To a technological society like that of the United States, the natural process of childbirth presents special conceptual dilemmas, as it calls into perpetual question any boundaries American culture tries to delineate between itself and nature. The author builds on previous works in which she has argued that the American core value system centers around science and technology, the institutions ...

Fetal heart rate surveillance is a standard component of intrapartum care. The fetal heart rate can be evaluated using intermittent auscultation or electronic fetal monitoring. Research that has compared these 2 strategies found them to be equivalent with respect to long-term neonatal outcomes. The purpose of this clinical bulletin by the American College of Nurse-Midwives is to review the evid...

BACKGROUND Controversy surrounds the role of fetal cardiotocography (CTG) in the antenatal management of pregnancy complicated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). AIM The aim was to investigate whether antenatal CTG aids management in pregnancy complicated by GDM. MATERIALS AND METHODS A prospective audit of 1404 consecutive antenatal CTG in women diagnosed with GDM. Outcomes for all ...

Intrauterine extremity gangrene in combination with cerebral infarction is a serious and rare event. We present a case with a healthy mother who gave birth to a child with this condition. At term, the mother presented at the antenatal clinic with decreased fetal movements. Cardiotocography (CTG) showed signs of fetal distress and a caesarean section was performed. The left arm of the newborn wa...

INTRODUCTION We report a case of idiopathic chronic fetomaternal haemorrhage (FMH) that developed in the late trimester. CLINICAL PRESENTATION The patient presented with decreased fetal movement at 38 weeks gestation. Antenatal follow-up was uneventful with normal serial ultrasound performed at 22 and 35 weeks. Prior to delivery, the cardiotocography (CTG) was abnormal with decreased baseline...

Nannying, like medicine, is a vocation. The good nanny was everything a family could wish for: she cared for, helped, and guided her family to make their own decisions, knowing when to interfere and, crucially, when to butt out. This week Simon Capewell and Richard Lilford debate whether, when it comes to states, nannying makes us healthier and whether information or legislation is the way to c...

BACKGROUND Cardiotocography (CTG) is a monitoring of fetal heart rate and uterine contractions. Since 1960 it is routinely used by obstetricians to assess fetal well-being. Many attempts to introduce methods of automatic signal processing and evaluation have appeared during the last 20 years, however still no significant progress similar to that in the domain of adult heart rate variability, wh...

Computerized analysis of the fetal electrocardiogram has been developed during the past 40 years. A mature system for ST analysis (STAN) has resulted from a series of laboratory and clinical studies. The current STAN system provides adjunctive information to the standard interpretation of fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns. This monograph describes the basis for the STAN methodology, including the...

BACKGROUND Women's views are critical for informing the planning and delivery of maternity care services. ST segment analysis (STan) is a promising method to more accurately detect when unborn babies are at risk of brain damage or death during labour that is being trialled for the first time in Australia. This is the first study to examine women's views about STan monitoring in this context. ...