Hearing Your Baby’s Heart beat
One of the most memorable moments in many parents’ lives is the first time they hear their unborn child’s heart beat. Fetal doppler technology makes this possible beginning as early as the ninth or tenth week of pregnancy. While the baby’s heart starts beating at 22 days, it is too small to be heard even with amplification, but by the twelfth week the baby’s heart beat can be heard with doppler technology in almost all cases.
Heart beat dopplers work by emitting small, high frequency sound waves that are reflected off the fetus’s heart to be heard. Since these waves do not travel readily through air, a liquid such as water, oil, or a special gel is applied to the expectant mother’s stomach when using the doppler.
The first time your practitioner uses doppler technology, it may be difficult to hear the heart beat because the doppler must be placed in exactly the right spot to catch it. However, as time passes, it will get easier until around 20 weeks when the fetus’s heart beat will be audible using a special stethoscope called a fetoscope.
With a twin pregnancy, distinguishing two separate heart beats may take more time and effort. When measuring the heat rate, practitioners also may recheck the mother’s pulse just to make sure they are not hearing the mother’s heart with the doppler. Variations in sound, such as the heart beat getting louder and softer or sounding far away at times, are usually nothing to worry about and are related to the angle of the doppler on the uterus as well as the volume control.
Home Dopplers
For expectant parents who would like to be able to hear their unborn child’s heart beat at home as well as during appointments, many retailers now sell home heart beat dopplers. Having doppler technology at home allows expectant parents to listen to their baby’s heart beat whenever they would like to.
There are no health risks associated with home heart beat dopplers or with using doppler technology to listen to a fetus’s heart beat too often. The risks involved mainly have to do with anxiety that might result from difficulty placing the doppler in the right spot to hear the heart beat and mistakenly thinking that something is wrong with the baby. Virtually all home doppler instruments come with thorough and easily understandable directions to help expectant mothers use and position them safely and correctly.
Home dopplers may cost several hundred dollars or more to buy, depending on the retailer and the features of the particular instrument. Many companies are now also renting heart beat dopplers to customers for a monthly fee, which is usually between $20 and $40; and this may be a more cost-effective choice for many people. In most cases, ultrasound gel for use with the doppler either comes with the purchase or rental or may be purchased from the company for around $5 or $10. These hypoallergenic gels are specially formulated not to stain or damage equipment and are acoustically correct for the broad range of frequencies used.
By Kristin Cleveland