Pregnancy And Baby Care Articles Pregnancy Tests

• Tweet
• 

...up and to get the baby moving. Like adults, a baby’s heartbeat rate should be higher if he is moving around within the womb. This analysis of test will tell the doctor if the baby is fine, or if the delivery will need to be performed soon. More on non stress test during pregnancy

A woman who is pregnant with more than one baby is usually advised to go on for a non stress test for twins around the 32nd week. However, in some cases a doctor may recommend a non stress test for twin babies to be conducted as early as 28 weeks, especially in case of any suspected complications. Some doctors may need to recommend subsequent tests, based on the recording and the analysis of the first test. The frequency of non stress test for twins may depend entirely on the babies, their position, movement, growth, development and of course their heartbeat. Several women have only one NST for twins, during the entire course of their pregnancy. However, others may be asked to go in for an NST for twin babies even twice a week, till the babies are born. In some rare cases a doctor may not even get the chance to conduct a non stress test for twins, especially if the babies are born premature. Read more on pregnancy test

While most non stress test sessions last for no more than half an hour, a non stress test for twins may go on for about an hour or so. This is because the most medical facilities can monitor only one baby’s movements and corresponding heartbeat rate at a time. After completing the monitoring process in one baby, the entire exercise needs to be repeated with the other one. Therefore, this procedure takes twice as long, when it is perform on twin pregnancies. However, there are some hospitals or medical facilities that are equipped with a double monitor, which is used specially during a non stress test for twins. If a double monitor is used to check the movements and corresponding heartbeats of both the babies at the same time, then the procedure takes less time. Doctors usually advise pregnant women to try and relax for the hour or so that it may take for the test to be completed. See also twin pregnancy week by week

Where an average pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks, many babies are born before the 37th week and are considered normal babies (not premature). In case of pregnancies with twins, it is quite normal for the babies to be born a bit earlier that that. This is because as the babies grow, they have less room to move around in the uterus. Doctors conduct the non stress test for twins in order to determine how much longer the twins can remain in the uterus without undergoing too much stress. While any doctor will usually try to delay the delivery as much as possible, there may a chance that an emergency C-section needs to be performed, in case any of the babies seem to be in distress.

Read more articles from the Pregnancy Tests Category.