Electronic Fetal Heart Monitoring

Fetal Heart Monitoring

Risks

You may have a cesarean delivery and not really need it if continuous electronic fetal heart monitoring shows that your baby is in distress when he or she is actually healthy.

If the machine is having technical problems, the machine may show that your baby is healthy when he or she is in distress. This is rare.

There is a slight risk of infection for your baby when internal monitoring is done.

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Author:	Jan Nissl, RN, BS Sydney Youngerman-Cole, RN, BSN, RNC	Last Updated: September 5, 2006
Medical Review:	Tom Bailey, MD - Family Medicine Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH - Family Medicine Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology
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