Know you can listen to your unborn child’s heartbeat at home, whenever you wish. All you need is one of the good pregnancy dopplers now available for home use. When you are only 10 to 12 weeks along, you can begin to use one. These dopplers can be rented on a monthly basis, or purchased in full. They use the same technology as the ones your doctor uses; they are quality ultrasound devices. Give yourself this extra bit of comfort with the ability to monitor your baby’s heartbeat.
Cost:
So how much does it cost to rent or buy one of the quality pregnancy dopplers now available for home use? BabyBeat in Arvada, Colorado rents from a range of $24 for the BabyBeat Legacy to $30 for the Standard BabyBeat to $49 for the BabyBeat Display with recorder. Others within this price range are also available. You can purchase a BabyBeat pregnancy Doppler between the ranges of $449 to $549.
Dynamic Doppler fetal dopplers run for $24 per month rental and $425 purchased.
Sweetbeats states that, “We will beat any competitor’s published price by $1 for each month you rent from us.” On their website they advertise a fetal Doppler for $22 a month to rent. Their other prices are good too.
BabyBeat was the first company to offer this type of equipment for home users. Theirs is a Doppler with a built-in recorder so you can record and play back your sessions. The sounds can even be saved on a computer and e-mailed.
Dynamic Doppler at Dynamicdoppler.com offers tips for success. Among those tips are using plenty of ultrasonic gel and covering the entire surface of the probe with gel. Push out air bubbles that are in the gel. Dynamic Doppler also offers advice on where it is best to begin the procedure and how to proceed. They state that it is helpful if you apply slight pressure and tilt the probe; this will help you pick up sounds in a more expansive area. Be sure to move that probe at a slow pace. You don’t want to skip over the heartbeat. Twins can pose a certain problem; it may be hard to distinguish between the two babies’ heartbeats. This dilemma challenges even doctors, but Dynamic Doppler has a standard that can help. Count the heartbeat for ten seconds then multiply the number you get by six to get the beats per minute. The heart rate can be seen on the LCD Display of the Dynamic Doppler Display unit. You can see your own heart rate too.
Dynamic Doppler also advises that your heart rate will probably range between 60 and 90 beats per minute. Your baby’s heart rate will be between 120 and180 beats per minute. The heart rate gradually slows as the baby grows. Expect there to be variance in the heart rate because, as with you, the baby’s activity level changes.
Sweet Beats LifeDop is another fetal doppler company; it is FDA approved and equipped with the newest ultrasound technology. You can depend on them and count on their accuracy. The dopplers are easy to use too; just record and save your baby’s heartbeat right into the monitor. Because these fetal dopplers are FDA approved, you have the assurance that they are safe. Talk to your doctor about it. SweetBeats rents and sells their Doppler fetal heart monitors.
Look at the websites and compare companies. Pregnancy dopplers for use at home are a wonderful new addition to come onto the scene. They can add to the joy of pregnancy and they can relieve some of your stress because you can monitor the baby‘s heart rate daily. Pregnancy dopplers, for these reasons alone, are a good investment as you walk the path to parenthood.
By Laura Hogg