm(L) x 50mm(W) x 70mm(H)
5. Weight: 69.5g(without battery)
Function
a. Acquire the fetal heartbeat signals from fetus, broadcast
the fetal heartbeat sound through headphones or with
a loudspeaker
A major advantage of being able to record and share
the recording is that it can be emailed to a healthcare
professional to be checked if there are any concerns
about whether or not it is the baby's heart rate and
whether or not it is normal. Typically, they work from
about 13 weeks.
Can transmit the real-time sound of a fetal heartbeat
to your computer folder
Angel Sounds Fetal Doppler
Record the beats on your hardrive
and send the file to your mum
- 1 x Fetal Doppler (No battery)
- 1 x Headset
- 1 x Line-in Cable
- 1 x English user's manual
Colors pink or pale green
sent Randomly
Note: We do not include batteries, according to International law,
batteries are not allowed for international air transportation for safety
reasons....
Radiation free headphone option
Anti Radiation
earphone
Not being able to find your baby's
heartbeat could cause you a lot of worry. And you can't
always be sure that it's your baby's heartbeat that
you are hearing. It's very easy to pick up the sound
of blood flowing through the placenta, or your own
vessels, and mistake it for a heartbeat. This may cause
you to be falsely reassured. Source
