I see you have the machine that goes "ping"

[geminigirl]

Woah.
(Totally safe for work unless your work objects to external links about birth, but no pictures or anything.)
What sick person thought this was a good idea

Comments

[geminigirl]

I don't mind. I'm sorry to hear about your nephew, but I'm glad the damage is less severe than originally thought.

I will point out that internal fetal monitoring already exists-it's not the preferred method of monitoring because it's more invasive and provides more pathways to infection, among other things. They can also sample fetal blood taken from the scalp to get information about fetal oxygen levels. But this, as the web page points out, provides even more pathways to infection, is likely to force women to labor on their backs, which isn't the best or most comfortable position to labor in for a lot of people, and it dehumanizes the labor process even more than it already is many times. The technology to prevent the kind of thing that happened to your nephew does exist sort of; it's just not necessarily the most commonly used technology cause most of the time, it's overkill, and more risky than it is beneficial. It's just hard to determine when it's in the best interest of the mother and baby and when it's just more than is needed.