Heart rate deceleration on the Doppler

[plumviolet]

Hi there,

I am currently 22 weeks and my pregnancy has been pretty uneventful so far. I previously suffered a stillbirth so i have a doppler to ease my anxiety and it has been working pretty well for me so far. The baby's heart rate has been around the 130-140 bpm on average but last night it dipped to around 95/100 which totally freaked me out.

I am still feeling movements and the heart rate went back up again but I just wanted to know if anyone thinks this is something I should worry about?

Should I contact my midwife? I don't want to be a PITA.

Thanks

Sorry no experience but bumping for you. Good luck.

Plumviolet, I'm so sorry for your previous loss. I can quite understand why you have purchased a doppler.

But this is one of the reasons why - imo - home dopplers are sometimes a really bad idea. People buy them - understandably - for reassurance but they often end up causing more anxiety than they remove.

If the heartrate quickly returned to normal and you are feeling your baby move normally, I really don't think this is anything to worry about. Regular movements are a FAR better indicator of a baby's wellbeing than listening in with a doppler. Brief dips in the heartrate can be caused by movement, loss of contact with the doppler etc.

HTH. Mention it to your midwife when you next see her, but I'm sure she'll say the same. All the best x

When I was 32 weeks pg, I had to be monitored as Ds hadn't been moving enough.
His heartrate was generally 130 - 140, but did keep dropping. The mw said this was completely normal, and could be due to the baby moving away from the Doppler so it lost contact for a bit, but it still registered some heartbeats, but detected them at a lower rate iyswim?
If you are feeling movements, it's probably absolutely fine, but I can understand why you would find this stressful. I'm sure your mw wouldn't mind if you rang her up for a chat, and she could put your mind at rest.
:)

X-posts, and runaway said it so much better :)
Hope you feel a bit better reading these xx

Do you think there is a chance you picked up your own heartbeat briefly instead?

Thanks, that does help. My next appointment is on the 14th of march so I'll mention it to the midwife then. It doesn't really help that my placenta is anterior this time round, so I have no where near as many kicks as the last time. Babe is kicking away at the moment.... Thank god.

Not sure, I was hoping that was the case....

It might well have been that, plum. Please try not to worry. I would even go so far as to suggest you put the doppler away but...

It would be quite easy to do I think. If you are at all unsure you could go to the Maternity dept for half hour of monitoring. I am sure everything is ok.