Internal Fetal Heart Monitoring

Im talking about the electrode that has a small screw that is inserted into the baby's scalp when in labor to monitor the baby's heart rate.

How long did it take for your baby's scalp to heal after it?

Did it cause any problems? Infection, abcess on baby's scalp...

This isnt a discussion of if you allow it or not... Just only if you've had one during labor and what the effects after birth were like.

My kids have never had it.. but as a L&D nurse... most of the time its' barely noticable by the time the baby goes home. Unless its reported to me that a scalp electrode was used... I don't even always catch it the mark is so small. it just goes under the skin, and is very small

<blockquote><b>Quoting Dr. Mrs. The Monarch:</b>" Im talking about the electrode that has a small screw that is inserted into the baby's scalp when in ... [snip!] ... a discussion of if you allow it or not... Just only if you've had one during labor and what the effects after birth were like."</blockquote>




I had one with both my girls and I never noticed any mark on there head so if it does leave one its to small to notice

DS had a tiny little bruise/ scab for like a week.

I had one just for when I was pushing DS because he was kicking the monitor away and his hr dropped a little during contractions if I wasn't sitting a certain way. He never had a mark or any discomfort that I saw.   Plus, for me, it was really nice to continuously hear the hb since he was being so stubborn.

My daughter had 2 done because they kept losing her heartbeat with the external monitor and she was getting a little distressed, and the first one fell off...
She had some weepy scabs on the back of her head, they healed after about 2 weeks (took longer than her cord to fall off) but she's fine, no scars no infections. But they also took blood from her head and she got scraped a bit so the scabs were probably bigger than most.

My first daughter was stillborn, and I will more than likely want an internal monitor. Not hearing the heartbeat or chasing it around with an external one distresses me.

I was just trying to figure out aftercare and saw that the most common (though rare) risks are infection, abcess... And couldnt really find any pictures of healing ones, or how long they took to heal. I know the electrode is super small. We got to hold one in the birthing class I took with my first daughter.

Thanks for the replies ladies!

Two of mine had it done. I never noticed any bruises but they had a lot of hair.

<blockquote><b>Quoting ♥Jada:</b>" Two of mine had it done. I never noticed any bruises but they had a lot of hair."</blockquote>



My son was the same way. They even had to keep adjusting the internal monitor because his heart rate was all over there place.  

At one point even got tangled in his hair and if hurt so bad when they were trying to remove it because I was having back to back contractions.  

Quoting Dr. Mrs. The Monarch:" My first daughter was stillborn, and I will more than likely want an internal monitor. Not hearing the ... [snip!] ... is super small. We got to hold one in the birthing class I took with my first daughter. Thanks for the replies ladies!"

My daughter's head;

It looks way worse than it was, and it healed without a single scar or anything. She didn't (still doesn't) have much hair either, lol. But yeah, it didn't bother her and healed within 2 weeks.
I know it's hard not to worry, but babies are tough  

my daughter had a tiny mark. looked liked she scratched herself healed within a week