@jhysmath Two heartbeats is one less than I read about too. My doctor actually pointed out my own heartbeat today during my appointment, so it's strange she would tell you that there are only two.
@kboydbowman I joked I'll just show up ready to push and she laughed and said please don't do that. It's a very small rural hospital without many resources. I understand where they're coming from even if I'm not happy about it.
@trapperkeeper87 I know mine is usually around 70 and baby was at 168 today, she did say that's your placenta to the hb I felt was the placenta but like I told her that's usually between 120-130 she said it's either you making that placenta beat or baby so if it's between 120-130 you know it's baby. Didn't make much sense but I didn't question it.
I used to provide prenatal care, but don’t anymore since finishing my residency training about 4 years ago. I haven’t read the online resources about using a doppler, but here’s how I think of it - the rate has to be produced by the pregnant person’s heart or by the baby’s heart. There is nothing except for a heart that can generate a different rate of blood flow. The pregnant person’s rate (usually 60-100) can be heard in the pelvis from the uterine artery (a soft/whooshing sound). The baby’s heart rate can be heard from two different sounds - a soft whooshing sound (placenta/umbilical cord) or the more crisp, click-like sound coming from the heart valves closing with each beat. This might be why online resources say there are three, but there are only two really. As clinicians we were taught to listen for babies heart (not just placenta) to be sure we never confused the placenta with an abnormally high maternal heart rate, to be sure we find all babes in the case of multiples, to help understand baby’s position, etc. You can probably hear a similar difference between the whoosh and the click if you try your own heart versus somewhere like your carotid artery’s/neck (though i’ve never tried this so I’m not 100% sure)
Re: PGAL Check-in 2/17