any one else baffled by maternity notes?

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

I am reading notes from last nights mad dash to the EOU as the babys heart rate was at 190. There are 3.5 full pages of notes.

Main things I am baffled by are

cephalic?

Fundus x - 2?

Position LOL?

On a ctg D was absent, whats D?

Posterior placenta, grade I-II?

Anyone know what all this means? Im 38 weeks today.

TIA

Cephalic means he/she is head down.

Cephalic is the head, fundus is the top
Of the womb. Lol is the position can't remember what it means left or lateral something! I'd google it if u really want to know evwrythinf or just ask ur midwife of ur still at hospital

Google isnt telling me anything.

MWs never have time to answer. They let me go last night still with a raised pulse and no idea why its raised. They were so busy I think they forgot to tell me.

Cephalic - refers to the way the baby is positioned in your uterus - ie head down. This is the best and most desirable position for baby to be in at 38 weeks as it means the baby can be delivered vaginally. If it were breech (feet down), or transverse (lying horizontally)etc the midwives/doctors might try to externally turn your baby into the right position, or if this failed you would need a caesarian.

On CTG D was absent - refers to decelerations in the baby's heart rate. These are relatively normal during contractions, but shouldn't be present in between or when you are not in labour - so it'sgood news none were seen.
They will also look at the baseline heart rate of the baby, it's variability, if there are any accelerations present, and then uterine activity when interpreting a CTG.

Fundus refers to the height of your uterus from the bony part at the front of your pelvis. Roughly speaking from 20 weeks your fundal height should be the same as the baby's gestational age.

Position could refer to a couple of things. Firstly is the baby's head 'engaged' in your pelvis ready for labour or is it still high in your uterus, or it could refer to how the baby is lying in the uterus eg spine towards your spine, or baby's spine at the front of your uterus.

HTH

This link tells you about CTGs. D = decelerations. So your baby's heart rate was not dipping.

Cross post!

f=cephalic is head down.

fundus at -2. Not sure to be honest, fundal height is top of bump and normally written in cm. If you have an internal the how far baby is down is measured at -2, -1, at spine, +1, +2. Did you have an internal?

LOL is left occiput lateral - so back of baby's head is to your left side.

d is decelerations. So its good they're absent.

Your placenta is at the back of your uterus not the front. Not sure what grade I-II means as I've only seen this for low lying placentas to classify how serious/low the placenta is. So unless you've been told your placenta is low then I'm baffled and I'm a m/w!

Thanks all.

I had a low placenta at 20week scan, think it was partially covering-though again, not much info given. It had moved by the next scan at 28 weeks. So is it still low but not enough to be a problem?

I didnt have an internal. The doc scanned me again last night. Would she be able to tell from a scan?

They can tell by palpating how engaged the baby is. Or certainly they wrote it in my notes based on palpation.

So is it engaged?

Don't know. As others have said they normally note down fundal height which is the distance from your pubic bone to top of your uterus, usually around the same number as the number of weeks pregnant you are (check your notes, they do it at every appt from around 28 weeks) but they've written -2 next to it which makes bog all sense unless they were referring to where the presenting part seems to be ie how low the baby's head is and noted it in the wrong place of the - is actually a number and it's just poorly written.

Doesn't matter anyway. Babies being engaged doesn't usually mean labour's imminent. DD was engaged for 8 long weeks before I went into labour, ds didn't engage at all and labour still started...

Thats the first time its been put in my notes. The column is blank. This was just written on a page where they wrote everything from the findings.

I dont think its engaged tbh. Its low but I would feel something if it was wouldnt I?

Was just really worried yesterday and wanted to see what the notes meant to reassure myself that alls ok with the baby. Thanks everyone!

Yes, they could tell from a scan. It does sound like baby is engaged - but I can't tell how much by as normally that's written in fifths palpable or fifths engaged. But -2 is engaged, its pretty much standard for someone of your gestation.

Being engaged doesn't mean that labour is imminent!

Maybe -2 means you're measuring -2cms for the gestational age, i.e. you're measuring 36cm at 38wks?? Just a guess so no idea really but 36cm at 38wks wouldn't cause any concern if that is what it means.

Reason I suggest that is because the fundus is at the top of the uterus so doubt they'd refer to the fundus if they were talking about how engaged the baby is, usually only refer to fundal height

Well I measure big when Im measured with a tape because I am overweight. But on the scans its never been big or small for age.

25th centile is written beside the scan measurements.

I know being engaged means nothing. But DD went 10 days over and at 8 days over still wasnt engaged. So Im telling myself (wrongly :o ) that if it engages now it might not be late again. I really cant wait to get this baby out!