Maternity Nursing: Antepartum Q 51
A nursing instructor asks a nursing student who is preparing to assist with the assessment of a pregnant client to describe the process of quickening. Which of the following statements if made by the student indicates an understanding of this term?
A. “It is the irregular, painless contractions that occur throughout pregnancy.”
B. “It is the soft blowing sound that can be heard when the uterus is auscultated.”
C. “It is the fetal movement that is felt by the mother.”
D. “It is the thinning of the lower uterine segment.”
Correct Answer: C. “It is the fetal movement that is felt by the mother.”
Quickening is fetal movement and may occur as early as the 16th and 18th week of gestation, and the mother first notices subtle fetal movements that gradually increase in intensity. A thinning of the lower uterine segment occurs about the 6th week of pregnancy and is called Hegar’s sign.
Option A: Braxton Hicks contractions are irregular, painless contractions that may occur throughout the pregnancy.
Option B: Uterine souffle or placental souffle is a soft, blowing sound heard using a stethoscope, usually in the second trimester of pregnancy (13–28 weeks). This sound is heard most clearly in the lower part of the uterus and is synchronous with the pulse of the mother.
Option D: The lower uterine segment, therefore, is defined as the portion of the uterine musculature which must undergo circumferential dilatation during labor, its extent being dependent upon the size of the presenting part and its level in the uterine cavity. The available evidence suggests that brachystasis, with retraction, occurs in this segment just as it does in the upper, and that thinning in the first stage of labor is due not to passive elongation, but rather to active shortening of the cup-shaped lower pole with dilatation as it is pulled up about the presenting part.