Detection of Fetal and Mother Heart Rate with Uterine Contractions

The heart rate of a pregnant woman and the fetus can be detected and monitored. The average heart rate of a pregnant woman is around 70 to 90 beats per minute, and for that of a fetus is 110 to 160 beats per minute. Heart rate can be detected using AD8232 heart rate monitoring module. As a pregnant woman approaches labor, their uterine muscles begin contracting. This is known as Uterine Contractions. Since uterine contraction is a form of muscle contraction, we can use AD8226 module for detecting the uterine contractions in a pregnant woman. An Arduino Nano is programmed and used to measure the heart rate as well as muscle contractions. Graphs are obtained using Arduino IDE. The AD8232 Heart rate monitoring module is an Electrocardiogram (ECG) Sensor, and the AD8226 is an Electromyography (EMG) sensor. Electrodes are connected to both the modules. The electrodes need to be fixed at exact positions in the body to be able to detect the heart rate as well as the contractions of the uterus accurately.