A 40-year-old, G7, P4, A2, 36 weeks pregnant was admitted because of complaints of vaginal bleeding. She also noticed a lack of fetal activity in the 3 days prior to admission. The nurse's first action is to:

Check for fetal heart tones

Explanation

•Finding the fetal heart tones is the easiest way to check status of the pregnancy in this situation.

•If no fetal heart tones are noted, A sonogram is ordered to confirm fetal status.

•There will be no fetal activity if the fetus dies in utero.

•An x-ray of the abdomen will not assess whether the fetus is alive or not.

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