Sanity Savers: Your maternity hospital notes decoded

PGO, NAD, 32+5, pregnancy is a time you will hear a lot of unfamiliar terms, but don’t panic, we help you understand what your doctors and midwifes are talking about!

By askamum

Pregnant woman sitting in bright room at her laptop

Understanding jargon used by doctors and midwives can leave your head in a spin, and this is the last thing you need when you are about to give birth.

So we have put together a quick, easy reference guide to terms commonly used in hospitals.

When you visit the midwife for your antenatal appointments, she listens to your baby’s heartbeat.

She may use the following terms:
FHH: Which means fetal heart heard
FHNH: This means the fetal heart was not heard. This shouldn’t fill you with fear, it usually means that the baby was lying in a difficult position not allowing the midwife to get the right position.
FMF: This means fetal movements felt

FMNF: fetal movements not felt

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Your midwife will also feel for the position of your baby and could use terms such as:

LOA: means the back of your baby's head is on your left-hand side and towards the front of your tummy

ROA: meaning the back of your baby's head is on your right-hand side and towards the front of your tummy

Cephalic (or ceph): meaning head-down

br: meaning bottom down or breech

LOP: meaning the back of your baby's head is on your left-hand side and towards the back of your tummy.

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ROP: meaning the back of your baby's head is on your right-hand side and towards the back of your tummy
When the midwife talks about how far into your pregnancy, she will refer to it as something like: 32+6. This breaks down to 32 weeks pregnant and 6 days.

Blood pressure
An example of the measurements used to read your blood pressure: 120/70. The first number tells your midwife about your blood pressure as your heart beats and pushes the blood round your body (systolic blood pressure). The second number is your blood pressure when your heart relaxes between beats (diastolic). The lower figure should not be higher than 90.

Urine
PGO: whether your urine sample contains protein, glucose or anything else (other)
NAD: no abnormalities detected.
Height of uterus
This is measured from your pubic hair line to the top of your bump. The number of centimetres corresponds to the number of weeks you have been pregnant.