With the spread of the Internet Americans are finding themselves with access to information that was tucked away in the stacks of medical school libraries for decades. Pregnant women too are finding more sources of information than had been available to them as recently as a decade ago. They're learning more about options and outcomes, and the fact not all pregnancies produce cherubic "Gerber" babies as the various parenting magazines would lead them to believe.

Home fetal heart beat monitoring is a case in point. Though the OB community is generally not in favor of monitoring - let alone home monitoring - Dr. Jason Collins, an NSS National Director and head of the Pregnancy Institute is developing a system for home use that will provide real-time readouts of a woman's contractions and her baby's heart rate as she sleeps. Connected to the Internet through a laptop computer, the monitor will be capable of sending an alert to a woman's physician on his or her PDA.

Dr. Collins believes pregnant women who have been identified as being at risk of stillbirth due to FHB decelerations should be using a fetal heartbeat monitor during maternal sleep, the time when most stillborn deaths occur. He theorizes that because the mother's blood pressure is lowest during this period, and because cord compression is more likely when the woman is lying down - especially in late term when there is little room for the baby to move - a monitor may have the potential to detect any dangerous fluctuation or decline in the baby's heartbeat in time to allow for appropriate medical intervention.

Babies don't "drop dead" in the womb. Fetal death is a process which can take up to several hours. If an "alarm" sounds at the outset of the process - when the baby's heart rate deviates from an expected "normal" range - the mother will become aware of the problem. Will there be false alarms? Yes. But fire engines respond to all alarms. They don't pick and choose which ones they answer. Could false alarms tax the resources of the medical community? Yes. Could the community set up a "Rapid Response Protocol" to expeditiously handle the inflow of concerned mothers? Yes. Could detection of a true positive save a life? Yes.

Is there anyone with hypertension who has not been advised by his or her doctor to get a blood pressure cuff and use it at home to monitor one's pressure? Why? To detect dangerous changes between visits seems to be the obvious answer. Could not a home fetal heart beat monitor do the same thing? Understand a layman, not a medical professional, is asking this question. We are not qualified by education, training or experience to give medical advice. But we are free to use our common sense. Do not parents of newborns buy nursery monitors as a precaution against SIDS? Why would we not want to take the same precaution for our baby in utero? Is our baby any less precious to us because it has yet to be born? We think not.

If you're pregnant, discuss the subject of home fetal heart monitoring with your OB. Understand the available equipment now is made for hospital use which makes it expensive, however, you should be able to rent it if your OB supports your request. The bottom line is that monitoring is a non-invasive procedure, not unlike taking one's blood pressure. A sensor is strapped on the mother in the general area of the baby's chest and connected to the monitor, which can sit on the nightstand. That's it. Is it a guarantee against stillbirth? No. But how else is a mother to detect decreased fetal activity during maternal sleep. Counting kicks is fine when the mother is awake. But who or what is doing the counting when she is asleep? Once again, common sense!

We came of age in an era that taught its young people to "question authority". That may be the right policy to follow when our health - and that of our babies - is at issue. OB's see hundreds of patients every month of which you are just one. The likelihood that you would be more aware of what is happening to and within your body is enormous. We all have to take responsibility for our own well being and can no longer unquestioningly accept pills and treatments prescribed for us. Until the medical community can tell us, with certainty, what causes the two-thirds of stillbirths that now are said to occur for no determinable reason; mothers may be as qualified as their doctors to decide what steps to take to avoid this result.

DISCLAIMER: The foregoing is opinion, not medical fact, and is not offered as medical advice. The decision to consider home fetal heart rate monitoring should not be based upon this website. Our purpose in raising the question at all is to make women aware of alternative pre-natal care options and to encourage them to discuss the pros and cons of monitoring with their own OB's.