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They were having a hard time keeping LO on the monitor with the external one and then I had some issues with my BP and they had to have her on the monitor so they put one in. She was showing some signs of distress. I had an epi so didnt feel anything and couldnt move anyway (I dont think you can even if you dont have an epi if they need to use it). They just told me they were going to put a little wire/ monitor in/on her head to keep her stats. She did have a little scab there for quite awhile but other than that I would have never known.

Initially the hospital said they wouldn't let me have an IFM for movement because it malfunctioned frequently. After hours of wearing the regular monitor they added or switched to the internal monitor when LOs heart rate dropped. I still couldn't move around since they put me on an IV for fluids.

LO had two scabs on her head for about two months. One was from the internal monitor and the other was from the midwife shoving LO back in to release my water. I don't know which scab was which but they weren't a big deal.

@pinkb: I didn't have an epidural and I don't remember feeling the midwife set up the monitor.

@Phillybaby2013: God & baby willing, I'll be having a trial of labor after ceserean in the next week and a half, so I can't say yet what the IFM is like but I plan on okaying it. My OB said they really prefer that for VBACs as soon as your water breaks or they break it because they can get an earlier and more accurate idea if anything major--i.e. a uterine rupture--is happening. Good luck and I hope we both get our VBACs!

It took two tries to put the IFM in and it was hell. Hell hell hell. Sorry to be blunt but I cried and screamed in pain. DH cried watching it happen. He said I looked at him and said "please tell them to stop" although I don't remember that specifically. I was only 2cm but I wnated to use a birthing ball because laying in the bed made my contractions worse. I was induced so they had to have constant readings and the external monitors weren't working well when I was up. They got it the second time and the baby's heart rate dropped and they quickly rolled me on my side and put me on oxygen and scared the crap out of me. It all turned out fine after they got it the second time and I was a happy mama on the birthing ball instead of the bed, but that was hands down the worst part of labor to me. And I had a c section.

I'm sorry. I know that's not what you want to hear but I just want to be honest.

I had an induction, and as previously mentioned, when you're on pitocin they need to constantly monitor the baby. We had a really tough time getting a constant read on the baby when I was moving, and after a while they wanted to do an internal monitor on him. I was really against it, so I told them I would lay in bed and not move. I did that for a long time and ultimately they just couldn't get a good enough read on him and I finally let them do it.

I had already had the epidural at that point (figured since I couldn't move anyways) and I didn't feel the placement at all. I did feel really bad at the small scab on his head that stuck around for a while.

with both my lo's we couldn't keep the belt monitor thing in a position to measure their heartbeats. also with both, i have no memory of it hurting at all.

with ds (my oldest), when they broke my water there was meconium in it, so as soon as he was born the doctor ripped the monitor of his head, so that they could make sure he didn't inhale the meconium, and it took the skin off. it looked awful. it was very tender for him and we had to put an antibiotic on it for 2 weeks. it was soooo sad!

because of my experience with ds, when the delivery doctor for dd (not the same doctor as with ds) started talking about an internal monitor i flipped out! i told her what happened with ds and she assured me she would be very careful removing it and apparently she was because there wasn't the slightest mark on dd's head from it!

here is a picture of the scab a few days after he was born

@ShootingStar: ahhh okay, I didn't realize they were different, I just remembered "internal monitor". thank you