What is a Fetal Non-Stress Test?
Non-stress testing (NST) simply involves monitoring a developing baby’s heart rate over time. The monitor has two belts that go around the mother’s waist-one registers any contractions she may have, the other tracks the fetal heart rate. These are graphed on paper or on a computer screen. Often, you can see the graph as it is being made. Usually, the NST is not uncomfortable, although it may get tiresome to stay in one position for 20 minutes or so (in fact, it’s not unusual for these tests to run as long as an hour). Why do I have to do it? Basically at my 20 week ultrasound (the one where I found out I was having a boy!), the results showed that my baby’s kidney’s were measuring larger than they should be and my baby was measuring larger than his gestational age. They then changed my due date to May 5 from May 19. So they sent me in for a follow up ultrasound with the high risk doctors. That next ultrasound was at 27 weeks. His kidneys were still measuring larger, the baby was still
