Re: FHM

[Anne Clarke]

Dear Deb and all,   Thank you for this information, but I was actually looking for why we monitor either by doppler or pinnards - the interval during labour to listen to the fetal heart not the electronic version of listening to the fetal heart.   Why do we listen at all to the fetal heart e.g. hourly, 1/2 hrly etc and the interval that we listen to the fetal heart during second stage too e.g. after every contraction or every other contraction.  Why and how where these intervals chosen, I for the life of me cannot find any references.   Should we be listening less (remember I am not talking about electronic - CTG - monitoring) or more often than we a doing already.   How often are you all listening to the fetal heart during the stages of labour and why?   With thanks, Anne Clarke Brisbane