continous foetal monitoring is usually advised to women who;ve had a previous c.s . this is where you have two bands round your belly, one to monitor baby, one to monitor contractions, and there are long leads plugged into a machine. Often you are encouraged to stay on the bed for this, and remain still. which is really quite hard when you are in labour ! you can request intermittent monitoring, and if you search on here, there is some good stuff about it. I had CFM for my VBAC, but was encouraged, nay, forced !! off the bed as my baby was OP.. the leads are long enough to allow you to stand, sit on a birth ball, but not leave the room or go to the loo.. as i said, you do not have to have it, if you have the information to make an informed decision to refuse it.
being immobile is not a good way to encourage labour, nor is lying down, the best compromise is to stay at home as long as you can, and take it from there.
there are other signs of impending rupture apart from the ones that can be picked up from the CFM, there is a good article about it by Mary Cronk, which you can find on here, or google it.
do lots and lots of reading and get to know about the process of labour and read positive stuff, ina may gasking, janet balaskas, penny simkin, sheila kitzinger are all good ones to start with
also, make sure your birth partner understands your hopes and fears for labour, and make sure they are clear on what you want and don;t want as you cannot have a rational decision in the middle of your labour ! have you thought about a doula?
good idea to draw up two birth preference plans.. one for VBAC , one for em c.s, so that you are not being hurried into decisions whilst labouring, and your thoughts are known before hand.