Monitoring during labour

During active labour your midwife will listen regularly to your baby's heartbeat with a hand-held Doppler, similar to the one used at antenatal appointments.

In the birthing pool your midwife will use an underwater Doppler, which means you can move into any position and your baby's heartbeat can be heard without you standing up.

Some women prefer to avoid machinery altogether. A Pinnard stethoscope is a small trumpet which the midwife puts to her ear as it rests on your bump. With Dopplers, everyone in the room hears the baby's heartbeat, but only the midwife hears through the Pinnard.

If there is a reason to recommend continuous monitoring, this will be discussed with you. This is normally done with a CTG machine strapped around your bump to measure your contractions as well as your baby's heartbeat. As this is neither helpful nor appropriate for straightforward labours, it is used only occasionally in the Angus units.