- You generally won't need one unless you have something like this going on:
- You have diabetes that's treated with medication, high blood pressure, or some other medical condition that could affect your pregnancy.
- You have gestational hypertension.
- Your baby appears to be small or not growing properly.
- Your baby is less active than normal.
- You have too much or too little amniotic fluid.
- You've had a procedure such as an external cephalic version (to turn a breech baby) or third trimester amniocentesis (to determine whether your baby's lungs are mature enough for birth or to rule out a uterine infection). Afterward, your practitioner will order a nonstress test to make sure that your baby's doing well.
- You're past your due date and your practitioner wants to see how your baby is holding up during his extended stay in the womb.
- You've previously lost a baby in the second half of pregnancy, for an unknown reason or because of a problem that might happen again in this pregnancy. In this case, nonstress testing may start as early as 28 weeks.
- You have a medical problem that may jeopardize your baby's health.
- Your baby has been diagnosed with an abnormality or birth defect and needs to be monitored.

what determine if someone gets a stress test or not