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56 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2024 Six months ago, my life changed forever when I held my first child, a healthy, blue- eyed, brown-haired baby boy. e calm beauty surrounding this tender moment was a happy applause for the long and intricate perfor- mance of his delivery. While his delivery was safe and complication-free, I witnessed a real- world demonstration of the critical impor- tance of reliable electronics. Fetal Vital Sign Monitoring Nurses routinely monitor two vital signs dur- ing most deliveries: fetal heart rate and uter- ine contractions. Fetal heart rate monitors and contraction pressure sensors are some of their most essential tools for monitoring the pro- gression of labor and the well-being of both the mother and baby during childbirth. Fetal heart rate sensors typically utilize Dop- pler ultrasound technology to detect and measure the fetal heart rate. ese sen- sors emit high-frequency sound waves into the moth- er's abdomen, which bounce off the pumping fetal heart and return to the sensor, allowing them to calculate the heart rate. On the other hand, con- traction pressure sensors function by measuring the intensity and frequency of contractions experienced by the mother during labor using a method known as Tocodynamometry. ese sensors typically consist of strain transducers placed externally on the mother's abdomen. As contractions occur, the pressure on these sensors changes, allowing Reliability in the Delivery Room The Doctor's In by Henry Crandall, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH/IPC STUDENT BOARD MEMBER