During labor, your healthcare practitioner and nurse will be checking your baby’s heart rate to keep tabs on how he’s doing and see how he’s tolerating your contractions. This is called fetal monitoring. It’s usually done with an electronic fetal monitor or a handheld Doppler device like the one your caregiver used to listen to your baby during your prenatal visits. Your baby’s heart rate can be checked continuously with an electronic fetal monitor or periodically (this is called intermittent auscultation).