Overview
During your labor and birth, your doctor or midwife will be monitoring your baby’s heart rate to assess their well-being during labor and birth. The goal of using electronic fetal monitoring is to recognize babies who are short on oxygen and identify what the underlying cause is to correct it. Monitoring heart rate can also alert a doctor or midwife in the event an emergency arises in which a baby needs to be born immediately via cesarean section or through an assisted birth. Electronic fetal monitoring may sound uninteresting, but it can have a significant impact on your labor and birth. You have some choices about monitoring, depending on your risk level and how you and your little one are doing during labor.
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