...to complete my NST today.
Wow.
I got to the hospital around 10 o'clock this morning for my non-stress test. Both babies were quite active for the first 10 minutes or so, then Baby A must have fallen asleep. After about an hour on the monitor, the nurse came in and said that they wanted some more movement out of Baby A.
So, they unhooked Baby B's monitor, and I sat for another 20 minutes.
Still not much movement from Baby A. The next time the nurse came in, she brought along the "shocker", it's an instrument that vibrates and emits a loud buzz sound. She buzzed my sweet little girl a couple of times and then let us rest again. I can't even imagine how annoyed she was at that!
Finally, at 1 o'clock, I was unhooked and free to go.
I'm not sure how I feel about it. Baby A is usually my busy baby, I worry about not feeling Baby B more often.
Should I be worried? Anyone else have NST's take hours to complete?
The last two NSTs I've had, Baby A has been really hard to track. They've used the buzzer-thingy several times to get appropriate accels and decels. My NSTs are usually really fast, like 15-30 minutes, but Tuesday's NST took near an hour. Most of that was spent with the nurse actively holding the monitors on the babies, and buzzing A, trying to get him to respond.
ReplyDeleteSo, I haven't had a three-hour test, but if the nurse had left me alone for any bit of that test on Monday, I could have seen it taking that long. Sometimes twins just take longer, especially the earlier the test is being taken (the longer this pregnancy goes, the easier it is to keep them on the monitors, I think). I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I can see how incredibly maddening it can be.
Do they have you drink caffeine prior to your NST? If not, maybe try having a small amount of coffee or a coke about an hour before your next appointment to see if it makes a difference (an occasional small amount of caffeine, esp. late in pregnancy, is unlikely to cause any harm). Anyway, here's hoping your next test goes faster!!
I never had a NST at all but any test that takes 3 hours is definitely a stress-test in my book!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry it took so long!
I had to get them for the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy with F and some days just took SO much longer than others. They were supposed to last 30 minutes, but sometimes I was there 90? And that was for one lazy baby, haha. That damn buzzer irked the SH*T out of me though, gotta say... :)
ReplyDeleteGeesh! 3 hours!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why I haven't had an NST.
There are definitely days when I feel mine more than others. And with the hiccups, baby A's shake my entire body and baby B's are just little blips. Maybe something to do with the positioning and the placentas?
I had an NST at 41weeks. I was there 2 hours and 45 minutes. They have you lay down, and that's when A would sleep....so I kept poking at her and trying to shift without disturbing the monitors.
ReplyDeleteEverything will be ok...Hang in there.
I only had one baby in there, but I had NSTs for the last 8 weeks because of GD. They routinely took 2-3 hours, because they scheduled all their NSTs in the morning, which was Baby's sleepy time. Even after she was born, she'd sleep all morning. So every time (2-3x a week) I'd go sit there, drink ice water, poke her, etc, until they'd make me eat candy (great for the GD, that) and then do a BPP only to discover that she was just fine--just sleeping. She's asleep now in her crib. I'm sure all will be well!
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