Dawes-red man criteria not met

[QuietCity]

I’m 29+4 and went to the hospital today because I felt like babies movements were reduced.

They put me on the CTG and said they’d come back in 30 minutes. The midwife did come back a few times but I was on there for an hour in the end and just thought they’d left me ages because it was busy. Then she took my results to be checked by a doctor but I assumed that was normal too. She then came back a couple of times more to check some details (how far gone I am/my blood group).

Anyways, she didn’t say anything was wrong but did say she’s booked me in for a scan next week which felt odd… I wasn’t expecting that as I’m only 29 weeks and it’s my first pregnancy so assumed I was just over-worrying.

Now I’ve had a look at my notes and it says that the Dawes-Redman criteria has not been met because of Large Decelerations.

has anyone had this/know what it means? Should I be worried?

*Baby’s movements

I’m only having one!! Also scan notes attached

No idea about the criteria thing, but when I went in for reduced movements with DD1, they booked me in for a scan the next day just as an extra check, even though baby was fine.

hopefully he’s fine and they’re just being over-cautious… the borough I’m in happens to have exceptionally good maternity services.

does anyone know much about the dawes redman criteria?

I've had 2 that did not meet criteria and both times they re-did the assessment. On the 2nd attempts the criteria was met. They would have booked me in for a scan but I've been having growth scans every 2 weeks anyway and they happened to fall just a couple of days after the assessments. Did they test a 2nd time to help with your peace of mind? How has his movement been since? I've always been told if you're still concerned about anything, call up and go again, even if it's the same night! Thinking of you, it's so stressful. X

@Tigerlily08 thank you, that’s reassuring.

I have felt him moving, he’s just much more quiet than usual… and the movements are softer. My bump did suddenly look A LOT bigger on Friday though so hopefully he’s just moved position…

I think I’ll ring my usual midwife first thing tomorrow to discuss it… hoping the scan is sooner rather than later in the week

Hmm - I'd perhaps call and query tomorrow. With my twins I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until my twins had both met the Dawes Redman criteria so you can imagine with 2 in there I could be in for hours / overnight. That being said after an hour if you don't meet the criteria they take you off the machine anyway / restart it.
I did find that often the babies would kick the machine off or move away and that would cause the deceleration and it would mess with the readings - luckily for the midwives I was better at knowing where to put the sensors than they did so I could adjust them so that it was picking up the heartbeats correctly again if they did move . Had I not I doubt they would ever have passed the criteria on a busy night when there was no midwives checking regularly. So my point is maybe nothing to worry about but I'd ring and ask anyway?

Have you got the CTG in your notes? It says Dawes Redman met at 10 minutes

It does but I recall that the minimum length of time to be on the machine is 20 mins

@couldishouldigoforit yes, that’s what’s I’m hoping - that he’s just shifted slightly and it’s fudging the results.

@ElspethBoomingHowsen yes but I think @couldishouldigoforit is right and even though the first 10 minutes was fine, the decelerations must’ve happened after. It looks like there were 4, although they have written something (LOC?) on only 3 and the printed results say 2 large decelerations…

I wish I’d asked questions at the time. I didn’t even really ask if he was ok, I just assumed they’d tell me if they were worried

LOC is loss of contact. If the contact is post it can sometimes pick up your heart beat looking like a deceleration

@ElspethBoomingHowsen ok that makes sense for LOC.

its so hard not to worry now though!!

Do you have an anterior placenta. It makes it difficult to feel movement. And makes it difficult to pick up heart beat if they move. I had one and DS spent most of the time kicking my spine.
I also had a very large fibroid that interfered with his movement.
A scan will determine if anything is limiting movement. He could just be a big baby.

@Angrymum22 yes, I was told at my 20 week scan that I had an anterior placenta but I’ve had movements since 19 weeks regardless and he’s usually very strong and active

As they get bigger and the placenta gets bigger ( it forms a thick layer at the front of the uterus ) it becomes harder to see movement. You don’t get the foot and arm shapes poking out of your bump like others do.
It also makes it difficult to monitor with the belt monitors.
The placenta acts like a shock absorber.
If they were really worried by the readings you would have been admitted onto the anti natal ward and they would be monitoring very closely.
DS was born prem at 36 weeks and weighed 7lbs1oz. He was very long ( and is now 6’3” and still growing) so was finding it hard to move around. If he had gone to full term they estimated he would have been over 10lbs.
I had pregnancy induced high blood pressure and had growth scans every two weeks because it often causes placenta failure and low birth weight. DS, as usual, had to prove them wrong. He still looked prem though, not a lot of body fat and his face was quite thin.