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Biophysical Profile

by Nikki Montgomery

Friday we had our first biophysical profile done. This is a test that is done when mom is pregnant with multiples, but can also be done if mom goes over her due date with a singleton. 

This test is actually two parts, an ultrasound and a nonstress test, the two parts together equal 10 total points. Each baby is scored individually and we need a score of at least 8 out of 10. If the score is 6 or below then the doctors need to decide if the babies should be delivered. 

In the ultrasound the tech is looking for 4 specific things heartbeat, breathing, muscle tone, and movement. There are a few different movements that they look for too, small movements like making fists or moving an arm or a leg and a big movement like arching or stretching her back. Twin A did everything just as she was supposed to and scored an 8 out of 8. Twin B, however, was being a big stubborn about practicing breathing. When babies are in the womb they don't really breathe they just practice and those practice breaths are very intermittent so the fact she didn't take a breath isn't anything to worry about. We only watched her for a half hour so there's just a good chance we just missed it. So Twin B scored a 6 out of 8.  

Then it was time for the second part of the test the nonstress test. They call it a nonstress test because the babies don't even know it's going on. The nurses hook monitors up to mom's belly much like when you go into labor and they hook you up to the belts in the delivery room to monitor the baby's heart beat and contractions. There was a monitor to detect each baby's heartbeat and another to monitor contractions if I were to have any. Then I was given a button that I was instructed to push every time I felt the babies move. The tick marks from my button and the heart rate were matched up to make sure that the baby's heartbeat increased with movement. If they did the babies scored another 2 points. 

After all was said and done we were in there for 2 hours and Twin A scored 10 out of 10 and Twin B scored an 8 out of 10. We have another biophysical profile scheduled for this Friday so we'll see if we can get Twin B to score a perfect 10. 

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