On Aug 28, a pregnant Megan Bellefeuille rushed to the hospital after using her fetal doppler at home and discovering that her baby had a rapid heartbeat

Bellefeuille purchased a fetal doppler just for reassurance and to listen to her baby’s heartbeat at home. “I had a high-risk pregnancy due to high blood pressure, but other than that, baby and I weresaid to be healthy. I got the doppler as a precaution and would use when I felt like it.” But on Aug 28^th Bellefeuille became concerned that something wasn’t quite right with her pregnancy. “Friday my baby was quieter than usual, but I had recently read before that babies tend to get quieter as they get bigger because they run out of space to move, so I wasn’t too worried at first. Saturday came along, and the baby’s movements were still on my mind and starting to worry me. I had to attend a wedding early in the afternoon, during the “I-do’s” I thought about going home for a bit to relax and check the baby’s heart beat before the reception.”

When Bellefueille arrived home to check on the baby’s heartbeat she discovered something was very wrong. “When I got home I immediately used the doppler and heard something I’ve never heard before. It didn’t even sound like a heart beat, it sounded like a whip, that was out of control. The doppler wouldn’t even (calculate) the heartbeat in the screen, you could only listen. I knew something was wrong. I then decided I should head to labour and delivery.”

When she arrived at the hospital, she was quickly hooked up to a fetal monitor but the display was unable to calculate the beats per minute. Bellefeuille says, “The nurse said the highest reading for the heart beat on the non-stress test is 230 beats per minute. After a couple hours, an ultrasound, and no improvement in his heart rate, the OB decided I was to be airlifted to Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. The doctor was concerned and believed my baby was going into heart failure.”

Bellefeuille describes “When I finally arrived in Toronto, the doctor there came to see me immediately, and when I told him how I found out about my baby being in danger he was amazed and has never heard of a patient beingthat in tune with their body, and that the doppler did in fact save the baby’s life, as we caught this issue before his heart showed any signs of heart failure.”She says “I went for an echocardiogram and the paediatric cardiologists diagnosed my baby with Supra-ventricular Tachycardia. It’s an electrical defect of the heart, not a structural defect, which is why they never saw anything on my routine (ultrasound) scans.

Even before a baby is born, using a fetal doppler can aid in the detection of vital information for fetal well being. Bellefeuille would have to agree, “The Hi-Bebe fetal doppler saved my baby’s life, I would have never known anything was wrong until my next prenatal appointment. I was sent to Toronto on the Saturday night, and by Sunday morning the baby was moving as normal. His movements would have made me think he was fine, even though his heart rate was still hovering around 240-250 beats per minute. He could have eventually gone into heart failure if we had left his condition untreated.”

Bellefeuille was administered oral medication to get her baby’s heart rate under control until his birth. Baby Rogan entered the world at 8lb 2oz on Sept 26^th. Rogan is at home with his family and will be treated as an outpatient at Sick Kids in Toronto.

For more information about fetal doppler use or this article please contact us at info@tummytickles.com. You can also visit our website at  www.tummyticklesdistribution.com