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How to measure fundal height and fetal heart rate

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

From about 24 weeks, the fundal height in centimeters is close to the number of weeks of pregnancy. The fetal heart rate is checked at every visit.

What you need

Step by step

  1. Prepare

    Clean your hands, introduce yourself, get consent and ask the patient to empty the bladder. [1]

  2. Position

    Lying with the head slightly up and a small tilt to the left, not flat, to avoid dizziness. [1]

  3. Find the top of the uterus

    Walk the side of your hand down from below the ribs until you feel the top. [1]

  4. Measure

    From the top of the pubic bone to the top of the uterus, tape numbers facing down so you are not biased. Record in centimeters. [1]

  5. Find the baby's back

    Leopold maneuvers: the back is the smooth, firm side. [1]

  6. Fetal heart rate

    Gel and Doppler over the baby's back. Count for a full minute while feeling the mother's pulse to tell them apart. [1]

  7. Record and report

    Normal fetal heart rate is 110 to 160 per minute. A fundal height more than 2 cm off the weeks needs follow-up. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

43 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (reference)
  2. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint

Facts and steps follow OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (reference); NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint. Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.