Expert: Catherine Beier MS CBE - 7/17/2009

Question
I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with my 4th child. I recently noticed during my daily heart rate check with my doppler that the baby's heart rate would drop down to what the doppler showed to be 103 bpm. It is normally in the 160-165 range. It would slowly decrease, stay there for about 10 seconds and then rise back to about 170-175, then slowly go back to the normal range. This happened about 3 times in a row that night. I scheduled an appointment with my OB and he said that was normal.
Ok fast forward to tonight, after orgasm I decided to check on the baby and I noticed it did the same thing again, only this time the heart rate dropped down to 80-something BPM and my uterus was still hard from the contraction. It stayed like that again for about 10-15 seconds, then slowly went up again to 175. I was reading about late decelerations, which apparently are not good, and this sounds like the same thing? Is this something I should mention to my doctor? I hate to keep bothering him about the same thing, if in fact it is the same?
Thank you so much for your time!

Answer
Felicia,


Late decelerations occur when the heart rate does not have good reactivity and return to the normal range within a few seconds.  What you're describing, a short dip in heart rate that recovers quickly to the normal range, is exactly what we want to see.


Just like us, babies heart rates don't always stay in the same range.  But when it dips low like that, it's a concern in it doesn't return to the typical range within a few minutes, not seconds.  It's good for the heart rate to have variability, which is shifting rate based on activity, circumstances, etc, but not desirable to have poor reactivity, or slow to return to the normal range.

In your case, it sounds like you have good variability and reactivity, which is what we want to see.


Best,
Catherine