In order to be utilised in labour, the herabeat would also need...

In order to be utilised in labour, the herabeat would also need to incorporate measuring uterine contractions. Just measuring fetal hart rate only gives part of the clinical picture. If there are decelerations in the fetal heart rate, they need to be compared to the timing of the uterine contraction, this can help determine if the deceleration is due to head compression during the contraction, or if the baby is in distress, not getting enough oxygen/hypoxia. Too frequent or tonic contractions can also cause hypoxia.

Also, there are times where abdominal monitoring is ineffective such as extremely overweight women BMI >40. If fetal distress is suspected, an electrode hooked up to the ctg monitor may be placed on the baby's scalp during labour to detect it's heart rate.

Without measuring uterine activity, the device would not be considered as a replacement for the current technology, might be OK in a remote situation where they don't have CTG machines and heramed is the best option available, but it has a long way to go before it could be utilised in routine labour care.

With the current Heramed technology, it looks like good potential for antenatal monitoring during pregnancy, but not labour. Just be aware of the limitations of the device. Hopefully they incorporate the necessary features in the next generation orion.