As baby grows inside the womb of mother, heart and other organs develop. The heart activity can be recorded by placing a transducer on the belly of mother. The tracing obtain provides information about heart rate, any increase or decrease in heart rate and how much it varies with time. Variation in heart rate along with increase is indicator of fetal well being. Some mothers are at high risk of pre-term birth that is baby delivery before 37 weeks of gestation. In such cases steroids are given to mother to accelerate lung development of the baby so that it can easily adapt to outside world. Dexamethasone and Betamethasone are commonly used steroids which can also effect fetal heart activity.
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Mean number of accelerations on fetal cardiotocography
Timeframe: Before intervention, 2 and 4 days after intervention
Long term heart rate variability on fetal cardiotocography
Timeframe: Before intervention, 2 and 4 days after intervention