LABOR TECHNOLOGY

Janet St. James reports

More WFAA Latest News video

• View larger
• E-mail clip
• More video

Related links:

• MORE: Health reports

Search Video:

iPhones and Blackberries - on these little smart phones - you can find applications for virtually everything.

There's a new application that's helping doctors be in all places, at all times, without missing a single heartbeat.

Shanelle Chapman is laboring without worry, knowing her doctor can be at her bedside in a heartbeat.

"She can say, 'OK, I'll see you in five minutes, I see how she's progressing,'" she said.

She can see how Shanelle and her unborn baby are both doing, without even being in the building.

Wireless technology, strapped to a laboring mother's belly, transmits real time data to a doctor's cellphone.

Every heart beat and contraction show up crystal clear.

The phone application is called the ob airstrip.

"I know currently the patient is 6 cms dialated," said Dr. Cynthia Robbins, looking at her phone. "I can push this section and get all of her vital signs. I can push this section and get the nurse's narrative of how she thinks the patient is doing."

Texas Health Fort Worth and Dallas hospitals are using the technology.

In just a few weeks of use in labor and delivery, doctors say they see a difference.

"It does decrease the amount of time I'm on the phone calling the hospital, trying to locate the nurse, trying to locate someone to give me information," says Dr. Robbins.

"I just feel like even when I step away from the beside, I'm still there... Things are so much safer than before," she added.

It gave Cindy Hayes peace of mind, as she went through the ups and downs of labor Monday.

"He's just a precious gift. I feel very blessed," she said of her baby boy, the result of that labor.

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com.