Hello my lovely readers,
I am guessing some of you may not know what I am talking about when I talk about an NST. That is short for Nonstress test, fetal nonstress test. This is a test that they give to women who are at risk of losing babies late in pregnancy or having other issues such as intrauterine growth restriction, preeclampsia and large for fetal age.
I am at high risk of each of those.
So, I go in twice weekly.
I sit in a large reclining chair.
Have to expose my stretched out belly to the nurse and sit exposed for a minimum of 20 minutes. It is not comfortable for me. I have never enjoyed exposing my belly, but now I have countless stretch marks. I remind myself that they see it all and everyone has parts of their bodies they don't love to show off. And the nurses have seen it all, and if they are mothers they likely have them too.
They wrap a pink and a blue strap around my belly with little pads on them that are essentially dopplers. They are about the size of the palm of my hand and one has the ultrasound gel they use with dopplers on it and that they try to find the baby's heartbeat with.
The blue strap holds that in place.
The pink strap holds the other pad in place, which does not have any ultrasound gel and that tracks movement of Baby T and the pressure in my belly, usually correlating to contractions. This is usually placed kitty-corner to the other pad.
These pads are connected to wires, connected to a monitor that the patient can watch and attached to paper that measures the movements with needles. Not unlike a polygraph machine or heart monitors. I stress myself watching the numbers, so I try not to watch them the whole time and try to immerse myself in games on my phone. I prefer to read but I cannot read in the position.
The needles measure the movement of baby, heart rate of baby and contractions on a long paper they bring to the Dr. and keep on file. The nurse checks this periodically.
Then after they are satisfied with the movements and heart rate increases and decreases they let you up and go.
I have not yet had an uneventful Nonstress Test which has not been great for my peace of mind.
The first was my best, but Baby T moved little.
The second one she went crazy and got her heart rate up to 200 for a while.
The third she didn't move and rather than getting the Reactive test result they look for, it was just, "adequate for gestational age" My baby girl loves to be difficult and I can't make her move when I want her to.
My last Baby T did not move on her own, so rather than just letting me go.
The nurse got a noisemaker and pushed this little buzzer against my belly, and I felt Baby T jump. But I also had constant stomach pain and back pain immediately.
I told the nurse, and she said I was having contractions, but not consistently. So, she sent me home on bedrest for Friday and told me to call in if I have the contractions continue. I came home and didn't do a great job at bedrest and I stayed in pain.
I go back tomorrow morning at 9 am.
I will see what this goes like. I finally see my OB again on Wednesday and I am currently torn between asking her to check if these frequent contractions, back and thigh pain have caused and progress in labor.
But, I am not sure what that matters. I struggle a lot with what this means for me.
So I cannot wait to see my OB and hear her calming, familiar voice tell me what this could mean for me. Right now, I am aware this means I could go into a more active labor any day now. Which I don't want to have Baby T very early, but I am 34 weeks already and if we can get to 35, we get to a chance of no NICU stay.
I can't even attempt to measure my contractions. They are just like period cramps which actually hurt my back much more than my belly. I have heard some women have this, and they cannot time their contractions. If they continue tomorrow, I assume they will have me do something different.
I have not had an NST without contractions.
I just assume I have Braxton-Hicks at least, pretty constantly. Which does not hurt me or Baby T. And doesn't create any real progression of labor. I will continue to carry my hospital bag to every appointment.
I hope that I have cleared up some of the confusion about what an NST is. Please reach out if I made it unclear and I can try t explain better.
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