Mobile Monitor Keeps Moms Active During Pregnancy

Sandra and Chris Overby are expecting their first child and although their doctor wants to induce labor, Sandra wants to stay out of bed.

"I hope to walk around a lot, use the tub and everything," said Sandra.

Nurses at

Western Wake Medical Center

keep track of Sandra's contractions and the baby's heartbeat.

The new monitors go around the mother's stomach and she wears the battery pack on her shoulder. Sensors in the birth center's ceiling send the information to the nurse's station.

"We know exactly what you're doing as if you were laying in the bed," said Anita Porter, a registered nurse and labor and delivery supervisor.

"They didn't used to be able to walk around because we have to be watching the baby at all times and watching her contractions to make sure we don't give her too much medicine," said Shelly Olson, a nurse at Western Wake Medical Center.

Women can also wear them in a hot tub.

"You can't get the general unit wet the unit has to sit on the edge of the tub. But the straps and unit that attaches to the mom can get wet," said Olson.

Seven hours into Sandra's labor, the mobile monitor showed that her baby's heart rate was dropping.

"She had the cord wrapped around her somehow," said Porter.

Doctors delivered Cameron Overby by Caesarian section because of the cord and the Overby's said they were thankful that the monitor detected the problem.