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:

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.