FETAL HEART RATE DURING LATE PREGNANCY

Abstract

Summary Continuous records of fetal heart rate were made weekly during the last trimester of 15 normal pregnancies. Using an ultrasonic technique, a total of 124 records, each lasting 50 minutes, was obtained. With increasing length of gestation there was a small but significant reduction in mean heart rate and an increase in beat‐to‐beat variation. On some occasions, two distinct patterns of beat‐to‐beat variation could be distinguished in the same record. These appeared to be related to fetal movement.